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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1:8 I long for you with the bowels of Jesus Christ - In Paul, not Paul lives, but Jesus Christ. Therefore he longs for them with the bowels, the tenderness, not of Paul, but of Jesus Christ.
1:9 And this I pray, that your love - Which they had already shown. May abound yet more and more - The fire which burned in the apostle never says, It is enough. In knowledge and in all spiritual sense - Which is the ground of all spiritual knowledge. We must be inwardly sensible of divine peace, joy, love; otherwise, we cannot know what they are.
1:10 That ye may try - By that spiritual sense. The things that are excellent - Not only good, but the very best; the superior excellence of which is hardly discerned, but by the adult Christian. That ye may be inwardly sincere - Having a single eye to the very best things, and a pure heart. And outwardly without offence - Holy, unblamable in all things.
1:11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God - Here are three properties of that sincerity which is acceptable to God:
1:12 The things concerning me - My sufferings. Have fallen out rather to the furtherance, than, as you feared, the hinderance, of the gospel.
1:13 My bonds in Christ - Endured for his sake. Have been made manifest - Much taken notice of. In the whole palace - Of the Roman emperor.
1:14 And many - Who were before afraid. Trusting in the Lord through my bonds - When they observed my constancy, and safety not withstanding, are more bold.