Bible Reference / Bible Book Studies / Gospel of Luke / Luke 5 / Luke 5:12-16
Quick Summary
In Luke 5:12-16, a man "covered with leprosy" falls on his face before Jesus and begs, "Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean" (5:12). Jesus stretches out his hand, touches him, and says, "I do choose. Be made clean" (5:13). The leprosy leaves him immediately. Jesus tells the man to tell no one, but to show himself to the priest and make the offering Moses commanded, so he can be officially restored to his community. News about Jesus spreads anyway, and huge crowds gather, but Jesus keeps withdrawing to deserted places to pray.
The story is about more than a cured skin disease. Jesus restores a man's body, his dignity, and his place among his people, and he does it by touching someone no one else would touch.
Scripture Reference
Passage: Luke 5:12-16
Parallel accounts: Matthew 8:1-4; Mark 1:40-45
Old Testament background: Leviticus 13-14 (laws on leprosy and cleansing)
Setting: "one of the cities" in Galilee
Placement in Luke: after Jesus calls Peter and the miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5:1-11) and before Jesus heals a paralyzed man (Luke 5:17-26)
What Was Leprosy in the Bible?
When modern readers hear "leprosy," they usually think of Hansen's disease, the bacterial infection that damages nerves and skin. Biblical "leprosy" was broader. The Hebrew word tsara'at, translated in Greek as lepra, covered a range of skin conditions with visible patches, scales, or sores. Leviticus even applies the word to mold or mildew on clothing and the walls of houses (Leviticus 13:47-59; 14:33-57). Some of these conditions were serious and others were mild, but all of them made a person ritually unclean.
The law was strict about what that meant. A person with leprosy had to wear torn clothes, leave their hair messy, cover their upper lip, and cry out "Unclean, unclean" so others would keep their distance. They had to live alone, "outside the camp" (Leviticus 13:45-46). Leprosy brought sickness and also exile from family, worship, and community.
Some Jewish writers in this era even described a person with leprosy as being like one already dead. When Miriam was struck with leprosy, Aaron pleaded with Moses, "Do not let her be like one stillborn" (Numbers 12:12). That background makes this healing feel like something close to a resurrection.
For a fuller study, see understanding leprosy in the Bible.
Verse-by-Verse Commentary on Luke 5:12-16
"Lord, If You Choose, You Can Make Me Clean" (Luke 5:12)
Luke tells us the man was "covered with leprosy" (5:12). Matthew and Mark simply call him a leper, but Luke uses a phrase that means "full of leprosy." His disease was advanced and impossible to hide.
He should not have been in the city at all. By law, he was supposed to keep his distance and warn people away. Instead, when he sees Jesus, he falls with his face to the ground and begs for help. His desperation pushes him past every boundary that had kept him isolated.
His words are remarkable: "Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean." He has no doubt about Jesus' power. His only question is whether Jesus is willing. He does not demand healing. He acknowledges that the choice belongs to Jesus. Notice too that he asks to be made clean, not just healed. He wants his whole life back.
The infirmary at Carville Leprosarium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana was established in 1894 as a treatment and quarantine center for people with Hansen’s diseasse (leprosy). It became a leading institution for leprosy research, offering compassionate care and advancing understanding of the disease, while its residents lived largely isolated from society due to stigma. It closed in 1999.
"I Do Choose. Be Made Clean." (Luke 5:13)
"Then Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, 'I do choose. Be made clean.' Immediately the leprosy left him" (5:13).
This verse is extraordinary because Jesus touches him. Under the law, touching a person with leprosy made you unclean. Jesus could have healed with a word, as he did in Capernaum. Instead he reaches out and puts his hand on a man who may not have felt a human touch in years.
And something unexpected happens. The uncleanness does not flow from the leper to Jesus. The cleanness flows from Jesus to the leper. Jesus' holiness is contagious. It reverses impurity instead of being stained by it.
