Jesus Cleanses a Leper

Matthew 8:1-4

Today we begin a new section of the Gospel of Matthew. As we do, let’s review where we have been. In chapters 1 and 2, Matthew begins his Gospel with Jesus’ genealogy and birth. These accounts were designed to present Jesus as the promised Messiah, the King. He is the Son of Abraham and the Son of David the king (Matt. 1:1-17). But not only does Jesus have the human credentials to be the Messiah-King, Matthew also showed that Jesus was the Son of God through His virgin birth (Matt. 1:18-23). He is the Lord who will save His people from their sins (Matt. 1:21). In these chapters Matthew emphasized that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies concerning the Messiah.

In chapter 3, Matthew introduced John the Baptist as one who prepared the way for the coming of the Messiah by preaching that the Kingdom of God was at hand and calling sinners to repentance (Matt. 3:1-12). When Jesus came to be baptized, God the Father and the Holy Spirit testified that Jesus was the Beloved Son of God, anointed with the Holy Spirit of God (Matt. 3:13-17).

In chapter 4, King Jesus was victorious over Satan’s temptations in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11). After John’s arrest, Jesus left Nazareth and moved to Capernaum in fulfillment of prophecy (Matt. 4:12-16). He called at least four of His disciples: Peter, Andrew, James, and John (Matt. 4:18-20) and began preaching, teaching, and healing, attracting large crowds (Matt. 4:21-25).

All that set the stage for Jesus to teach His disciples His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. We spent the last year studying Jesus’ teaching. It was certainly challenging and convicting. Jesus demands true righteousness in our hearts, not just an outward conformity to the commandments or hypocritical self-righteousness. If you didn’t come away from the Sermon on the Mount deeply convicted of your sin and your serious need for the Savior, then you weren’t paying attention. Recall from last time that when Jesus finished teaching, “the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matt. 7:28-29). His authoritative teaching was unlike anything they had ever heard before.

So, in Matthew 1-4 we saw the person of the King. In Matthew 5-7, we saw the principles of the King. Now in the next few chapters, Matthew will emphasize the power of the King.^[1]

In chapters 8 and 9, Matthew records a series of miracles that demonstrate the power and authority of Jesus. Rather than a strict chronological order, Matthew arranges these miracles in three groups of three related miracles and, through them, shows Jesus’ authority over sickness and disease (Matt. 8:1-17); over nature (Matt. 8:23-27), demons (Matt. 8:28-34), and His authority to forgiveness of sins (Matt. 9:1-8); and then over death (Matt. 9:18-26), blindness (Matt. 9:27-31), and speechlessness (Matt. 9:32-34).

Interspersed between these miracle accounts Jesus has dialogues with various people: some would-be disciples (Matt. 8:18-23); the Pharisees (Matt. 9:9-13) and John’s disciples (Matt. 9:14-17); and Jesus’ own disciples (Matt. 9:35-38). The miracles focus on Jesus’ authority and power. The dialogues have to do with discipleship. So together, these miracles and dialogues present Jesus as the authoritative Son of God who not only preaches the good news of God’s kingdom but demonstrates it in power through His miraculous works, and who calls us to follow Him as disciples.^[2]

Today we will look at the first of three healing miracles in Matthew 8, Jesus’ cleansing of a leper.

Matthew 8:1 connects this healing to Jesus’ teaching: “When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.” Jesus had gone up on a mountain to teach in Matthew 5:1; He now comes down from teaching. And just as Jesus taught with authority, Jesus healed with authority. Back in Matthew 4:25 we already saw that “great multitudes followed Him” from all over the region.

