Jesus Cures a Leper (Mk. 1:40-45)

A leper came to him [and kneeling down] begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.”  41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.”  42 The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.  43 Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.  44 Then he said to him, “See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.”  45 The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere.

Any scaly skin disease in OT times was called leprosy.  A ‘leper’ was considered ritually unclean and therefore an outcast who could not worship in the Temple (Lev. 13:1-17) or come into contact with other human beings or their property (Lev. 13:46).  A leper was the epitome of uncleanness and had to wear special garments and cry out “unclean” when approaching so others can avoid him (Lev. 13:45).  If a leper claimed to be cured he was obligated to go to the priest so the cure could be verified (Lev. 13). 

The leper humbled himself before Jesus and gave him the option to heal him; “If you wish, you can make me clean (v. 40).”  Jesus sympathizes with our human frailties (Heb. 4:15) and showing deep compassion, he touched the leper who was immediately healed (v. 41), but by touching the leper Jesus himself became ritually unclean.  Jesus ordered the man to tell no one, Mark’s Messianic secret, and go and show himself to the Priest in accordance with the Law (Lev. 14: 1-32).  Jesus did not want the demons who recognized him to reveal his Divine mission and often told those he healed not to speak about it (cf. Mk. 1:44).  Once the Priest declared the leper ritually clean, he/she could rejoin the community.  By touching the leper Jesus had transgressed the Mosaic Law.  Jesus warned the man to tell no one about the incident, the Messianic secret.

The cleansing of a leper was associated with Messianic times (Mt. 11:5).  By healing the leper Jesus demonstrated his power to heal even what was thought to be the most unclean malady of that time.  The man could be restored to the community of Israel.  On many occasions in the Gospel of Mark, those who were healed (v. 44) or had demons exorcised (Mk. 3:11-12) were commanded by Jesus to be silent about him. 

Almighty God, in your compassion, heal us of our spiritual ills and if it is your will heal us of our physical afflictions.  This we pray through Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Amen!

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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.

                Orchard, Bernard, et al. A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Feb. 1953.