His words, "I do choose," reveal the heart of his ministry. Jesus chooses to heal and restore. When Jesus was baptized, he voluntarily identified with us. When Jesus died on the cross, it was voluntary. Here, Jesus once again willingly connects, literally and physically, with those who need him most. Mark adds that Jesus was "moved with pity" (Mark 1:41).
Other Times Jesus Touched the Unclean
This is not the only time Jesus' touch reverses what the law called unclean:
The woman with the flow of blood. Her condition made her perpetually unclean (Leviticus 15:25-27). When she touches Jesus' garment, she is healed, and Jesus commends her faith (Luke 8:43-48).
Jairus' daughter. Touching a dead body made a person unclean (Numbers 19:11-13), but Jesus takes the girl by the hand and she gets up (Luke 8:49-56).
The widow's son at Nain. Jesus touches the bier carrying the young man's body and tells him to rise (Luke 7:11-17).
The sick at sunset in Capernaum. Jesus "laid his hands on each of them" and healed them (Luke 4:40).
"Show Yourself to the Priest" (Luke 5:14)
"And he ordered him to tell no one. 'Go,' he said, 'and show yourself to the priest, and, as Moses commanded, make an offering for your cleansing, for a testimony to them'" (5:14).
"Tell no one." Jesus often limits publicity about his miracles in these early chapters, just as he silenced the demons who announced who he was (Luke 4:41). He did not want to be known only as a wonder-worker, and crowds hungry for miracles could crowd out his mission to preach.
"Show yourself to the priest." Leviticus 14 lays out a detailed, eight-day ritual for a person healed of leprosy. A priest had to examine the person outside the camp, offer two birds, sprinkle blood, and later present sacrifices at the sanctuary. Only then could the person rejoin the community. This was the official process of reintegration. Read more about when Leviticus was written.
"For a testimony to them." The priest's examination would serve as official proof that the man was clean, and it would also testify to the priests that something new was happening.
By sending the man to the priest, Jesus shows respect for the law of Moses while also demonstrating his authority to heal. This brings up an important point: Jesus' healings often restore wholeness to a person, not just health. He is beginning the process of getting this man back to his family, his community, and his place in worship.
The News Spreads (Luke 5:15)
"But now more than ever the word about him spread abroad; many crowds would gather to hear him and to be cured of their diseases" (5:15).
Mark tells us the healed man himself went out and spread the news so widely that Jesus could no longer enter a town openly (Mark 1:45). Luke tells it more briefly, but the effect is the same. The crowds grow larger than ever, coming both to hear Jesus and to be healed.
The leper's transformation was more than physical. It was a restoration of his humanity. Stories like this resonated deeply in a culture where illness often meant social death. Though the man was not dead, this might as well have been a resurrection, a return from the lonely hinterlands of isolation.
Jesus Withdraws to Pray (Luke 5:16)
"But he would withdraw to deserted places and pray" (5:16).
The Greek verb tense here describes an ongoing habit. Jesus did this again and again. The "deserted places" (erēmos) use the same word as the wilderness where Jesus was tempted (Luke 4:1-13) and the deserted place he went to after a night of healing in Capernaum (Luke 4:42).
Amid growing crowds and demands, Jesus sought solitude to pray. This rhythm of ministry and retreat reveals how important it was for him to stay connected to the Father.
Remember the temptations in the wilderness. The devil offered Jesus shortcuts to glory: all the kingdoms of the world, and a spectacular leap from the Temple that would prove who he was. Jesus could have been tempted again here to overwork, to get wrapped up in the activity of ministry, to skip rest, and to keep doing more and more as his fame grew. Instead, he stayed connected to God and did not succumb to what so many in ministry fall prey to: overwork, anxiety, and progress at all costs.
