When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him and behold a leper came to him and knelt before him saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him saying, “I will be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a proof to them.”
– Matthew 8:1–4
It’s easy to follow Jesus in these moments on the mountain top where everything is going well, we’re being fed, we’re in deep conversations and fellowship with others, and our faith isn’t being tested. Jesus just finished the sermon on the mount and is now beginning to descend the mountain into the valleys where everyday life is lived out. In this moment, as they descend, a leper approaches Jesus and the crowd. Can you imagine that scene with a leper, the most outcast in society and culture, like the person who, if you get anywhere close to them, must yell so that you stay away because if you were to touch them, you would be considered unclean!
As you approach the leper, they must cry out with a loud voice, “Unclean, stop!” Don’t come any closer! It’s immediately a psychological battle of the mind to desire closeness, to desire unity and fellowship, just like many have witnessed on the mountain top, but required by law to yell at others to stay away from me; no touching, no hugging, no closeness at all is allowed. Immediately, Jesus, the disciples, and the followers are placed into the laboratory of relationships. They are given the opportunity to take everything they’ve learned in the mountain top classroom to the laboratory of everyday life to put into practice what they’ve learned. At this point, just imagine the crowds. They’re dispersing, they’re scattering. Jesus is standing there and people are wondering why is he not dispersing, scattering? I believe it is because this leper came and worshiped. “Worship,” meaning “worth it,” is the expression of the inner heart saying to Jesus, “You are worth it.” I imagine the leper struggling and battling in their mind this war on, “I want to be close but I am required to push you away.” Right away the leper makes the decision to come kneel and worship Jesus and by faith says, “Lord, if you’re willing, make me clean.”
One of the greatest fragrances of faith is our hearts willingness to worship Jesus. It’s us saying, “Jesus, you’re worth it!” But sometimes when we have been hurt and required by our culture to say one thing, it’s hard to live that way and believe we deserve to be healed. The crowds saw the leper and would run away, the leper saw the crowds and would need to go against their hearts desire to want closeness but yet yell, get away! I can sense in the lepers heart he would say to Jesus. “I want be clean. I wanted to come with you to the mountain top, but my condition made me stay here away from others. My heart desires closeness but yet I am forced and required to constantly say, I am unworthy, Stay away! Jesus breaks through all of the norms, the hurt and the loneliness of this person and he simply comes and touches them. That’s the beauty of holy relationships. This simple action to touch was probably the first time this person has been touched for awhile. Jesus put the classroom work of the beatitudes into the laboratory of practical relationship to show that community does matters. And, so that others can witness that he practices what he preaches.