Why did Jesus tell the leper to "show yourself to the priest" (Mark 1:44)?

It was but a sample; and, as the Lord enjoins, "for a testimony unto them." Therefore Jesus said unto the leper, "See thou tell no man, but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded." A greater work was needed for man before God. A deeper want than any created by disease, however fatal, lay upon Israel; but this was "for a testimony unto them." To show himself to the priest ought to have raised the question there, if his lips kept knowledge, or if his heart sought it, Who has healed him? It would have drawn out the answer from faith; Jehovah is here; Jehovah has healed him. For no one knew better than the priest that man is powerless here; and the law has no provision for healing leprosy, only directions for cleansing ritually him who is already healed.

He hides Himself from human acclamations, and bids the man who had been healed to go and show himself to the priests according to the law of Moses. But this submission to the law, bore testimony in fact to His being Jehovah, for Jehovah alone, under the law, sovereignly cleansed the leper. The priest was but the witness that it had been done. This miracle being noised abroad, by attracting the multitude, sends Jesus away into the wilderness.

(Vv. 43-45). Another beautiful trait of the perfect Servant is seen in what follows. He does not seek His own glory, but the glory of the One He serves. So hear the Lord saying to the healed leper, "See thou say nothing to any man." Nevertheless, he is to tell the priest and thus the law becomes a witness to the presence of God in grace. Under the law, God alone could heal the leper, and the priest could only bear witness to what God had done.

It was the function of a priest to pronounce a leprous man unclean, and it was also his function to pronounce a man clean when he was cured. The law was inoperative to heal, and only took cognisance of the fact of a man being healed or not. The work of ceremonial restoration only commenced when the cure of the plague had been effected by other means. This is expressly stipulated in the book of Leviticus "And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: he shall be brought unto the priest, and the priest shall go forth out of the camp, and the priest shall look, and behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper" (Lev. 14:1-3).

Clearly, the legal provision only contemplated one in whom divine mercy and power had wrought a cure. The leper whom Jesus cleansed was such a one. And the Lord bade him to observe the rites of the law in this respect. He was to show himself to the priest "for a testimony," that the genuine nature of this unusual case of recovery might be attested by the recognised authority in such matters. The priest who declared him unclean was the person most qualified to decide whether he was now really clean or not. To him was he therefore sent by the Lord, who never set aside the law.

Now we find two remarkable miracles, which, I believe, set forth sin in two different forms. The first is under the phase of leprosy. "It came to pass, as he was in one of the cities, that behold there was a man full of leprosy." Luke particularly mentions this symptom. It was not in an incipient stage or a slight case, but a man full of leprosy, "and, seeing Jesus, falling on his face, he besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou art able to cleanse me." The man wanted confidence in the Lord's love and good pleasure to meet his need. The Lord, accordingly, showed not only His power but His goodness. "He stretched forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou cleansed." This was by no means necessary for healing. Love, however, does not limit itself to man's necessities, but takes occasion by them to show the great grace of God. Under law it would have been defiling: but we shall never understand the Gospel unless we see that He Who was pleased as man to come under the law was really above law. And we find these two things running through the account of our Lord's life on earth — dispensationally under law, and in His own person above it. Nothing could overthrow the rights and dignity of His person. But now we find Him displaying both what man ought to be towards God and what God is towards man. In the first case He is found under law, but this course of miraculous manifestation was the display of what God is — God present and active in goodness among men, and this in the reality of a man's soul, mind, and affections. So Christ stretched forth His hand and touched him, and, so far from defilement accruing to Himself, the leprosy departed from the man. He "enjoined him to tell no man,121 but go, show thyself to the priest." Thus we have in the injunction a man under law, as truly as we have, in the Lord God Who healed the leper, One above man and consequently above law. "Go, show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, as Moses ordained, (Lev. 13:49.) for a testimony to them." Until the cross, Jesus rigorously maintains the authority of the law. To have been merely under law would have defeated the whole object of the Gospel; it would result in leaving man under his leprosy, under the utter loathsomeness of sin, the hopeless and defiling ruin that sin produces. Therefore if grace was to be shown, Christ must be infinitely above man, must in a human body put forth a hand which is the natural emblem of its work, and touch the man that was lost in sin beyond all human remedy. "I will" — which only God was entitled to say — "be thou cleansed." Divine power at once accompanies the word. Power belongs unto God."

The Lord would make the healing known, but according to law. "Go, show thyself to the priest," whose business it was to inspect. The priest would have known the reality of the leper's case, and would be the best judge among men of the reality of the cleansing. "Offer for thy cleansing, [according] as Moses ordained,122 for a testimony to them."

