What was He thinking?

In previous weeks we have read and heard about Jesus actively healing mind, body and soul. With authority he has ordered tormenting demons to be silent and be gone. With the touch of His hand he has lifted Simon's mother-in law to freedom from the fever of her illness. Up until this week's lesson, we hear nothing about the subsequent behavior of those healed, other than the woman who immediately began to serve her household.

So far the lessons have focused primarily upon the external, visible expression of Jesus' mission. Jesus is here to do what he has been sent to do: cast out demons, and heal the sick. And he accomplishes just that, and the crowds come to him because his fame is spreading. Now, the Gospel Writer says, Jesus has something specific to say to the one he has cleansed.

Up until this lesson, he gives no post-healing directive.

But in this week's lesson, Jesus is very clear. He speaks sternly to the cleansed leper and sends him away, saying: "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." Matthew 1:44

Some readings of the verse say that Jesus "snorted like a horse" as he told the newly cleansed leper what to do...(or what not to do). One commentator speculated that he may have actually physically shoved the leper on his way. But the healed leper did not comply...and from that moment on Jesus' ministry had to unfold in a different way.

We can only wonder what was motivating Jesus in this reading. Perhaps he knew that by touching the leper he himself would be seen as "unclean". Perhaps he knew that he had crossed a boundary that was truly the point of no return in terms of his accessibility to the "touchable" (ie, the "clean") people. Up until then his teachings, exorcisms, and healings were still in the realm of what could be processed by the authorities (even though they were skeptical and resistant). But having moved into relationship with the leper who was not only a sinner but also untouchable, the social obstruction to Jesus' ministry became more impenetrable than all those Jesus previously encountered.

So the leper was told to "tell no one" ... but he did not obey. Because he freely told everybody what had happened, Jesus had to "do what he was sent to do" in the marginal areas.

One author, Ben Witherington in his book The Gospel of Mark: A Socio-Historical Commentary, reminds us that Jesus was sent to do all that he did not merely for the amelioration of specific illnesses or maladies of particular individuals. It is in the midst of the healing or the casting out of demons that he was exhibiting the authority that was His and that would unleash the revelation of God's Kingdom "in our midst". Each healing and exorcism was meant to point to something much more far reaching than the life of one person.

We see Jesus facing anything that would divert him from his mission with emphatic directive. We also see him loving the "other" so much that he is compelled to stretch out his hand, toucing the untouchable, exposing his life and what status he had to irreversable taint.

What can we learn from the leper and our Lord in terms of our own pleas for healing of heart, mind and soul? When we feel like we are outcasts (part of the "out-crowd") how can we respond to Christ's power to envelope us in the community of his Love? What kind of response is most effective for the sake of glorifying the Gospel? How can all deliverances from evil be seen as an opportunity to watch, wait and listen for how our experience can testify to others of new life in Christ?