A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, saying to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.
Perhaps the most striking thing about Jesus’ interaction with the leper is not that he healed him but that he touched him. The leper approaches Jesus with amazing dignity: he kneels, presumably at arm’s length, and, rather than imploring Jesus, speaks a conditional sentence – if you wish, you can heal me… Jesus reacts with ‘pity’. But ‘pity’ is a rather weak word here. The Greek is better rendered ‘keenly affected’, suggesting indignation and anger. Jesus’ reaction to the leper is one of heartfelt, pained identification with his suffering. As such, that Jesus touches the leper (a fact which Mark clearly wishes to emphasise) seems to carry just as much weight as the healing itself, for to reach out and touch a leper – contrary to both ritual law and social convention – was to affirm in a radical way that person’s humanity.
The healing is closely followed by a stern warning that the man follows the prescribed Mosaic rituals that accompany healing. This may seem strange to us, given that Jesus has just made himself ‘unclean’ by touching the leper. Why break a Levitical law only to immediately sternly demand that another one be kept?
We must think back to earlier healing episodes. Mark has already described the common reaction to Jesus’ miracles: the crowds show astonishment, but display little faith. The news of Jesus’ miracles spreads rapidly, with the result that Jesus attracts fame, but there is no suggestion of obedience to him – of the conviction shown by the first disciples at the Sea of Galilee. Jesus therefore seeks a more authoritative statement of his power, and so sends the leper through the Temple system in order for the healing to be properly verified.
It may be that this passage also reflects Jesus’ radical fulfilment of the Old Testament Law. He will favour healing over strict observance, but he will not as a result throw out the whole law. Jesus encompasses both the old and the new – he is preeminent in the ancient story of God and Israel, but, as the Son of God, comes not just to adhere to that law but to fulfil it in a new and radical way.