I'm trying to formulate my understanding of the way in which Jesus transcended the Law of God while being obedient to it at the same time. Here is a specific example:
Nevertheless, as I try to understand this further I wonder if some of you have insights on when Christ obeyed the Law as an obedient servant and when it was permissible for Him to transcend the Law because He was the One who gave it.
A regular Jew would have been unclean after having a leper fall at his feet (leaving aside the worship issue) because the leper had not been ceremonially cleansed. To me it is very devotional to reflect upon Christ, the Clean One, touching uncleanness (whether it be leprosy or a discharge or a dead body) and making it clean. This story of the lepers is beautiful when you consider how torturous the leper's existence was and the cry "Have mercy on me."
But what about Jesus as a Jew then. Do you suppose He just didn't undergo purification afterwards because He knew He didn't need to? Where others would be considered ceremonially unclean for touching a leper or a dead body, would He not need to be ceremonially cleansed? The Law required a Jew sometimes to stay outside the camp for a week after their period of uncleanness ended. Do you suppose He knew it didn't really apply to Him so He would show up at Synagogue or the Tabernacle? If so, it would seem other Jews would have reacted with charges that He never cleansed Himself after touching lepers, women with discharges, dead bodies, etc.
Your thoughts on this would be appreciated.
Jews would be considered unclean who touched or went near a leper. The same was true of touching anything dead. The Jew that touched an uncleansed leper would be unclean until they were purified.Lev 13:45
Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his mustache, and cry, "˜Unclean! Unclean!´ 46 He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.
At first glance, it seems there isn't a problem for a Jew here. The lepers maintain their distance like they're supposed to. Jesus tells them to present themselves to the priest and they're healed along the way so one comes back and worships Him. It would seem that the leper is clean but according to Levitical law, the person was not clean until the priest purified him.Luke 17:11-19
Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, "œJesus, Master, have mercy on us!"
So when He saw them, He said to them, "œGo, show yourselves to the priests." And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
So Jesus answered and said, "œWere there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?" And He said to him, "œArise, go your way. Your faith has made you well."
In one sense Christ's question to the returning leper could be considered strange. After all, if the others presented themselves to the priest for examination and then cleansing then they were obeying the Law of God. I understand the that it was the one leper that recognized that Christ was God and he's the one that acted in true faith and worshipped Him so the fact that they obeyed the Law but failed to worship Christ is in mind here.Lev 14:1-9
1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 "œThis shall be the law of the leper for the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought to the priest. 3 And the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall examine him; and indeed, if the leprosy is healed in the leper, 4 then the priest shall command to take for him who is to be cleansed two living and clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. 5 And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. 6 As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. 7 And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed from the leprosy, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose in the open field. 8 He who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean. After that he shall come into the camp, and shall stay outside his tent seven days. 9 But on the seventh day he shall shave all the hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows"”all his hair he shall shave off. He shall wash his clothes and wash his body in water, and he shall be clean.
Nevertheless, as I try to understand this further I wonder if some of you have insights on when Christ obeyed the Law as an obedient servant and when it was permissible for Him to transcend the Law because He was the One who gave it.
A regular Jew would have been unclean after having a leper fall at his feet (leaving aside the worship issue) because the leper had not been ceremonially cleansed. To me it is very devotional to reflect upon Christ, the Clean One, touching uncleanness (whether it be leprosy or a discharge or a dead body) and making it clean. This story of the lepers is beautiful when you consider how torturous the leper's existence was and the cry "Have mercy on me."
But what about Jesus as a Jew then. Do you suppose He just didn't undergo purification afterwards because He knew He didn't need to? Where others would be considered ceremonially unclean for touching a leper or a dead body, would He not need to be ceremonially cleansed? The Law required a Jew sometimes to stay outside the camp for a week after their period of uncleanness ended. Do you suppose He knew it didn't really apply to Him so He would show up at Synagogue or the Tabernacle? If so, it would seem other Jews would have reacted with charges that He never cleansed Himself after touching lepers, women with discharges, dead bodies, etc.
Your thoughts on this would be appreciated.