Leprosy in the Bible
Leprosy appears throughout Scripture, often as a physical condition with spiritual and social meaning. The table below gathers the major passages in one place.
| Passage | What Happened | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Leviticus 13-14 Israel's priests |
Laws for diagnosing skin disease, isolating the person "outside the camp," and restoring them through an eight-day cleansing ritual. | The background for Jesus telling the healed man to "show yourself to the priest" (Luke 5:14). |
| Numbers 12:1-15 Miriam |
Struck with leprosy after opposing Moses; healed after Moses prays and she spends seven days outside the camp. | Aaron's plea, "Do not let her be like one stillborn," shows leprosy was seen as a kind of living death. |
| 2 Kings 5:1-27 Naaman, Elisha, Gehazi |
A Syrian commander is healed after washing seven times in the Jordan; Elisha's greedy servant Gehazi is struck with Naaman's leprosy. | Jesus cites Naaman in Luke 4:27 as proof that God's grace reaches outsiders. |
| 2 Kings 7:3-11 Four lepers of Samaria |
During a siege and famine, four outcasts discover the abandoned enemy camp and bring the good news back to the city. | The most excluded people become the first messengers of deliverance. |
| 2 Chronicles 26:16-21 King Uzziah |
Struck with leprosy after burning incense in the Temple, a duty reserved for priests; lives in a separate house until his death. | Even a king was cut off from the Temple. Isaiah's call came "in the year that King Uzziah died." |
| Luke 5:12-16 A man "covered with leprosy" |
Jesus touches him, heals him, and sends him to the priest. Also told in Matthew 8:1-4 and Mark 1:40-45. | Jesus' touch reverses uncleanness and restores the man to his community. |
| Luke 7:18-23 John the Baptist's messengers |
Jesus answers John's question by pointing to his works, including "the lepers are cleansed." | Cleansing lepers is a sign that the promised age has arrived. Read Luke 7:18-35. |
| Matthew 10:8 The Twelve |
Jesus sends his disciples out to cure the sick, raise the dead, and cleanse lepers. | Jesus shares his healing mission with his followers. |
| Luke 17:11-19 Ten lepers, one a Samaritan |
All ten are cleansed on their way to the priests, but only the Samaritan returns to thank Jesus. | Gratitude and faith come from an unexpected outsider. Read Luke 17:11-19. |
| Matthew 26:6; Mark 14:3 Simon the leper |
Jesus eats at the Bethany home of a man known as "Simon the leper," where a woman anoints him before his death. | Jesus shares a table in the home of a man once known by his disease. |
Two connections are worth noticing. When Jesus preached in Nazareth, he reminded his hometown that the only leper Elisha cleansed was Naaman, a Syrian outsider (Luke 4:27). Now Jesus himself cleanses a leper. And when John the Baptist later sends messengers asking whether Jesus is the one, Jesus lists "the lepers are cleansed" among the signs that the promised age has arrived (Luke 7:18-35).
Read more about Elisha and Isaiah, whose famous vision came "in the year that King Uzziah died," the king who spent his last years with leprosy.
How Luke's Account Compares with Matthew and Mark
All three Synoptic Gospels tell this healing, with small but meaningful differences:
Matthew 8:1-4 places it right after the Sermon on the Mount, as Jesus comes down the mountain. It is the first miracle Matthew describes in detail. Read more about who wrote Matthew.
Mark 1:40-45 says Jesus was "moved with pity" and that the healed man spread the news so widely that Jesus had to stay in the countryside. Read more about who wrote Mark.
Luke 5:12-16 alone says the man was "covered with" or "full of" leprosy, and Luke alone ends with Jesus withdrawing to pray.
Leprosy in Modern Times
Though we often think of leprosy as a disease of the past, it still exists today. Now known as Hansen's disease, it is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae. Modern medicine can cure it with antibiotics, and most people are not easily infected, but stigma remains in many parts of the world.
In the United States, there was even a leprosy hospital near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at Carville. Established in 1894, it became the national center for Hansen's disease treatment and research and housed patients for most of the twentieth century, until the hospital closed in 1999. The facility worked to treat patients, reduce stigma, and educate the public, though its residents lived largely isolated from society. I first read about Carville in the early 1990s in an article in the Oxford American while I was living in Mississippi.
