Summary: how Jesus dealings with a leper shows how merciful and glorious he is

2-16-03 Mark 1:40-45

A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

A theory is only a theory until the theory is tested. It is at that point that the theory becomes fact or fiction. Conditioned response was a theory until Pavlov proved it true by getting a dog to salivate at the sound of a bell. Gravity was a fact, proven through experiments as done by Newton’s apple if I remember correctly. Scientists are full of theories, but that’s all they remain until they can be proven.

In theory, Christians will be forgiving, kind and compassionate to others. But when the theory is put to experiment - and I am supposed to be patient to the neighbor who keeps parking in front of my driveway, or kind to the hotel that overcharged 55.05 on my room, that’s when the facts come out, and I really prove who I am. Do the confrontations in our lives prove to others who we claim to be or who we are?

In theory, God’s Word predicted that God would become man - live a perfect life and die for the sins of the world. Throughout the ages many people have claimed to be the Messiah. Jim Jones, David Koresh, and Sun Myung Moon are just a few of the latest jesters to the throne. But there was only one person who proved His claim to be the Messiah - Jesus the Christ. We will see this revelation of Jesus as the Christ as we see how he deals with a leper.

A Confrontation with a Leper Lightens Up Our Lord

I. As the leper is cured

We begin today’s Gospel with a confrontation - A man with leprosy came to him. The terrifying nature of the disease is evident from Aaron’s plea to Moses for Miriam when Aaron and Miriam rebelled against Moses and the LORD struck Miriam "leprous." Aaron pleaded: "Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away" (Nu 12:11f). I know of a pastor who observed the birthing of a stillborn lamb that had been dead in its mother several days. He said, “It came out in pieces, and the stench was overpowering.” Therefore I would imagine that the stench and sight of a leper would be quite appalling. Alfred Edersheim wrote that the Jews of Jesus’ day were more likely to throw rocks at lepers than to get anywhere near them, much less touch one. It was this sort of a man who came to Jesus.

What did the ugly and stinking leper do? In spite of his appearance, he begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Do you see the faith in the leper’s statement? It wasn’t a question as to whether Jesus COULD heal him, he knew that Jesus COULD. It was only down to a question as to whether Jesus WOULD heal him.

I would be safe to assume that we are in similar situations every day - where we find ourselves in stinky and ugly situations where we don’t know what will happen or what God wants to happen. Maybe it has to do with a sickness - does God want me to get better? Maybe it has to do with a girl friend, does God want me to stick with her? Maybe it has to do with a job, does God want me to have it? Maybe it has to do with a sin, what is going to be the result? The answers aren’t always as black and white as we would like them to be. How do you respond to such situations? Do you call a friend and talk to him about it, asking him what to do? Do you stay up at night and worry about what will happen and whether you will make the right decision or do the right thing? Or do you just plow forward with your finger to the wind and hope that you’re going in the right direction?

There’s a better way - as seen through the leper. Even though he didn’t know God’s will, he still begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Showing a great humility, most likely embarrassed by his smell and sight, he still felt that it was worth the time to at least ask Jesus to heal him - to beg for his merciful cure.

So here Jesus was - the one who claimed to be the Messiah - confronted with a smelly and ugly leper who most Jews probably threw stones at and told to get away. How would he respond? First of all he says that Jesus was Filled with compassion. Sometimes we say that we are “sick to the stomach,” or have a “gut feeling” - that’s what this says here about Jesus. His insides were filled with compassion - he was genuinely moved at the sight of this leper - generally felt really bad for the situation.

And what did he do? Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. Even though leprosy was a contagious disease that would make people unclean for days, Jesus didn’t shy away from him. He didn’t say, “oh, get away from me! You stink!” Nothing of the sort - Jesus reached out his hand - the same hand that would one day reach out on a cross and get a nail pounded through it - and touched the man. With great words of comfort he told the leper - “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And what was the result? Instead of the man’s filth contaminating Jesus, the purity of Jesus cleansed the man. Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

Jesus revealed to us what kind of a God He is - a God of compassion - one who instead of being repelled by our sin, was willing to get his hands dirty and cure our sin. On the cross didn’t just cure the sins of the world from afar - he had them be thrown on him and contaminate him. He was willing to do more than just have us talk about our pain - he literally did feel our pain - as he was crucified in our place. All this he did because He WANTED TO - because He is a God of compassion.

Isn’t that just so important and comforting to know? This past week I had to change a child’s diaper that wasn’t my own. It wasn’t something I did very willingly. I was repulsed by the smell - I held my head the other way, and I quickly did what had to be done - complaining about it to myself the whole time. Afterwards I told my wife, “I don’t know what they’re feeding that boy, but whatever it is, it has to stop!” I don’t think the boy noticed what I was doing, but he probably knew I wasn’t too thrilled. Whenever you have someone help you who doesn’t really want to be there, how does it make you feel? Like a waste of time and space - a nuisance! Jesus gave no such appearance, as we see Jesus tell the leper - I am not only powerful enough but I am also willing to cure you of your disease. So we know that Jesus also is not repulsed by us - as contaminated as we are by sin. Instead, he is filled with compassion for us - and was willing from that compassion to go to the cross for us. He isn’t our Savior because he had to be - but because he wanted to be. Isn’t that great to know about Jesus?

