Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them. It was only but a short time since Jesus had unveiled his manifesto (cf. Luke 4:16-22a). And true to his word, he was already reaching out with good news to the disenfranchised of the society. In today’s Gospel reading, we see him bringing wholeness to a leper. Although the leper is instantaneously made clean, Jesus still sends him to go and fulfill the religious prescription required for one who has been cleansed of a dreaded disease such as leprosy. Why? Wasn’t the man already made clean?
Jesus’ mission was the proclamation of a year of jubilee. It was a proclamation of total liberty to those who were bound by their sins and the sins of others. A leper was bound, not only by his/her own condition, but by the societal policies and norms. A leper was declared unfit to live in the community and was sentenced (by the community at large) to live in the margins as long as his/her illness persisted. Consequently, for a leper to be totally free, he/she not only had to be cleansed of the disease but he/she also had to be set free by his/her community. Whereas Jesus healed the leper of the skin disease, the community still had to complete the healing process by re-integrating him/her into their midst. The community could only do this following a confirmation from the priest. Jesus’ cleansing the leper was indeed good news for him/her. But the joy could only be made complete by the leper reclaiming his/her status as a member of the community.