Jesus is approached by a leper in our Gospel today.  Having ignored the Mosaic command to avoid others he draws close to Christ in order to request a miracle.  Moved by the man's faith, Jesus also ignores the conventions of Mosaic law, touching the man, healing him from his leprosy, and proving that the Divine touch is not only immune from ritual impurity but can actually bring about the wholeness that the law itself fails to cause.

We'll spend our episode looking closer at:

- A literal translation of our scene that unveils Mark's unique and vivid storytelling style [4:57]

- The Greek roots of the phrase "moved with pity" and the raw, physiological emotion they assign to Jesus [25:36]

- Some textual perplexities that have led scholars to believe Jesus also performed an exorcism when he healed the leper [33:45]

- The notion of the "Messianic Secret" and why Jesus didn't always want people to know his identity [38:40]

- Levitical requirements for the ritual offering for leprosy and how they image and prefigure Jesus' redemption on the Cross [45:40]

- The fascinating way that Jesus quite literally switches roles with the leper by the end of our story [49:00]

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Donahue, John R., and Daniel J. Harrington. The Gospel of Mark. Edited by Daniel J. Harrington. Vol. 2. Sacra Pagina Series. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2002.

Healy, Mary. The Gospel of Mark. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008.

Marcus, Joel. Mark 1–8: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Vol. 27. Anchor Yale Bible. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008.

REFERENCES

Numbers 12:11-12 - "And Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned. 12 Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed"

2 Kings 5:7 - "And when the king of Israel read the letter, he rent his clothes and said, 'Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?'"

"Cast out" (Grk: ekballo) is used in reference to an exorcism at Mk 1:39; 3:15, 22ff; 6:13; 7:26; 9:18, 28 and is used in a negative context at Mk 5:40; 11:15; and 12:8.

The offering for leprosy is described at Leviticus 14:3-7

Sanhedrin 47a:10 (Talmud) - "The Gemara asks: But if so, with regard to the verse: 'I pray you, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me,' where do you find that Elisha resurrected a second person? Rabbi Yoḥanan said to him: That request was fulfilled when he cured Naaman’s leprosy (see II Kings, chapter 5), an affliction that is considered to be equivalent to death, as it is written with regard to Miriam’s leprosy: 'Let her not be as one dead' (Numbers 12:12)."

Ketubot 61b:1 (Talmud) - "The chief butler said to him: You have spoiled the king’s meal, as now he will not eat from it. The king’s soldiers who were there said to him: Why did you do this? He said to them: The one who makes such awful dishes is the one who actually spoiled the king’s food. They said to him: Why do you say this? He said to them: I saw something else, i.e., a leprous infection, in this meat. They checked and didn’t find anything. He took his finger and placed it on the food and said to them: Did you check here? They then checked that spot and found the infection. The Sages said to Rav Ashi: What is the reason that you relied on a miracle and assumed that leprosy would in fact be found there? He said to them: I saw a leprous spirit hovering over the food and realized that it had this defect."