Clean, by the Grace of God!
Mark
1:40-45
Introduction: A while back a video circulated of two brothers,
covered with paint, sitting on the floor of a shower, being questioned by dad
[You can view it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOiI7tZA86Y&t=3s ]. They were COVERED with paint. I think they were
maybe 2 and 3 years old? It was hilarious when they pointed to each other as
the “instigator.” I was waiting for the older brother to say, “The brother who
you gave me, HE brought me the paint!” Or, “I threw in this paint, and out came
THIS…!” Since the time of the fall, humans, by birth and by choice, are covered
with the filth of sin.
The prophets expressed the human condition
clearly. Jeremiah said, “The heart is
deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
(Jer 17:9). Isaiah warned “We have all
become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted
garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us
away…” (Isa 64:6). Our unclean, polluted, sinful condition, has to be seen
against the absolute purity and holiness of God, the One who is of purer eyes
than to look upon iniquity.
The Old Testament ceremonial law exposes our sin, our separation
from God, and our need for reconciliation. Disease came into the world as a
consequence of the Fall, and reminds us of the need for a Redeemer. In Bible
times leprosy was a particularly powerful reminder. The separation from the
community, from other people, from worship that resulted from “leprosy”
illustrates our sinful condition and our need for spiritual cleansing, and with
it, restoration to fellowship with Holy God. That brings us to…
The Maine*
Idea: We were filthy sinners,
alienated from God, but now He has graciously touched us, and made us clean,
reconciled us to God.
I. Our
Desperate Need: We are ALL needy, unclean, unable to approach God [apart
from Christ] (40a; cf. Jer 17:9; Isa 64:6).
“And a leper
came…”
We have only two specific mentions of Jesus healing a leper in the
gospels. One is the case when he healed ten, and yet only one, a Samaritan,
returned to give thanks. The other is this scene, also reported in Luke and
Matthew. It is difficult for us to imagine the horror of a diagnosis of leprosy
in the ancient world. First of all, it seems as though at that time the disease
included more than “Hansen’s disease” which occurs today. According to the CDC…
Hansen's disease (also known as leprosy) is an
infection caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium
leprae. …The disease can affect the nerves, skin, eyes, and lining of
the nose (nasal mucosa). The bacteria attack the nerves, which can become swollen under
the skin. This can cause the affected areas to lose the
ability to sense touch and pain, which can lead to injuries, like cuts and
burns. Usually, the affected skin changes color… If left untreated, the nerve
damage can result in paralysis of hands and feet. In very advanced cases, the
person may have multiple injuries due to lack of sensation, and eventually the
body may reabsorb the
affected digits over time, resulting in the apparent loss of
toes and fingers…
In some areas of the world, this form of
“leprosy” is still a problem – every 10 minutes someone contracts leprosy
somewhere is the world. According to the CDC, today Hansen’s disease can be
effectively treated if caught at an early stage. Whether the disease was even
more virulent in the ancient world we have no way to tell. In fact, there may
have been other diseases as well that were considered under the umbrella of
“leprosy” in Biblical times. What we do know, is that the disease meant that
the infected person was strictly segregated from the congregation and
the community. Leviticus 13 and 14 describes the “diagnosis” of the disease and
the result for those pronounced infected and unclean. For example we read in
Lev 13:2,3…
2 "When a person has… a case of leprous disease on
the skin of his body, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of
his sons the priests, 3 and
the priest shall examine the diseased area on the skin of his body. And if the
hair in the diseased area has turned white and the disease appears to be deeper
than the skin of his body, it is a case of leprous disease. When the priest has
examined him, he shall pronounce him unclean.
Those infected had to wear a cloth
covering their mouth, and if someone was approaching they needed to shout
“Unclean! Unclean!” They had to live outside of the camp, away from even their
own family. Touching a leprous person was strictly forbidden, and would render
the person ceremonially “unclean.”
Against
that background, it is somewhat shocking that this leper had the boldness to
approach Jesus. His plight was desperate. Perhaps his isolation was too much to
bear. Perhaps he had heard enough about this Rabbi, this miracle worker, that a
glimmer of hope began to well up in his heart. We too were unclean, not because
of disease, but as filthy sinners, alienated from God. But now He has
graciously touched us, and made us clean, reconciled us to God.
II. Our Only
Hope: We are needy, and we must go to the only One who is able to meet our
deepest need (40b).
40 And a leper came to him, imploring him, and
kneeling said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean."
How this leper came to hope that Jesus could help him in his desperate
situation we don’t know. Did he see him do other miracles? Was the testimony of
the authority of His words conveyed to him by a friend? He was well aware of his need, and he had
come to believe, or at least to hope, that Jesus was able, if it was His will,
to heal him, to do for him what, as far as we know, had never been done since
Naaman the Syrian was healed by Elisha (2 Kings 5). An illustration of how
serious that disease was and what it symbolized can be seen in the story of
King Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26:15-21…
…And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously
helped, till he was strong. 16
But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was
unfaithful to the LORD his God and entered the temple of the LORD to burn
incense on the altar of incense. 17
But Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty priests of the LORD who
were men of valor, 18 and
they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, "It is not for you, Uzziah, to
burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests the sons of Aaron, who are
consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong,
and it will bring you no honor from the LORD God." 19 Then Uzziah was angry. Now he
had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the
priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in
the house of the LORD, by the altar of incense.
