Bede

And it came to pass, when he was in one of the cities, there was a man full of leprosy. And seeing Jesus, and falling on his face, he besought him, saying, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Well, where the leper is cleansed, the specific place is not expressed, to show that it was not one people of a specific city, but the people of all nations that were being healed. And since the Lord said: I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5), he who was excluded by the law, presuming to be cleansed by the power of the Lord, judged that grace to be above the law, which could wash away the leprosy. Indeed, just as the authority of power is in the Lord, so in him the constancy of faith is declared. He fell on his face, which is a sign of humility and shame, so that each one may blush at the stains of his own life. But shame did not suppress his confession; he showed his wound, asked for a remedy. And this very confession is full of religion and faith. If you are willing (he said), you can make me clean. He attributed power to the will of the Lord. Concerning the will of the Lord, however, he did not doubt as if unbelieving in his mercy, but, aware of his own filth, he did not presume.

And extending his hand, he touched him saying: I am willing; be cleansed. And immediately the leprosy departed from him. There is nothing between the work of God and the command, because in the command is the work. For he said, and they were made. You see therefore that it cannot be doubted because the will of God is power. If therefore his will is power, those who assert one will, certainly assert one power. Therefore, as having the power to heal, and the authority to command, he did not avoid the testimony of working. For he says "I am willing" because of Photinus; he commands, because of Arius; he touches, because of Manichaeus. And indeed the law prohibits touching the leprous, but he who is the Lord of the law does not obey the law, but makes the law. Therefore he did not touch because he could not cleanse without touching, but to prove that he was not subject to the law, nor did he fear infection as men do, but because he who could not be contaminated and freed others, the leprosy was driven away by the touch of the Lord, which used to contaminate the one touching. Likewise, it is miraculous that he healed in the manner in which he was beseeched: If you wish, you can cleanse me. "I am willing," he said, "be cleansed." You have the will, you also have the effect of piety.

And go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them, etc. He is ordered to show himself to the priest, so that the priest might understand that he was cured not by the order of the law, but by the grace of God above the law; however, to offer a sacrifice, so that the Lord might show that he did not abolish the law, but fulfilled it: for walking according to the law, he healed those above the law whom the remedies of the law had not healed. And well he added, As a testimony to them, that is, if they believe in God, if the leprosy of impiety departs. But if it moves someone how the Lord seems to approve a Mosaic sacrifice, as the Church has not received it, let them remember that the holy sacrifice of sacrifices, which is his body, had not yet begun. For he had not yet offered his own holocaust in the Passion. But it was not fitting to remove the significant sacrifices before that which was signified was confirmed by the witness of the preaching apostles and the faith of believing peoples. Because this man typically designates the languid human race by sins, rightly he is described not only as a leper but also as full of leprosy. For all have sinned and need the glory of God (Rom. III). That is, so that, with the Savior's hand extended, that is, with the incarnate Word of God, and touching human nature, they might be cleansed from the diversity of the ancient error, and might be able to hear with the apostles: Now you are clean, because of the word that I have spoken to you (John XV); and those who were separated from the camp of God's people as abominable for a long time, might once again be rendered to the temple and offered to the priest, of course to the one to whom it is said: You are a priest forever (Psalm CIX), hearing from the Apostle: For the temple of God is holy, which you are (I Cor. III); and they might offer for their cleansing as Moses commanded, that is, they might present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God (Rom. XII).

The word about him spread all the more, and great crowds came together to hear him and to be cured of their infirmities. The complete salvation of one urges many crowds to the Lord. For, in order to show that he was healed both outwardly and inwardly, he by no means keeps silent about the benefit received or about the one from whom he received it. Rather, as Mark the Evangelist narrates, having fulfilled the duty of a herald, he immediately began to proclaim and spread the word, so much so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a city, but stayed outside in deserted places; yet people came to him from every direction (Mark 1). Therefore, it is rightly asked why the Lord commanded some things he did to be kept hidden, and they could not be hidden even for a moment. Did the eternal Son, co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit, desire something that he could not accomplish in this matter? But it should be noted that our Redeemer, through his mortal body, provided us with an example in all that he did. For when performing a miracle, he ordered silence, and yet it could not be kept silent. He thereby indicated that his chosen followers, by following his examples of teaching, should indeed wish to remain hidden in their great deeds, but be revealed against their will for the benefit of others: so that it may be an example of great humility to desire their works to be hidden, and an example of great exaltation that their works cannot be hidden. Therefore, the Lord did not wish to do anything that he could not achieve, but he provided an example of what his members ought to desire and what should be done about them even against their will, by the teaching of his example.

He himself would withdraw to the desert and pray. Do not attribute his withdrawal to pray to the nature that says, "I will, be cleansed," and healed from infirmities, but to the nature that stretched out its hand and touched the leper: not that, according to Nestorius, there are two persons of the Son, but that the same person has two natures and thus also two operations. Alternatively: because he performs miracles in the city but spends the night praying in the desert or the mountain (as it is later read), he offers to us examples of both lives, the active and the contemplative, so that no one, engrossed in contemplation, neglects the care of his neighbors, nor someone overly bound by the care of his neighbors abandons the pursuit of contemplation: so that neither the love of neighbor impedes the love of God, nor the love of God, which transcends, rejects the love of neighbor. For to pray on the mountain is, having forsaken the cares of weak thoughts, for anyone to hasten with the whole mind to the eternal joys of highest contemplation. To withdraw to the desert and pray is to suppress the rising internal clamor of earthly desires, and to seek a certain secret place with the Lord within oneself, where, with external tumult ceasing, one silently speaks to him through inner desires.