In the episode of the healing of the leper, the most remarkable thing is the dialogue between Jesus and the man He healed...
In the episode of the healing of the leper, the most remarkable thing is the dialogue between Jesus and the man He healed. "If You are willing, You can make me clean." "I am willing; be made clean." How should this be understood? Is it not the sick man who comes to the Savior seeking healing from Him? On the one hand, that is exactly how it is. But the leper, as we see, evaluates his condition not only from the standpoint of physical health, but also from the standpoint of his spiritual state, from the standpoint of the Torah, which defines leprosy not only as an illness but also as a state of impurity. And, as we see, the chief thing troubling the man who turns to Jesus is precisely his impurity. Of course, impurity also prevented a full spiritual and religious life: a leper, remaining unclean for the whole time of his illness, could not take part in sacrifice, could not approach the altar, and therefore could not be sanctified.
But the man who turned to Jesus most likely understood his impurity not only in a religious sense, but also in a spiritual one. Perhaps through the experience of his own illness he understood what John the Baptist had tried to convey to the people who listened to him: no one is ready to enter the Kingdom; everyone needs conversion, cleansing from his sins, and a new sanctification, a sanctification of a measure that had previously been unattainable. And now this man defiled by leprosy understood that he would be able to be rid of his illness and enter the Kingdom only if the mysterious Stranger, of whom some thought that He was the Messiah promised by God, opened the door to him.
If that is so, then he needs to ask Him: does He want to open the door to the leper? Does He want to cleanse him? And the leper, turning to Jesus, asks Him the main question: do You need me in Your Kingdom? Do You want to cleanse me?
It is no surprise that Jesus answers "yes" to a question asked in this way. He came so that everyone who seeks the Kingdom might enter it. In such a situation there simply could be no other answer.
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2:17 Here he begins to treat of the latter clause of Php 1:22.Yea, and if I be offered - Literally, If I be poured out.Upon the sacrifice of your faith - The Philippians, as the other converted heathens, were a sacrifice to God through St. Paul's ministry, Rom 15:16. And as in sacrificing, wine was poured at the foot of the altar, so he was willing that his blood should be poured out. The expression well agrees with that kind of martyrdom by which he was afterwards offered up to God.
2:18 Congratulate me - When I am offered up.
2:19 When I know - Upon my return, that ye stand steadfast.
2:20 I have none - Of those who are now with me.
2:21 For all - But Timotheus. Seek their own - Ease, safety, pleasure, or profit. Amazing! In that golden age of the church, could St. Paul throughly approve of one only, among all the labourers that were with him? Php 1:14, Php 1:17. And how many do we think can now approve themselves to God? Not the things of Jesus Christ - They who seek these alone, will sadly experience this. They will find few helpers likeminded with themselves, willing naked to follow a naked Master.
2:22 As a son with his father - He uses an elegant peculiarity of phrase, speaking partly as of a son, partly as of a fellowlabourer.