And, behold, there came a leper and worshiped him, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.
All Commentaries on Matthew 8:2 Go To Matthew 8
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Great was the understanding and the faith of him who so drew near. For he did not interrupt the teaching, nor break through the auditory, but awaited the proper time, and approaches Him when He has come down. And not at random, but with much earnestness, and at His knees, he beseeches Him, as another evangelist says, and with the genuine faith and right opinion about him. For neither did he say, If Thou request it of God, nor, If Thou pray, but, If You will, You can make me clean. Nor did he say, Lord, cleanse me, but leaves all to Him, and makes His recovery depend on Him, and testifies that all the authority is His.
What then, says one, if the leper's opinion was mistaken? It were meet to do away with it, and to reprove, and set it right. Did He then so do? By no means; but quite on the contrary, He establishes and confirms what had been said. For this cause, you see, neither did He say, Be thou cleansed, but, I will, be thou clean; that the doctrine might no longer be a thing of the other's surmising, but of His own approval.
