The Plague Must Be Named

The priest in Leviticus does not flatter the diseased man, nor call uncleanness clean. He looks closely, tests, shuts up, examines again, and then speaks a true judgment. Isaiah does the same for the whole people: the Lord is able to save, but sins have made a division. The fault is not in God’s hand, but in our hands, our lips, our feet. As Clement says, “Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known. Isaiah 59:7-8;”

So the first mercy is not quick relief, but honest exposure. The sick man must be brought to the priest; the sinful nation must hear the prophet’s accusation. We do not heal by hiding the spot, excusing the lie, or delaying repentance. We come into the light and accept the sentence.

Yet these readings do not leave us in despair. Isaiah teaches confession for a people who know their offenses are many. And even in Leviticus there is a severe sign of hope: when the whiteness has covered all, the priest may declare the man clean. Tertullian cites it plainly: “But if the speckled appearance shall have become efflorescent over the skin, and shall have covered the whole skin from the head even unto the feet through all the visible surface, then the priest, when he shall have seen, shall utterly cleanse him: since he has wholly turned into white he is clean.” Better full confession than partial concealment. Better to say all than to defend one cherished sin.

Therefore let your repentance be complete. Name the plague, forsake the work of violence and falsehood, and seek the Lord’s mercy with fasting, prayer, and restitution where you have harmed another.