However, we need to understand that Jesus doesn’t just want large crowds to follow Him around. He wants disciples who will follow Him as Lord and do what He teaches. The Sermon on the Mount made that clear. Now Jesus teaches His Lordship through this series of miracles demonstrating His power and through the dialogues explaining the true meaning of discipleship.[3]

There are four main points I want you to see in this healing story.[4]

1. The Man’s Condition

Matthew 8:2 says, “And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.’” Matthew regularly uses the phrase “And behold” (καί ἰδού) when he introduces something new in a narrative that he wants to draw attention to (Matthew 2:9; 3:16; 4:11; 8:2, 24, 29, 32, 34; 9:2f, 20; 12:10; 15:22; 17:3; 19:16; 26:51; 27:51; 28:2, 7). Spurgeon reminds us “Behold is a word of wonder; it is intended to excite admiration. Wherever you see it hung out in Scripture, it is like an ancient sign-board, signifying that there are rich wares within…”^[5]

What are we to behold and wonder at? “A leper came.” Picture the scene. Crowds of men and women, boys and girls, surrounded Jesus. Then suddenly a commotion broke out in the multitude. The sea of people began to part as a poor, disheveled, pathetic leper thrusts his way to Jesus. From the crowd there might have even come some angry murmurs or fearful shrieks as the leper’s sudden presence rudely interrupted the scene.

Leprosy was a feared disease. William Barclay describes a terrible form of leprosy that today we call Hansen’s disease:

Leprosy might begin with the loss of all sensation in some part of the body; the nerve trunks are affected; the muscles waste away; the tendons contract until the hands are like claws. There follows ulceration of the hands and feet. Then comes the progressive loss of fingers and toes. until in the end a whole hand or a whole foot may drop off. The duration of that kind of leprosy is anything from twenty to thirty years. It is a kind of terrible progressive death in which a man dies by inches.[6]

There was no cure for leprosy, and it was considered as difficult to heal from leprosy as to raise someone from the dead (2 Kings 5:7). A leprous man would be the closest thing we could think of to “the walking dead”.

The physical symptoms of the disease were terrible enough, but the social stigma was even worse. The Old Testament commanded that if a man contracted leprosy, “. . . His clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his mustache, and cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp” (Leviticus 13:45-46). Lepers were shunned. People hid themselves when if a leper came into town begging for food.

People viewed leprosy as a curse from God. And that is understandable. Remember Miriam, Moses’ sister? When Aaron and Miriam spoke against Moses’ authority from God, she was struck with leprosy (Numbers 12:10). Remember Gehazi, the prophet Elisha’s servant? He was struck with leprosy because he sought to abuse Elisha’s ministry to gain material wealth for himself (2 Kings 5:27). Remember King Uzziah? He was struck with leprosy when he pridefully disobeyed God and sought to make an offering in the temple that was only right for the priests to make (2 Chronicles 26:16-21). Because of these accounts, leprosy was viewed as a punishment from God.

So not only was your body destroying itself, you were also seen to have brought this on yourself, and were banished from all fellowship from your fellow man. Lepers were not treated with sympathy, lepers were treated as outcasts.

That is the man’s condition. Next look at,

2. The Man’s Confidence.

The mere fact that this leper came to Jesus while he is surrounded by multitudes of people shows his boldness. In Luke’s account of this miracle, he tells us that this particular man was “full of leprosy” (Luke 5:12), that is, covered with it from head to toe! He was unclean. And that is what was so startling. “Behold!” this leper came to Jesus in the midst of the crowd. He ignored all the reasons that might keep him away—the shame and humiliation, the public rejection—and he “came” to Jesus anyway.

How did he come? Look at Matthew 8:2 again, “And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.’” Notice his reverent posture: he kneels before Jesus. The New King James Bible tells us that he came and “worshiped” Jesus. The word that Matthew uses (proskuneõ) is one that literally describes the act of “kissing toward”. It meant to do “reverence” or “homage” to someone perhaps by symbolically kissing the hand or foot in order to express respect or to make supplication. This is a key word in Matthew used some 13 times (Matt. 2:2,8,11; 4:9,10; 8:2; 9:18; 14:33; 15:25; 18:26; 20:20; 28:9; 28:17).

