Matthew 8:2

‘And behold, there came to him a leper and worshipped him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean”.'

‘Behold.' This is probably to be seen as opening the whole series of incidents. Matthew is saying, ‘look now at the kinds of things that He did'. He wants to bring out that what now happens is significant (compare Matthew 1:20). But it also introduces the main character in this story (apart of course from Jesus).

Jesus is approached by a skin-diseased man (not necessarily Hansen's disease, that is, what we call leprosy). We can almost feel the shock that ran through those who were there. Such men were not supposed to approach a crowd of people. They were seen as dead men, ‘the living dead', and banished from human society. For the Law declared, ‘All the days in which the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled. He is unclean. He will dwell alone. Outside the camp will his dwellingplace be' (Leviticus 13:46). His clothes had to be torn, his hair dishevelled, his upper lip covered, and as he moved around he had to cry, ‘Unclean, unclean' (Leviticus 13:45). The medical necessity for this was clear, but for the person himself it was devastating.

In Jesus' day they were not allowed to enter walled towns, and in the synagogues a small chamber would be set aside for their use, approached from the outside. They were, however, allowed to live in unwalled towns as long as they lived in their own houses. Most Scribes and Pharisees, if they saw a skin-diseased man would hasten off in the other direction, lest his uncleanness affect their ritual purity. He was not allowed to approach within two metres/yards (four cubits) of ordinary people, and they would keep to his windward side, otherwise when there was a wind he had to keep fifty metres/yards (one hundred cubits) away. If he entered a house it would be rendered instantly unclean.

To approach a group of people in this way the man must have been desperate. And yet he must have had great faith in this prophet. It says much for Jesus' reputation for compassion that he felt that he could approach Him at all, for a prophet might well curse such a man as he, for daring to approach Him. And, no doubt keeping the regular two metres/yards distant, he fell on his face and ‘made obeisance' to Jesus. The word can mean ‘worship' in the fullest sense, but can also signify the payment of homage and respect. The latter was probably the attitude of the skin-diseased man, although homage of the deepest kind, but the former was probably in the back of Matthew's mind. The difference between homage and worship is very often clouded, and regularly homage includes a certain level of worship.

The words of the skin-diseased man are powerful. ‘LORD, if you will, you can make me clean'. In his isolated world he had had much time to think, and word would have reached him and his fellow-lepers, through relatives and friends who brought them food, of this amazing prophet and what he was doing for people. Possibly he had even heard Him speak in the synagogue. And he had become convinced that here was One with unusual powers, who had the power to remove this dreadful scourge. But he had also recognised that it would all depend on His willingness and His will. He was a great Prophet. Would He even want to bother Himself about the living dead? Would He exercise His will on his behalf? The way that he phrases it demonstrates the uniqueness that he saw in Jesus. ‘If you will.' This is as decisive a claim to Jesus authority as we will find anywhere. By His will He has the power to make clean.

‘Clean.' The word conveys the depths of his despair. He was not only permanently diseased, he was unclean. He was a total outcast. His condition was one despised by men, it rendered him unfit for society, it prevented more than a limited approach to God, for it barred him from the Temple. To be made clean would be such a transformation of his life as was indescribable.

But what does he mean by ‘Lord'? The word is especially significant here as it is not found in Mark's account (although included in Luke). It is probably a recognition of His greatness as a true prophet with amazing powers, as so often in this section. He recognises in Jesus someone Who is outstanding and has unusual supernatural power (compare Matthew 8:25). People in desperate circumstances are often made to face up to what powers are necessary in order to save them in a way that others are not. And this man knew how deep his need was. Matthew, however, wants his readers to recognise the implication behind the word, that this One is LORD indeed, in the fullest sense.