The Leper and Gethsemane: Will and Power in Matthean Narratives of Prayer and Providence

Abstract Jesus’s healing of the leper in Matt 8:2 and his prayers in Gethsemane in Matt 26:39, 42, 44 both involve a dialectical interplay of language of will and power, in the one case with the leper beseeching Jesus for healing, in the other with Jesus beseeching God for the cup to pass from him. Both rely on if-clauses: “if you are willing, you can,” “if it is possible, but thy will be done”; the leper prays to “the Lord” as or through Jesus, and Jesus prays to God the Father. This article explores what is at stake theologically in this narrative analogy within the wider interplay of will and power in Matthew’s narrative. It argues that Jesus and the leper model different forms of prayerful trust in providence, and that Matthew contrasts this with wrong grammars of mistrust modeled by other gospel characters whose “if” clauses challenge Jesus to demonstrate power. It suggests that Matthew’s emplotment of the leper story highlights the providential ordering of the gospel that rests on abiding structures of hospitality and friendship between Jesus and the outcasts of society, even where his apostles fall short. Thus Matthew turns our attention to both the forward-looking application of providence, where an individual prays from within a situation of need, and the retrospective application of providence, where people reflect on connections between past events and discern patterns of divine compassion at work. Providence emerges as a practical doctrine pertinent to Christian prayer.