The miracles of Jesus - Classical Christian Literature by Athleo.net

THE CLEANSING OF THE LEPER 125
too significant points of contact with the power and
progress of evil : while the means prescribed for its
ceremonial cleansing may easily be shown to
be emblematic
of the restoration and renewal of the sinner.
In considering, accordingly, the case of the leper
in the passage before us, we are dealing with one
who, from this point of view, may well be regarded as
representative of ourselves in our sinful and outcast
state. And in his cure, notwithstanding the generally
hopeless character of his
malady, we are led to look
for the same healing and life to One who can still
be " touched with the feeling of our infirmities,"
and
who is " able to save to the uttermost all them that
draw near unto God through Him " (Hebrews iv.
15; vii. 25).
That this miracle made a deep impression on the
mind of the Early Church is proved by the fact
that it is related by all the Synoptic writers, and
that, too, in nearly identical terms. They introduce
it, however, in somewhat different connections. In
St Matthew, it follows immediately on the account
of the Sermon on the Mount. In St Mark it is
simply placed without any definite note of time
during the course of the second Galilean journey.
And in St Luke, its position is evidently determined
not so much by the time of its actual occurrence as
by the Evangelist's well-known principles
of historic
grouping.
The exact locality of its occurrence is left equally
indeterminate. The first two Evangelists make no
mention of place at all while the third says merely
that it was " in one of the cities " of Galilee through