Jesus's Touch

Tzaraath/Leprosy, Holiness, and Impurity

Abstract

Jesus in the Gospels frequently touches the sick, including lepers, who were regarded as impure in those days. In this paper, I examine his attitude towards “impurity” and “holiness” by investigating his contact with them.

In the Hebrew Bible, the “holiness” belongs to God, and so the Israelites were required to be “the holy people” by living in “pure” conditions and by avoiding the “impure.” As a result, the lepers were considered as a symbol of impurity, and their disease was believed to be God's punishment.

Jesus, however, touched those suffering from leprosy, took care of them and shared meals with them disregarding their status as “impure.” In Jesus's view, the Laws were “made for humankind” (Mk 2:27). When adhering to the Laws meant “to kill life” (Mk 3:4), he disregarded the matter of impurity.

In his last days, Jesus acted violently in the Jerusalem Temple. According to the Gospels, this is characterized as “cleansing the Temple,” but actually his behaviour must have been an expression of resistance to the Temple symbolizing the “holiness” which brought about the idea of “impurity.” Jesus ignored the matter of “holiness” and “impurity,” since he found God in God's work to “feed the ravens” and to “clothe the grass of the field” (Luke 12:22-28), i.e., the work to let life live.