And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. The first healing after the Sermon is the healing of a leper — a person ritually unclean by the law's definition, socially isolated, excluded from the community of worship and daily life. The leper's approach is theologically precise: Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. He affirms both Jesus' power (you can) and his sovereign will (if you will) without presuming on either. The question is not whether Jesus is capable but whether he will choose to exercise that capability for a person whom the law has excluded. Leviticus 13–14 defined the leper's status and the process for potential restoration; the leper is asking Jesus to initiate what only a priest could officially declare complete.

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