The First Messianic Miracle: The Healing of a Leper

A. Introduction

The first messianic miracle was the healing of a leper. Under the Mosaic Law, a person could only be defiled by a living human body upon touching a leper. Generally under the Mosaic Law, one could become ceremonially unclean or defiled, by touching a dead human body, a dead animal body, or a live, unclean animal body, such as a pig. But the only type of living human capable of causing defilement was a leper.

From the time between the completion of the Mosaic Law and Yeshua's First Coming, there was no record of any Jew who had been healed of leprosy. Miriam's healing of leprosy occurred before the completion of the Law. Naman was healed of leprosy, but he was a Syrian Gentile and not a Jew.

Leprosy was the one disease that was left out of rabbinic cures; there was no cure for leprosy whatsoever. Yet the Scriptures — Leviticus 13-14 — gave the Levitical priesthood detailed instructions as to what they were to do if a leper was healed. On the day that a leper approached the priesthood and said, "I was a leper but now I have been healed," the priesthood was to give an initial offering of two birds. For the next seven days, they were to intensively investigate the situation to determine three things. First was the person really a leper? Second, if, indeed, he was a real leper, was he actually cured of his leprosy? Third, if he was truly cured of his leprosy, what were the circumstances of the healing? If after seven days of investigation, they were firmly convinced that the man had been a leper, had been healed of his leprosy, and the circumstances were proper, then, on the eighth day, there would be a lengthy series of offerings. In total, there were four different offerings. First, there was a trespass offering; second, a sin offering; third, a burnt offering; and fourth, a meal offering. Then, there was also the application of the blood of the trespass offering upon the healed leper, followed by the application of the blood of the sin offering upon the healed leper. The ceremony would then come to an end with the anointing of oil upon the healed leper. Although the priesthood had all these detailed instructions as to how they were to respond in the case of a healed leper, they never had opportunity to put these instructions into effect: from the time the Mosaic Law was given, no Jew was ever healed of leprosy. As a result, it was taught by the rabbis that only the Messiah would be able to heal a Jewish leper. The healing of the leper was, in fact, classed as the first of the three messianic miracles.

B. The Healing of the Leper

The three Gospel accounts that tell us about the healing of a leper are: Matthew 8:2-4, Mark 1:40-45 and Luke 5:12-16. Matthew and Mark merely state that the man was a leper; but Luke, who was a medical doctor by profession, gave more details. According to Luke 5:12, the afflicted man was full of leprosy. That means the leprosy was fully developed, and it would not be very long before the leprosy would take this man's life. This very ill man with his fully developed leprosy came to Yeshua and said, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. The leper clearly recognized the authority of Yeshua as the Messiah who had the power to heal a leper. The only question on the part of the leper was the willingness of Yeshua to do so. At that point, we read that Yeshua touched the leper and straightway the leprosy departed from him (Luke 5:13). But we must carefully note what Yeshua told the leper to do, according to Luke 5:14:

And he charged him to tell no man: but to go thy way, and show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

The "them" refers specifically to the leadership of Israel. Yeshua sent this man directly to the priesthood in Jerusalem in order to force them to follow through with the commands of Moses in Leviticus 13-14. When this man appeared before the priesthood of Israel and declared himself to be a cleansed leper, on that very day the priesthood offered up two birds as a sacrifice. For the next seven days, they intensively investigated the situation and discovered three things: First, they discovered this man really had been a leper. Second they discovered that the man was perfectly healed of his leprosy. Third, they also discovered that Yeshua of Nazareth was the one who healed the man of his leprosy. Because these same priests taught that the healing of a leper was a messianic miracle, it followed that anyone healing a leper would, by that very act, claim to be the Messiah Himself. Yeshua deliberately sent this cleansed leper to the priesthood in order to get the leaders to start investigating His messianic claims, so that they would come to a decision regarding such messianic claims. He wanted to force the Jewish leaders to make a decision regarding: His Person — that He was the Messiah; and His message — that He was offering to Israel the Kingdom predicted by the Jewish prophets. Having sent the healed leper to the leadership of Israel, Yeshua then withdrew himself in the deserts, and prayed (Luke 5:16). Yeshua went into the desert where, on an earlier occasion, He had fasted and was tempted by Satan. This time, He went into the desert for the purpose of praying. About what subject was He praying? He was praying regarding what would happen next and how the leadership of Israel would respond to the messianic miracle.

C. The Jewish Response

What occurred next is found is found in three of the Gospels: Matthew 9:1-8, Mark 2:1-12 and Luke 5:17-26. Mark points out that this incident occurred in Capernaum in Galilee, many miles from Jerusalem. Yet Luke 5:17 states:

And it came to pass on one of those days, that He was teaching; and there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, who were come out of every village of Galilee and Judaea and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was with Him to heal.

