Asbury Bible Commentary – 3. Prayer and mission (1:35-45)
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3. Prayer and mission (1:35-45)

3. Prayer and mission (1:35-45)

Public ministry and solitary prayer both testify to Jesus' relationship with his Father. That Jesus arises from prayer with a straightforward declaration of his mission suggests that he had been seeking God’s direction for his work.

Lepers were outcasts of society, ritually unclean, supposedly cursed of God (Lev 13-14). Jesus touches the leper, welcoming this outcast into his circle and healing him. In instructing the cleansed leper, Jesus attempts to avoid publicity. He insists that the man present himself to the priest, perhaps as a sign that God was doing something new. “For, whereas the Law of Moses and its institutions could only certify disease or health, Jesus displays the power to heal, effecting a release from the verdict of the Law that a person with [leprosy] was ‘unclean’” (Hurtado, 17).