Jesus cleansing a leper

[4] As the disease progresses, pain turns to numbness, and the skin loses its original color and becomes thick, glossy and scaly.

Sores and ulcers develop, especially around the eyes and ears, and the skin begins to bunch up with deep furrows between the swelling so that the face of the afflicted individual looks similar to that of a lion.

A priest would have to inspect the lesion, and after a period of monitoring and observation, if the condition did not improve, the person would be declared ritually "unclean".

[8] When the Son sent forth the disciples with instructions to heal the sick, cleansing the lepers was specifically mentioned in Matthew 10:8.

British Baptist preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon preached a sermon likening the condition of a person afflicted with leprosy to that of someone in a state of sin.

Cornelius a Lapide notes that Jesus touched him so "that He might show that He was above the law, which forbade contact with the leper."