Notice his reverent language: he addresses Jesus as Lord. That word can mean simply, “master”, but in this case, we can’t help but see that the word had a special significance (remember Matthew 7:21-22). Kent Hughes points out that “You can call Jesus ‘Lord’ without having saving faith in Him. Jesus teaches that at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. However, consistently throughout Matthew’s Gospel, this title is only found on the lips of Jesus’ disciples or those who, like this leper, are sick and in desperate need of Him.”^[7] This man was coming to Jesus for healing from leprosy! Would he come to a mere man for something like that?

Notice his humility. The leper didn’t come demanding a healing from Jesus because he had no right to demand one. He came boldly and reverently. He came worshiping Jesus and acknowledging His power. But he also came humbly, leaving the matter of his cleansing to the Savior’s sovereign will. He makes the statement: “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” (Matthew 8:2) He has no doubt at all about Jesus’ power to heal. If Jesus wills it, it will happen. The man was saying that it was in Jesus’ power and authority to make him “clean” not only physically, but also ceremonially before God and man. And so, the leper comes boldly, reverently, humbly, confidently to Christ for healing.

3. The Man’s Cleansing

Jesus’ response to the leper is so beautiful as he shows compassion and the ability to heal. Look at Matthew 8:3, “Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” Don’t miss how remarkable it is when it says, “Jesus put out His hand and touched him.” In those days, no one touched a leper! I imagine all the people standing around Jesus when this happened. They were already shocked by the fact that this leper would break into the crowd and approach Jesus. But then, to see Jesus reach out and touch the man! You can almost hear the collective ‘gasp’ from the crowd.

The Old Testament warns if someone touches an unclean person or thing, that person also becomes unclean. Leviticus 5:3 says, “Or if he touches human uncleanness—whatever uncleanness with which a man may be defiled, and he is unaware of it—when he realizes it, then he shall be guilty.” It is likely that this leper had not felt a kind human touch in years. Jesus did not cleanse the leper first and then touch him. He touched him while he was still a leper and then cleansed him.

Why did Jesus touch him? We know from the very next healing story (Matthew 8:5-13) that Jesus did not need to touch in order to heal; He had the authority and power to just speak a word and bring healing from a distance. No, I think Jesus touched this leper on purpose to show His compassion. Mark, in his Gospel, makes this explicit when he writes, “Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him” (Mark 1:41). What a picture of God’s love! Touching the leper would make a person unclean, but with Jesus the opposite happens. Instead of Jesus becoming unclean, the leper is made clean.

Jesus says to the leper: “I am willing; be cleansed.” Those are just two words in the original language. The first word (thelõ) is an expression of fact: “I am willing“; and that was certainly something that the poor leper needed to hear. But the second word (katharisthãti) is a command: “Be cleansed“. One word expresses our Savior’s attitude toward the man’s need—that He is truly willing to meet it. And the other word expresses His authority and power—that He is able to do it.

And that is exactly what happened! His feet, legs, midsection, arms, neck, and face – the leprosy was all gone in an instant. That is the power of Christ demonstrated in this miracle. Jesus has the power to make clean in an instant, absolutely clean. In this miracle, Matthew wants us to see that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Later in Matthew 11:3, when some disciples of John the Baptist come to ask, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” Jesus told them to tell John, “The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” (Matt. 11:5). What does it mean that “lepers are cleansed”? Jesus is the Coming One, the Christ, the Son of God.

We have seen the man’s condition, his confidence, his cleansing, and finally we see,

4. The Man’s Commission

Look at Matthew 8:4, “And Jesus said to him, ‘See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’” Now this is an interesting statement. Jesus just worked a great miracle to cleanse this man and He yet told him not to tell anyone but to go to the priest. Why?

One reason would be out of obedience to the law. The law of God given through Moses states that, when a man was healed of leprosy, then he was to go to the temple and show himself to the priests. And if, upon examination, the man indeed was healed, he was to undergo a ceremonial ritual of cleansing (Leviticus 14:1-20). Only after this ceremony had been completed by the priest could the man then be restored to the social life of his people.

