This coming Sunday is the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Jesus’ response to the petition consisted of a gesture and a pronouncement. The touch of Jesus, which crossed the taboo of contact with a leper, was significant from two points of view. From the perspective of the leper it was an unheard-of act of compassion which must have moved him deeply and strengthened him in his conviction he had not asked for help in vain. From the perspective of Jesus’ relationship to the cultic and ritual system, it indicated that he did not hesitate when the situation demanded. Jesus’ touch and his sovereign pronouncement mean the same thing: “I do will it. Be made clean.” This was not a priestly pronouncement, as is made clear in verses 43–44, but a declaration that healing would follow immediately and completely. The text describes an instantaneous radical healing which was visible to all who met the man.

In her commentary, Pheme Perkins makes an interesting point by asking if there would be a different attitude towards leprosy and Levitical requirements if you lived near Jerusalem or lived up north in Galilee. By way of a weak analogy, what would be our attitude if having been seemingly cured by a physician in our home town, we were told it was necessary to present ourselves to the infectious disease specialists at the National Institute of Health in Washington DC to receive the definitive declaration of the cure?  How many of us would bother?

Later extra-biblical writings from Qumran show particular and meticulous concern with the details of the required one-week purification process after the declaration. Would we opt for taking the time and expense for what might amount in our minds as a “second opinion” when the evidence of the healing seems pretty clear.

This is why some scholars wonder if the now-cured leper ever had any intention of making the trip to Jerusalem: “show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.”

Image credit: 12th-13th century Mosaic | Cathedral of the Assumption, Monreale, Sicily | PS-US