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The story of the 10 lepers in Luke 17 is not just about Jesus demonstrating that He is powerful to save, cleanse and heal. He is powerful for all those things; He DOES have mercy on the unclean and the outcasts. But Luke tells the story of the healing almost incidentally: "as they were going, they were cleansed" (v. 14). The emphasis is largely on the response of the one, Samaritan leper. And this part of the story shows that Jesus now provides all that the priesthood and temple once provided. If you wanted cleansing from leprosy in the OT, you had to go to the priest and the temple; now, you come to Jesus. If you wanted to glorify and worship God, you went to the temple; now, you go to Jesus. If you wanted to fall on your face in the presence of God, you went to the temple; now you go to Jesus. Everything that the OT attributes to the temple is now true of Jesus: Jesus is where the glory of God rests; Jesus is the "house of Yahweh"; Jesus is the place where heaven and earth connect; Jesus is the place of festivity and worship and joy.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Saturday, January 31, 2004 at 12:04 PM
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