Thursday, June 25, 2009

Daily - 6/25/09

Matthew 8:1-4

1 When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.

2 And then a leper approached, did him homage, and said, "Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean."

3 He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, "I will do it. Be made clean." His leprosy was cleansed immediately.

4 Then Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one, but go show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them."

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This healing itself is miraculous. However, it also has a very significant cultural elements that many of us don't consider today. Christ TOUCHED the leper. From the fourth century, here's Chrysostom's commentary:

St. John Chrysostom (4th - 5th Century)

But He did not merely say, “I will, be thou clean,” but He also “put forth His hand, and touched him;” a thing especially worthy of inquiry. For wherefore, when cleansing him by will and word, did He add also the touch of His hand? It seems to me, for no other end, but that He might signify by this also, that He is not subject to the law, but is set over it; and that to the clean, henceforth, nothing is unclean. For this cause, we see, Elisha did not so much as see Naaman, but though he perceived that he was offended at his not coming out and touching him, observing the strictness of the law, he abides at home, and sends him to Jordan to wash. Whereas the Lord, to signify that He heals not as a servant, but as absolute master, doth also touch. For His hand became not unclean from the leprosy, but the leprous body was rendered clean by His holy hand.

Because, as we know, He came not to heal bodies only, but also to lead the soul unto self-command. As therefore He from that time forward no more forbad to eat with unwashen hands, introducing that excellent law, which relates to the indifference of meats; just so in this case also, to instruct us for the future, that the soul must be our care; that leaving the outward purifications, we must wipe that clean, and dread the leprosy thereof alone, which is sin (for to be a leper is no hindrance to virtue): He Himself first touches the leper, and no man finds fault. For the tribunal was not corrupt, neither were the spectators under the power of envy. Therefore, so far from blaming, they were on the contrary astonished at the miracle, and yielded thereto: and both for what He said, and for what He did, they adored his uncontrollable power.