Matthew 8:1 – 4

1 When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.

2 And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

3 Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

4 And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.

The great multitudes, are the people who were not interested enough in chapter 5 verse one to follow Him when He went up on the mountain to give the “Sermon on the Mount.” Now that He has come down off of the mount they are following Him to watch the miracles He has been performing.

A leper was one who had the skin condition, leprosy. Leprosy was a skin condition which was incurable by normal means in those times. The law of Moses had restrictions which limited the conduct of a leper. He was considered contagious so he could only associate with others who had the same condition.

The leper worshiped Jesus, in the manner of how he approached Jesus, he likely bowed down to Jesus. He understood and believed Christ could heal him of the leprosy. Many instances Jesus asks or states the ones being healed have the faith to be healed, this man states his faith in Jesus power before being asked. He confessed his faith in Jesus. Jesus had cured others. Chapter 4:23 – 24 recorded the fact that Jesus had healed many different ailments and His fame had gone throughout the region and many were flocking to Him so that He would cure them.

Jesus was willing to heal the leper and did so both by physical contact and by word of mouth. The healing was immediate, a spontaneous miracle, no delay, no waiting, it happened as Christ spoke.

Jesus told the man not to spread the news. The news would be evident when he presented himself to the priest for the ceremonial cleansing, there was no medical cure but when a miraculous cure happened there was procedures to take. (Leviticus 14) Christ ordered the man to comply with the ordinance of the law of Moses because they were both living under the law. The new law had not been ordained yet.