Matthew 8:2

a leper St Luke has "full of leprosy," a term implying the gravity of the disease, not that it covered the whole body, in which case the leper was pronounced clean, Leviticus 13:12-13; Leviticus 13:16-17. See Our Lord's Miracles of Healing, ch. 4 (Belcher). Leprosy is to be regarded as especially symbolic of sin: the beginning of the disease is almost unnoticed, it is contagious (this point is disputed, but see in confirmation of the note Belcher, Our Lord's Miracles of Healing, ch. 4, also Meyer ad loc. who takes the same view), in its worst form it is incurable except by the touch of Christ; it separated a man and classed him with the dead.

worshipped him The imperfect in the original marks that persistency in prayer, which Jesus had just promised should win acceptance; while the leper's words imply a faith which is another condition of acceptance.