A man suffering from a virulent skin-disease came to him and pleaded on his knees saying, ‘If
you are willing, you can cleanse me.’ Feeling sorry for him, Jesus stretched out his hand,
touched him and said to him, ‘I am willing. Be cleansed.’ And at once the skin-disease left him
and he was cleansed. And at once Jesus sternly sent him away and said to him, ‘Mind you tell
no one anything, but go and show yourself to the priest, and make the offering for your
cleansing prescribed by Moses as evidence to them.’ The man went away, but then started
freely proclaiming and telling the story everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer go openly
into any town, but stayed outside in deserted places. Even so, people from all around kept
coming to him.