There was no provision under law for healing leprosy, but there was provision, when a man was healed, for his purification, his cleansing. None but God could heal. When, therefore, the healed leper came and showed himself to the priest with his offering, it was a proof that God was there in power and grace. (Ps. 103:3.) When had such a thing been known in Israel? A prophet had once, with characteristic difference, indicated a cure from God, outside Israel. But God was now present in the midst of His people. The conviction would thus be forced upon the priest that God was there in Christ, above law, but yet not overthrowing the law's authority. "Go, show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, [according] as Moses ordained, for a testimony to them." If that testimony were received, they would themselves (and in due time openly) enter the ground of grace. "By grace ye are saved," as it is grace, too, that enables us to walk according to God. "Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." (Rom. 6:14.) This is the Christian's ground.

The healed one was then bidden "show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them." A striking testimony indeed, seeing that this was the first Israelitish leper cleansed (so far as Scripture speaks) since the instructions of Lev. 13 & Lev. 14 were given nearly l,500 years before. The presence of a cleansed leper at the altar with his two birds in his hands testified that God had come into the land, and was meeting men's need apart altogether from priestly ministrations and religious ordinances. A principle this of the greatest possible moment for our souls today. Cleansing for the soul is found, not in human doing of any kind, but in the fountain of the Saviour's blood. This, when divinely applied, makes the vilest sinner whiter than snow, a greater moral miracle than the physical wonder wrought upon the Jewish leper.

There has been much conjecture as to the reasons for the silence imposed upon the man by Jesus: "See thou say nothing to any man." But from the narrative it will be seen that the leper's mission to the priests was made to appear by the Lord to be one demanding immediate execution. After the healing Jesus at once sent him off, strictly charging him to say nothing to any one, but to show himself to the priest, who would then have before him indubitable evidence of the reality of this cure. This injunction the man disregarded, and as soon as he left the Lord began to spread the news in the immediate locality, so that Jesus could no longer go into town, but remained in desert places where persons visited Him.

"See thou say nothing to any man" may be compared with the Lord's direction to the seventy, "Salute no man on the way" (Luke 10:4). In matters of urgency it was necessary to avoid these tedious and elaborate salutations. Elisha gave similar instructions to Gehazi (2 Kings 4:29). The verb (ekballo) used of the Lord's sending him on the errand, while literally meaning "to drive forth," certainly implies urgency and speed. The man was directed to discharge his obligations to the Levitical priesthood before abandoning himself to the selfish joy of announcing his cure to his excitable friends and neighbours. Divine claims were paramount.

The Lord forbids the man to tell others of this, but tells him rather to show himself to the priest and conform to the law Moses had prescribed in case of the healing of leprosy. This would be solid testimony for the priests as regards the reality of the man's healing, without the excitement that many words might cause. The man however was not obedient, just as today there are some who put such emphasis on healing that the true work of God is hindered. Bodily healing is a simple thing for the Lord; but the deeper work of soul exercise is far more important, a work that may be stifled by the excitement occasioned by visible miracles. The miracles were generally signs intended to draw attention to the truth proclaimed by the Lord Jesus. His Word being put in the background by undue emphasis on His miracles, rather than on their significance, He could therefore not openly enter into the city, but remained in more deserted areas. Yet people came out to Him from every direction. This sober discernment and wisdom of God's Servant is precious to contemplate. Later we find the Lord returning to Capernaum, where many gathered at the house (no doubt Peter's house) when they heard of His presence there. The crowd became so large that the house was not adequate for them. As the true Servant of God, He preached the Word.

"And He sharply charged him, and straightway sent him away, and says to him, See thou say nothing to anyone," etc.27 It was of importance that the priest, at the sight of the leper cleansed, should be compelled to own and witness and, as it were, formally take cognizance of the proof that the hand of God was there at work, not now writing judgment on the proud profanity of man, but in the might, and withal deepest condescension, of grace working the cure of abject and otherwise hopeless wretchedness and suffering, the standing type of a sinner. Besides, grace respects and maintains law till death and resurrection bring in another and surpassing and abiding glory for those who have their portion in it by faith; neither does it seek its own credit, but that God in all things should be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord would not have it told to anyone, for He shunned popularity. When they come to make Him a king (John 6), He would not have it. The poor people followed the Lord; you do not find the priests following Him, but the Lord will have testimony borne to them. This was the time when the leper should go to the priest — the day of his cleansing. This brings out the Lord's sovereignty in blessing. He spake and it was done. He upholds everything by the word of His power. And He says, "I will, be thou clean!"