Why did Jesus touch the leper when he healed him? Did Jesus need to do that? No. Sometimes he healed people just by saying a word. (The centurion’s servant was healed miles away when Jesus just gave a command.) Plus, the moment Jesus touched the leper, according to the laws in the Old Testament, he should have become unclean. Ah, but that’s just it. Here’s the bigger miracle! Because Jesus is perfectly holy, he didn’t become unclean the moment he touched the man. Rather, the man became perfectly clean. Jesus took away the man’s uncleanness and gave him his cleanness. In that way, it’s like a little picture of what Jesus would do on the cross—the very biggest miracle of all! Jesus, “who knew no sin,” took on our sin so that everyone who bows before Jesus and believes in him (like the leper did!) becomes clean—we become “the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). So, you see, as the Snake Crusher is crushing Satan, he is also cleansing us of all our ugly sins.