Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” Matthew 8:4

As a new believer, this scripture confused me.  It almost seemed as if Jesus wanted the leper to be involved in a cover up—and not broadcast the healing.  My line of thinking was that He was concerned about becoming an instant celebrity—which is indeed what happened, when the leper disobeyed Jesus’ command (Mark’s rendition):

Jesus sent him away at once and warned him (entreated him solemnly), “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere. Mark 1:43 – 45

Years ago, I had watched a scene in the movie version of, Jesus Christ, Superstar.  The movie was a 70’s rock opera that played fast and furious with poetic license during the height of the Hippie era—replete with contemporary colloquialisms and profound socio-political undertones.  Jesus was portrayed as being totally frazzled by the myriad of people who were making healing demands on Him;  basically saying, “This is bumming me out, man.” 

Over the intervening years, I have learned that Jesus had absolutely no problem with the crowds of sick people who were thronging Him at every turn.  After his cousin John (God’s beautiful jewel, irreproachable and a prophet like no other) was utterly disrespected, brutally manhandled, and destroyed by the morally depraved Herodian family, Jesus needed to be alone.  He crossed the Sea of Galilee by boat.  When he reached the shore, He realized that the crowds had second-guessed Him—probably walking around the northern side of the Sea of Galilee to find Him. 

When Jesus heard about John, He withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. But the crowds found out and followed Him on foot from the towns. When He stepped ashore and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them and healed their sick. Matt 14:13,14

So knowing that Jesus wasn’t concerned about celebrity-dom, I reasoned that it was a timeline issue.  The leper’s healing was a radical miracle—in the sense that “Jesus the Rabbi” violated every Judaic custom and norm by deliberately reaching out and touching the unclean thing—instead of hurling a rock at the leper.  By doing that, Jesus should have Himself become/been considered unclean—and, therefore, immediately been subject to a regimen of isolation and ritual cleansing.  But what instead happened, in a dramatically miraculous fashion, was that the unclean thing became clean when it came in contact with the Power of the Most High.  The leper was no longer unclean, therefore, the case could not be made that the Rabbi had touched the unclean thing.  This was another revolutionary frame-of-reference change—and too many of these paradigm shifts too early in the game could whip the populace into a frenzy in which Jesus’ own concerns were realized, as in John 6:15, Then Jesus, because he knew they were going to come and seize him by force to make him king, withdrew again up the mountainside alone.

But having spent a three year season in the Torah a few years ago, my present theory is that Jesus instructed the leper to zip his lip because He realized that the leper was not totally healed. ☹ His body had been afflicted with a terrible disease, but his emotions and psyche had also been brutally assaulted, and needed to be healed as well. 

For any of us who have received a cancer diagnosis, we know that it can change a person on a significant level.  In fact, I would venture to say that the person is never the same again—in one moment, they are irrevocably changed forever and they can’t go back.  I was determined that I would not be branded by the disease, and that it would not become a large part of who I was.  I wanted people to view me as “the person whom Jesus had healed”—not a cancer victim in remission.  Through His grace, healing mercies, and wonderful wisdom about right-thinking (Phil 4:6-9), I didn’t have to wear the scarlet C letter on my forehead.  But I was changed in a significant way—and have learned that there’s a huge amount of emotional baggage that accompanies the cancer diagnosis.  I believe that people need to be healed from that, as much as the primary diagnosis. 

I see similarities between this and the stigma of leprosy during Jesus’ earth-walk—in terms of a major onslaught.  Leprosy often came with a death sentence, but it also came with deliberately deep shunning by one’s community, family, loved ones—and ensuing expulsion.  The leper was exiled and had to live totally cut off and alone.  The only way that he could ever come home was (a) if he was totally healed, and (b) if the priest pronounced him healed, reinstated him, and publicly testified of his worthiness to re-enter the community. 

Leviticus 14 details a gruelingly complex process in which the priest confirmed the leper’s healing.  At that point, he was allowed to “re-enter the camp.”  But the person could still not “re-enter their tent” until they went through intense ritual cleansing.  Only then could they experience the embrace, validation, and love of their friends and family again. 

Having to wander as a pariah, and take on the identity of the disease, was emotionally crushing.  Jesus knew that the leper had to go full cycle in his healing.  Just because the outward decimation was cured, this did not mean that the inward decimation had been dealt with.  That’s why Jesus warned the man to go to the priest first.  But instead the man did not seek that extra validation that would have fully restored him.  If/when he did go back to the priest in the future, he now risked being perceived as somebody who had been healed by “that charlatan, itinerant preacher who was creating chaos in the countryside, claiming that his magical powers come from God.”  So the leper’s delay may have cost him that emotional healing.

Did Jesus know that the leper was going to deliberately disobey Him?  Of course.  But He healed him anyway.  However, God’s best for the leper would have been both physical and emotional healing.  Seeing the man receive God’s best was important enough to Jesus that He made a special effort to warn the man—settling it forever in earth and heaven. 

What can we learn about the nature of our triune God from this account? He wants us to have a complete healing today—both physical and emotional.