When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. Suddenly a leper came and knelt before Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”  Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” He said. “Be clean!” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.  Then Jesus instructed him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift prescribed by Moses, as a testimony to them.”  Matt 8:1-4

This healing account forever settles the question, does Jesus want to heal me?

I’ve seen this healing account depicted in movies with potent imagery.  I even wrote a screenplay (teleplay) about it, based on a sermon that I heard a TV Pastor preach on location in Israel.  He had studied this account in intricate detail and had many geographical insights that he shared as he was being filmed in the area where the miracle had most likely occurred. (J. Prince)  This healing occurred “on the heels” of the Sermon on the Mount, in the hills of Galilee that were in close proximity to Capernaum.  There were actually small berms or slate mounds along the path that descended from the mount.  The pastor’s theory was that the leper (who risked being stoned if he did not remain quarantined outside the camp) approached the mount to hear this Jesus Whom everyone was talking about.  Concealed by a berm—he witnessed mass/multiple healings and heard the amazing sermon that Jesus preached; though a complete outcast, he was able to benefit from the revolutionizing shared experience of the general populace:  When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at His teaching, because He taught as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.  Matt 7:28,29

Then the pastor postured that Jesus and the apostles walked down the side of the mount and the leper jumped out from the berm right in Jesus’ path.  My screenplay, and movies that I’ve seen, contrast the glory-filled elation of the apostles—who were incredulously celebrating what they had just experienced—with the sudden shock, disgust, and terror that overwhelmed them when the leper revealed himself.  What they saw was definitely not a pretty picture.

The commentators aren’t sure about whether the lepers depicted in the New Testament were suffering from Hansen’s disease or whether the leprosy designation encompassed a range of skin diseases that included everything from common eczema to skin cancer.  But there is archeological evidence that Hansen’s was one of the diseases that plagued that part of the world 2000+ years ago.  E.g., skeletal evidence of Hansen’s dating back to second century B.C. has been found in Egypt, and the earliest textual references go back to 1550 B.C.¹  Hansen’s is caused by a strain of bacteria which causes an intense auto-immune response in the skin tissues that eventually deteriorates the nerve endings and invades the nerves themselves.  This causes a loss of all sensation.  Depending on the progression, internal tissue deterioration and/or muscular paralysis can eventually occur causing the autonomic functions to fail, resulting in death.  People formerly believed that lepers’ extremities fell off from the disease, but actually they frequently lost fingers and toes from ulceration or accidents because there was no pain sensation.

There is an entire chapter of Leviticus that addresses the care and handling of someone who has Tazara’at or Leprosy.  Here’s an excerpt from my screenplay (inspired by the pastor’s sermon) which tries to capture a leper’s terrible legacy in 30 AD:

(Lior to his wife, Ahuva) Oy! Oy! The judge has been judged! God has brought this affliction on me to punish me for the evil that I have spoken. This time I cannot bend the Law to my will. I must go to the priests and turn myself in. Then I will be cast out of the city of my birth forever. Oy! I’ll never pick up my little grandchildren again or know the warmth of your embrace. Oy! No one will buy my sandals anymore. You will be destitute and forced to depend on our sons for your survival. As for my survival, Oy! I am doomed. I will die banished and alone. I am an abomination—an object of terror among our people. I am the metzorah, the one with Tzara’at. There is no hope for me—only slow, agonizing suffering and death.

Any leper who tried to re-enter the general populace without the priests’ approval (declaring them 100% healed or clean) risked immediate execution by stoning.  So Matthew 8’s leper was definitely risking his life.  Also, he was exposing the famous rabbi (Savior, Messiah, and God-made-man) to the unclean thing—an un-erasably horrific image of rotting flesh.   As we continue the storyline, the apostles were either paralyzed with revulsion, or shouting, “Don’t touch him; he’s contagious!!”  The jubilant atmosphere had changed to one of horror…for everyone….except Jesus.  He wasn’t seeing the unclean thing, the sores, the filthy rags, the missing facial features and digits.  He was seeing a human being in desperate need of help, healing, and salvation—who had a question of universal proportions that people have uttered billions of times throughout the ages:  are You willing to heal me?

The Greek word for “will” is Thelo (θέλω) to seize with the mind; to hold to; to will (have in mind); to intend to; to be resolved or determined to; to purpose: absolutely; to be actuated by personal free knowledge and choice; to desire; to wish; to be willing; to prefer; to like to do a thing; be fond of doing; to take delight; to have pleasure; to take pleasure or delight in; to make a deliberate, intelligent choice to; to hold to something; to form a fixed resolve; to be disposed toward; to intend to; to determine to; to choose or prefer to; to be inclined to; to be about to; to delight in — desire, be disposed (forward), list/lean toward, love, mean, have rather…

Note:  Jesus didn’t even take time to answer the question before He was demonstrating His thelo to heal— Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said.

Why would Jesus be willing to heal the (essentially) lowest of the low?  There’s a belief in Judaic circles that the disease would atttack judgmental/gossiping types.  So this man could have been routinely doing one or more things that the LORD detested (Prov 6).  And there’s no indication that he repented.  He just inquired about God’s desire to heal the lowest of the low.  Mark 1 gives us some additional insight: And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth His hand.  Compassion is splagchnizomai—intense, visceral feeling; literally to yearn from one’s inward parts, in short, total sympathy…and pity.  Was the God-Man who was about to be despised and rejected of men…a man from whom people hid their faces (Is 53:3) prophetically pulling from his human experiential database here?  Possibly.  But my belief is that, in His Godly omniscience, Jesus was showing us Who He is.  And Who He is…is agapē. No matter how repugnantly ugly the sin/effects, Jesus loved the leper. 

The Greek root word used in Jesus’ “I am willing” declaration is also thelo.  So we could imagine Jesus speaking every verb in the definition to us, e.g., “I am fully resolved and determined to heal you; I fully desire to heal you; I have made an intelligent, deliberate decision to heal you; I would definitely rather heal you than the alternative; I would in fact love to heal you, and am leaning toward you with My hand outstretched as I speak.”

Therefore, as I was sitting here writing this Friday, suffering from cold symptoms, and praying that it would not turn into a dreaded sinus infection—and another so unwanted round of anti-biotics….If I had asked, “As I know You’re leaning toward me at this moment, when should I expect contact?”… I think He would have omnisciently answered, “Sometime between now and early Sunday morning on the day that you would have had to get on anti-biotics.”

NOT – no anti-biotics here. 🙂

So what can we learn about the nature of our triune God from this account?  Exodus 15:26 I am the LORD Who heals you.

To be continued….

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¹NCBI Website:  /pmc/articles/PMC2682583/