A man, muffled up, is leaning against the rustic wall supporting a terrace, the nearest to the boundary of the property. He must have climbed up there along a path coasting the torrent.
When he sees Jesus approaching him, he shouts: «Go back. Back! Have mercy on me!» And he uncovers his trunk dropping his tunic to the ground. If his face is covered with scabs, his trunk is one big sore. Some of the sores have already become deep wounds, some are like burns, some are whitish and glossy, as if there was a thin white pane of glass on them.
«Are you a leper? What do you want of Me?»
«Don’t curse me! Don’t stone me. I have been told that the other evening You revealed Yourself as the Voice of God and the Bearer of Grace. I was also told that You gave assurance that by raising Your Sign, You will cure all diseases. Please raise it on me. I have come from the sepulchres… over there… I crept like a snake amongst the bushes near the torrent to reach here without being seen. I waited until evening before leaving because at dusk it is more difficult to see who I am. I dared… I found this man, the man of the house, he is good. He did not kill me. He only said: “Wait over there, near the little wall”. Have mercy on me” and as Jesus is going near him, all by Himself, because the six disciples and the landlord, as well as the two strangers, are far away and are evidently disgusted, he adds: «Don’t come nearer. Don’t! I am infected!» But Jesus proceeds. He looks at him so mercifully, that the man starts crying and kneels down almost touching the ground with his face, moaning: «Your Sign! Your Sign!»
«It will be raised when it is time. But now I say to you: Stand up. Be healed. I want it. And be the sign in this town that must recognise Me. Rise, I say. And do not sin, out of gratitude to God!»
The man rises slowly. He seems to emerge from the long flowery grass as from a shroud… and is healed. He looks at himself in the last dim light of the day. He is healed. He shouts: «I am clean! Oh! What shall I do for You now?»
«You must comply with the Law. Go to the priest. Be good in future. Go.»
The man is on the point of throwing himself at Jesus’ feet, but he remembers he is still impure, according to the Law, and he restrains himself. But he kisses his own hand, and throws a kiss to Jesus and weeps. He weeps out of joy.
54.3
The others are dumbfounded. Jesus turns away from the healed man and rouses them smiling. «My friends, it was only a leprosy of the flesh. But you will see leprosy fall from hearts. (...) »