Leprosy varies widely in its effects, from mild skin lesions to severe nerve damage and disfigurement. In many ways, the disease pictures the separation and alienation caused by sin, which makes Jesus' healing touch all the more significant.
We should not take for granted human touch and the ability to be with one another freely. Leprosy robbed so many people of health and human connection.
Translation Comparison: Luke 5:12-16
Luke 5:12. The NRSV and ESV say "covered with leprosy" and "full of leprosy"; the NLT says "a man with an advanced case of leprosy." The Greek reads "full of leprosy."
Luke 5:12-13. The NRSV says "if you choose" and "I do choose"; the ESV says "if you will" and "I will"; the NLT says "if you are willing" and "I am willing." The Greek thelō means to will or want.
Luke 5:16. The NRSV says "he would withdraw to deserted places"; the ESV says "he would withdraw to desolate places"; the NLT says "Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness." The Greek tense describes a repeated habit.
Luke 5:12-16 Meaning for Today
This story is about more than physical healing. It is about Jesus' willingness to reach into our brokenness and restore us. The leper's bold faith and Jesus' compassionate touch challenge us to consider how we approach God in our own need. Do we, like the leper, come believing that he is able to make us clean? And do we trust that he is willing?
It also reminds us of the importance of welcoming the outcast. In a world where illness, sin, or circumstance often isolate people, Jesus shows us how to extend love and dignity. Whether through prayer, action, or advocacy, we are called to bring the hope of restoration to others. For more, see Bible verses about compassion and Bible verses about isolation.
Finally, Jesus' habit of withdrawing to pray is a word for anyone who serves. The more the crowds pressed in, the more he made space for the Father. For more, see Bible verses about healing and Bible verses about rest.
FAQ: Jesus Heals a Leper (Luke 5:12-16)
What happens in Luke 5:12-16? A man covered with leprosy falls before Jesus and asks to be made clean. Jesus touches him and heals him immediately, then tells him to show himself to the priest and make the offering Moses commanded. News about Jesus spreads, crowds gather, and Jesus withdraws to deserted places to pray.
Why did Jesus touch the leper? Jesus could have healed with a word, but he chose to touch a man the law required everyone to avoid. His touch restored the man's dignity as well as his health, and it showed that Jesus' holiness overcomes uncleanness instead of being stained by it.
Why did Jesus tell the leper to go to the priest? Under Leviticus 14, a priest had to examine a person healed of leprosy and oversee offerings before they could rejoin the community. Jesus sent the man to be officially declared clean so he could return to his family, community, and worship.
Why did Jesus tell the leper not to tell anyone? Jesus often limited publicity about his miracles early in his ministry. He did not want to be known only as a miracle worker, and huge crowds seeking healing could hinder his mission to preach the kingdom of God.
Was biblical leprosy the same as Hansen's disease? Not exactly. The biblical word covered a range of skin conditions, and Leviticus even applies it to mold on clothing and houses. Hansen's disease may have been among them, but biblical leprosy was a broader category of ritual uncleanness.
How many times did Jesus heal lepers? The Gospels describe two specific healings: the man in Luke 5:12-16 (also Matthew 8:1-4 and Mark 1:40-45) and the ten lepers in Luke 17:11-19. Jesus also lists cleansing lepers among the signs of his ministry (Luke 7:22).
Why did Jesus withdraw to pray in Luke 5:16? As the crowds grew, Jesus regularly withdrew to deserted places to pray. Luke shows that his ministry flowed from his relationship with the Father, and that even Jesus needed time apart from the demands of the crowds.
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Works Consulted
Darrell L. Bock, Luke (NIV Application Commentary)
Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke (New International Commentary on the New Testament)
John Nolland, Luke 1-9:20 (Word Biblical Commentary)
Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16 (Anchor Bible)