Jesus was often accused of breaking the law, but this was a testimony that Jesus honored the law and encouraged others to honor the law, too. Jesus just taught in Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”

Now, you might wonder why it was important for Jesus to honor the law when we no longer follow the ceremonial laws in the Old Testament today. We no longer offer sacrifices or engage in these Old Testament rituals. So why did Jesus honor these commands?

You have to remember, when Jesus did these things, the ceremonial law had not yet been fulfilled. The ceremonial law would not be fulfilled until Jesus went to the cross. All the sacrifices, offerings, and rituals were fulfilled in the ultimate sacrifice Jesus would make on the cross when He died for our sins.

Another reason Jesus told him to go to the priests was “as a testimony to them.” We have no record anywhere in the Bible before this time that the ceremony for the cleansing of a leper had ever been performed. By sending this man to the priests to perform that Old Testament ritual for his cleansing, it would testify to the priests that something outstanding and unprecedented had happened! It was testimony that Jesus is the Christ.

Jesus’ healings showed His compassion. They revealed Him as Messiah in fulfillment of prophecy. But also, Jesus’ miracles taught spiritual truths, as each miracle was designed to teach us something about sin and salvation and our relationship with God. What does the cleansing of the leper teach us about salvation in Jesus?

Leprosy is a picture of the uncleanness of sin. Like sin it disfigures; like sin it contaminates; like sin it spreads; like sin it isolates; and like sin it is not curable by man. We are powerless to clean ourselves, but Jesus has the power to make us clean from sin. Jesus offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for us. When we trust Him as Lord and Savior, Jesus presents us to His Father as perfectly clean—all our sins forgiven. Christ is both priest and sacrifice, and we are the recipients of His salvation by grace through faith in Him.

Despite our sinful condition, we can come to Jesus confidently and receive His cleansing from sin. He will touch us and instantly make us clean. He will touch us and instantly remove our sin. He will touch us and instantly make us new. Jesus saves the same way He heals.

I love the song that Bill Gaither wrote about Jesus’ miraculous touch. It was 1963 and Gaither was accompanying an “old preacher friend” Dr. Dale Oldham on various crusades. After an evangelistic service one Saturday night, Dr. Dale looked over at Bill and said, “Bill there’s something special about that word touch. You ought to write a song about how God touches lives.”

Gaither’s mind mulled over the revival meeting and the heavy-laden faces he’d seen in the crowd. He thought about how Christ transformed them to looks of hope and joy by the end of the meeting. By the next morning, Bill had scrawled out the lyrics to two verses and the chorus and had composed a simple melody. It goes like this:

Shackled by a heavy burden
‘Neath a load of guilt and shame
Then the hand of Jesus touched me
And now I am no longer the same

He touched me, oh, He touched me
And oh, the joy that floods my soul
Something happened, and now I know
He touched me, and made me whole

Since I’ve met this blessed Savior
Since He’s cleansed and made me whole
Oh, I will never cease to praise Him (to praise Him)
I’ll shout it while eternity rolls

Oh, He touched me, oh He touched me, He touched me
And oh, the joy that floods my soul
Something happened and now I know
He touched me and made me whole[8]

Have you been cleansed by the touch of Jesus?

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^[1] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 32.

[2] Ray Fowler, Power to Make Clean. https://www.rayfowler.org/sermons/matthew/power-to-make-clean/

[3] Ray Fowler, ibid.

[4] Rory Mosley, Jesus vs Leprosy, https://fbcspur.org/jesus-vs-leprosy-matthew-81-4/. I adapted Mosley’s outline.

[5] Charles Spurgeon, A Precious Drop of Honey. https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/a-precious-drop-of-honey/#flipbook/

[6] William Barclay, Daily Study Bible – Matthew, https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/dsb/matthew-8.html

[7] Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word – Matthew: All Authority in Heaven and on Earth, Crossway, Wheaton, Ill. Quoted at https://www.preceptaustin.org/matthew-8-commentary#8:2