What we do not have here is merely a few Jewish leaders from the town of Capernaum listening to Yeshua's teaching. Luke's account very clearly states that these were all of the Jewish leaders that had come together from all over the country (Galilee, Judea, and the Jerusalem environs). Why are all these Jewish leaders suddenly having a convention in Capernaum? This was their response to the first messianic miracle. They knew that Yeshua had healed a leper. According to their own teachings, only the Messiah would be able to heal a leper. If Yeshua healed the leper, it could very well mean that He was the Messiah. With this background, they all came together to investigate Yeshua.

According to Sanhedrin law, if there was any kind of messianic movement, the Sanhedrin were to investigate the situation in two stages: The first stage was called the "stage of observation." A delegation was formed to investigate only by way of observation. This delegation was to observe what was being said, what was being done, and what was being taught. They were not permitted to ask any question or raise any objections. After a period of observation, they were then to return to Jerusalem, report to the Sanhedrin and give a verdict: was the movement significant, or was the movement insignificant? If the movement was decreed to be insignificant, the matter would be dropped. But if the movement was declared to be significant, there would, then, be a second stage of investigation called the "stage of interrogation." In this stage, they would interrogate the individual or members of the movement. This time, they would ask questions and raise objections to discover whether the claims should be accepted or rejected. The incident in Luke 5:17 records the first stage, the stage of observation, in which they went to observe what Yeshua was saying and doing. At this point, they were not allowed to raise objections or ask questions. Because a messianic miracle had been performed, all the leaders from all over the country had come to Capernaum to participate in the stage of observation — to observe what Yeshua was saying, doing and teaching. As Messiah was teaching, a paralytic was brought by four friends to Yeshua so that he might be healed. But because all the Jewish leaders were blocking the doorway, the five were unable to gain entry. They climbed onto the roof, made a hole in it and lowered the paralytic to the feet of Yeshua. At this point, Yeshua departed from His normal procedure. He did not, as he had done on previous occasions, simply proceed to heal the sick man brought to Him. Instead, we learn from Mark 2:5 —

And Yeshua seeing their faith saith unto the sick of palsy, Son, thy sins are forgiven.

Rather than healing the man, Yeshua made a dramatic announcement — thy sins are forgiven. He knew very well that such a declaration before all the leadership would certainly receive a negative response. Indeed, that is exactly what happened. In Mark 2:6, we read:

But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts.

Remember that this was the stage of observation. Those there to "judge" could only observe; they were not allowed to raise questions or objections. They reasoned in their hearts:

Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but one, even God? (Mark 2:7)

Their theology was absolutely correct. No one could forgive sins except God. Since Yeshua declared the prerogative of forgiving sins, it meant one of two things: First, it could mean that He was a blasphemer. Second, He could be Who He claimed to be - the Messianic Person. It was at this point that Yeshua turned to the leadership of Israel with the following question:

Which is easier, to say to the sick of the palsy, thy sins are forgiven; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? (Mark 2:9)

The question was, what is an easier thing for a man to say? Is it easier for someone to say to another, "your sins are forgiven?" Or, is it easier for someone to say to a palsied man, "I'm going to heal you, so stand up and walk?" Which is the easier thing to say and which is the harder? Certainly, the easier thing to say was, "Your sins are forgiven," because that required no tangible, outside, eternal and observable evidence. But the statement that a palsied man was going to be healed was far harder to say, because such a proclamation did require external and observable evidence.

Yeshua went on to say that He was going to prove that He could make the easier statement, Thy sins are forgiven, by actually performing the more difficult of the two, i.e., healing the palsied man. And He proceeded to heal the palsied man. There was instantaneous, observable evidence, because the man was able to stand up, walk around, and even carry his own bed. This proved that Yeshua could also say (do) the easier, that this man's sins were forgiven. If Yeshua could forgive sins, then it meant that He was exactly Whom He claimed to be — the Messianic Person.

In response to the first messianic miracle with the healing of a leper, the exhaustive investigation of His messianic claims began. The leaders observed Yeshua claiming the right to forgive sins. Therefore, He was either a blasphemer, or He was the Messianic Person. One thing is evident: The leadership of Israel would return to Jerusalem and decree the movement of Yeshua to be significant. After this event, Yeshua began under-going the second stage of the Sanhedrin investigation, the stage of interrogation. Between the performance of the first messianic miracle and the second messianic miracle, everywhere Yeshua went, a Pharisee was sure to follow Yeshua and they were no longer silent. Everywhere Yeshua went, Pharisees were always there asking questions or raising objections, in an attempt to verify or reject His messianic claims.