Therefore, don’t be too ashamed and too humble to pray to God and ask Him for help. Even if you don’t know God’s will in the matter, you do know He wants you to pray, and that He’s willing to do what’s best. No situation is too dirty for him to handle - too repulsive for Him to cure. The confrontation with a leper shows that Jesus is a willing Savior who wants to help!

II. As the leper is commanded

Jesus just performed an awesome miracle as he healed this man. You would expect Him to parade this man as His royal entourage - saying to everyone, “hey - look what I did! Everyone - look at what a powerful guy I am!” There are several televangelists who use this approach. Their ministries revolve around their “miracle healings.” With a hand on the head and shouted “demons out!”, people come from far and near to see the miracle workers and get a miracle healing. If you think about it, Jesus could have had unbelievably HUGE crowds if he brought every healed person along with him - as before and after testimonies. But what did Jesus do? Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” Jesus didn’t want him to tell anyone except the priest and the temple workers. Why not? He didn’t want people to look to him just as their personal healthcare system, their regional Bread king and their national military hero to oust the Romans. He didn’t want to get caught up in the devil’s trap to be an earthly hero instead of a sacrificial lamb.

Thank God that Jesus stayed on course. For what good would Jesus ultimately do us if he could heal us of leprosy, but not of sin? What good would Jesus be if he could promise us freedom from oppressive governments, but not give us freedom from sin? What good would that kind of Savior do us when it came time to stand before our holy God? Not one bit of good! Jesus’ command to the leper shows us He had a higher purpose - not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. So he told the man not to tell anyone about what he had done.

But how did this man respond? Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Here Jesus wanted to reveal Himself - as our Epiphany Lord - the Savior who had come to save the world from sin, and instead he could no longer enter a town openly. All because this man couldn’t keep one command to go where he was supposed to. Even though he had good intentions I am sure, he ended up hindering Jesus’ ministry.

It’s kind of ironic, isn’t it? This man - with a direct command from God to tell NO ONE about what Jesus did for him, couldn’t refrain from telling people about how he was cured of leprosy. Here we are, having been freed from the devil and eternal hell, and Jesus tells us to GO AND TELL THE WORLD! And how do we respond? “I don’t know how! I don’t know what to say! I don’t know how to say it!” Like Moses, we make excuse after excuse as to why we CAN’T tell people. And then when we do finally say something, it usually ends up being the wrong thing! Instead of condemning people who are living rebellious lives, we just tell them God loves them anyway - and give them the impression that God doesn’t care if they sin! Then when fellow Christians come to us concerned about their health or their future or their sins, we just give them a bland, “it will be ok!” Instead of saying, “Jesus died for you,” or “God will provide for you,” like the leper - we drop the ball. It makes us hide our faces in shame at how we have messed up God’s mission - worse than the leper.

Yet Mark says, the people still came to him from everywhere. Even though Jesus couldn’t go openly into the towns - they still found him in the lonely places. I would be willing to bet that Jesus was still able to give them His message of salvation in spite of this misguided zeal of the leper. This man’s zeal still didn’t stop Jesus from fulfilling His priestly ministry, as He went on to take away the leper’s sins and our sins on the cross. Instead of condemning the leper, Jesus died for the leper and paid for his sin - curing him of his much worse disease of sin.

When we remember how this all turned out, it’s as if Jesus takes His blood stained hands - taps us on the shoulder and says - “Even though you haven’t fulfilled your mission, I fulfilled mine! I went to the cross - died, and rose from the dead! Your sins are forgiven! So get up and keep on going! Keep on preaching! Keep on trying! Even if you don’t always say the right thing - I still want you to go! I will use your mistakes to the glory of my kingdom! I will still use my WORD - not miracles - to further my kingdom.” The same hands that were crucified for us are now pointed to the world saying - “don’t give up!” As we see Jesus’ mission continue on in spite of the healed leper’s misguided zeal, we also know that Jesus’ mission continues on in spite of our failures. We know that our Savior doesn’t give up on us - but wants us to keep going, keep preaching - because he will work all things out for good in some way. That’s the kind of Savior we have - one who will work with us and through us - in spite of our weaknesses and sins. So don’t be afraid to go and tell others about Jesus - even if you don’t know exactly what you’re going to say or how you’re going to say it.

When you want to pay someone the highest compliment, you can say, “I’d go to battle with him or her.” With that kind of statement, you’re saying that you would trust him or her in the most trying situations because they’ve proven themselves to you. We are in a battle against the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh. But we aren’t in it alone - we have a tried and true Savior by our side - One who got down in the trenches and faced ugly situations head on. Instead of coming out of this world corrupted, beaten, and defeated, Jesus continued to come out shining. He proved it to us as he healed the leper of his sin. This confrontation with a leper shed light on what kind of a Lord we have. We have a Savior who wanted to help us and wanted to save us - and did just that. This isn’t a theory - this is a fact. Now Jesus says to you - “go to battle with me! Fight in the trenches! Pray to me for help in the face of death! Fulfill my mission and tell others about salvation! My Word is powerful! And I’m with you!” Amen.