Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. (Luke 5:14-16)
After breaking through the barriers of social taboo and quarantine restrictions—which he could do because he was God—Jesus now gives instructions to the man he had willingly cleansed and made whole from leprosy.
Today we often think that freedom means the free, unrestricted pursuit of our own, authentic individual desires, even if that should come at the expense of others or of community. The only relevant imperative is that we all need to do what’s best for ourselves, and others just need to tolerate and accept it. There are many examples, I won’t fill that blank in for you today. But against that backdrop, it is important to note how freedom works and is understood by Jesus here.
This man was not cleansed and set free of his restrictions so that he could go and live however he pleased: like in pursuit of his own authentic self. He had lived long enough in that sort of dismal isolation. No, according to Jesus, this man was cleansed and set free so that he could be restored to the good bindings of community. Jesus tells him to go and return to life within the rules of the community: he is to follow the law, show himself to the priests, and offer the sacrifices. The man is set free from his social isolation so that he can once again live within the obligations of restored communal relationship. This is a good thing: his restoration to community is part of his restoration to wholeness.
That being said, Jesus reveals to us that there is still a place for isolation and solitary pursuits. It is not in order to cultivate or convey an ever-more authentic self-image to the waiting world around us, but is rather to be restored into a deeper and more authentic relationship of communion with God. The Christian tradition has long asserted that relationship with Christ is the only real access we have to becoming authentically human: we cannot get there by merely expressing, feeling, or searching the depths of our own self.
As the word gets out about Jesus’ authentic healing power, he does not revel in the fact that he is seen, wanted, needed, loved, sought-after, important—no, he recognizes a temptation to a lesser good in the crowd’s attention. Jesus knows that it is not finally about him. It is about his relationship with the Father and his loving submission to the Father’s will. And so Jesus withdraws to that lonely desert place once again to be alone with the Father in prayer.
This is the proper place for authentic individual pursuit. It is a pursuit to the heart of our relationship with God the Father where we find deepest access to our authentic humanity and self. A humanity that is not solitary, but relational—and a self not lived unto itself, but in submission to God. Grounded there, as Jesus enables us to be, we are set free to live well in community with others.