20 And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at
him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead! And they rushed him out
quickly, and he himself hurried to go out, because the LORD had struck
him. 21 And King Uzziah was a
leper to the day of his death, and being a leper lived in a separate house, for
he was excluded from the house of the LORD.
By the way, that is the background to the vision of
Isaiah. Remember, that is was “…in the
year that King Uzziah died…” when he saw the Lord, high and lifted up, with
the train of his robe filling the temple and the seraphim surrounding the
throne, calling out “Holy, Holy, Holy, is
the Lord of hosts…” God is holy. He is of purer eyes than to look upon
iniquity. He must punish sin. And so the natural man, unregenerate humans, are
separated from him, unclean, unable to approach him, helpless to do anything to
save themselves. We have no basis for
pride. It is only those who are in Christ who can approach the Holy of Holies!
Jesus is both our High Priest and the Lamb that was slain. His blood
provided atonement for our sins. By His stripes, we have been healed! We were
filthy sinners, alienated from God, but now He has graciously touched us, and
made us clean, reconciled us to God. We were desperately needy, we had only one
hope…
III. Our
Gracious Savior: He came to be our substitute. And He is ready, willing,
and able to “make clean” all who come to Him in faith (41,42).
41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched
him and said to him, "I will; be clean." 42 And immediately the leprosy
left him, and he was made clean.
The shocking nature of Jesus’ action is
hard to convey in our setting. In the light of the horror of the disease in the
first century, considering it’s “uncurable” status and the resulting isolation
from others and separation from the worship (and the God!) of Israel, Jesus
does the unthinkable. First of all, consider how His action contrasts that of
Job’s friends when they came to him in his distress. Their reaction was, “You
must have done something to deserve this!” Jesus does not even inquire. For
the reader of the Gospel, from the first verse, we understand: He is the Son of
God, He already knows the man and his need. He is moved with pity, no doubt as
he looks at this leper, pleading for mercy, he sees before himself one more
example of the consequences of sin, of humans living in a fallen world. Remember,
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He came to give himself for
us, and ultimately, to undo the curse that resulted from Adam’s sin.
Do you sometimes feel distressed by the
suffering and sickness and sin and violence we see in the world around us?
Don’t despair, that is why Jesus came! Let it turn your heart to the Gospel. He
created the universe and pronounced it “good.” Sin, human rebellion, brought
all the pain and suffering we see into the world. Jesus came to save sinners.
He came to make a way for sinful humans to be reconciled to holy God. Jesus
went much farther than feeling pity on the man.
Jesus
reached out his hand and touched him.
Touch a leper? That was unthinkable to a Jew! He was unclean! The Law forbade such
contact! Think of this first of all from
the leper’s perspective. He took a chance in even approaching Jesus and bowing
down before Him. He should have kept his distance, kept his face covered, and
shouted “Unclean! Unclean!” And yet he came. How long, I wonder, had it been,
since this man had been touched by another human? Did he expect, like Elisha had done with
Naaman, to be sent to the Jordan to immerse himself seven times? Remember
Uzziah, though he was a king, he lived out his last days in isolation. But
Jesus reaches out his hand, touches the leper, and says, “I will. Be clean!” And he was. Immediately. The scene brings to my
mind the song, “He touched me, He touched
me, and oh, the joy that filled my soul! Something happened, and now I know, He
touched me and made me whole!” The horrible disease that demanded isolation
from humans and from God, was gone, by the gracious touch of the Savior, he was
healed. That should resonate with you if you know Christ. Because we were
filthy sinners, alienated from God, but now He has graciously touched us, and
made us clean, reconciled us to God.
IV. Our
Reasonable Response: Obedient submission to His Word (43-45).
43 And
Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, 44 and said to him, "See that
you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for
your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them." 45 But he went out and began to
talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer
openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to
him from every quarter.
Faith
requires obedience, a demonstration that we take God at His word and submit to
His Lordship (43). Jesus tells the man, he “sternly charged him,” to say nothing to anyone, but rather to go
and show himself to the priest and offer the required offering. Why? It seems,
by the unfolding story, that Jesus knew the man’s heart, and he knew what would
happen. The language is strong, even before the man leaves, Jesus knows what
he’ll do, and so he “charges him sternly” not to speak, but to go to the
priests as required by the Law. The language almost has the sense of
“rebuke”—which is interesting, because the man didn’t do anything yet! He sends the man to the priest. Why?
For “…a proof to them…” Remember Jesus is presenting himself, with
his works and his words, as the Messiah of Israel. He did not come to destroy
the Law, but to fulfill the Law. His miracles were a testimony to the
multitudes, and, potentially at least, they could be a testimony to the leaders
and the priests. Who had ever heard of a leper being healed? Would the leaders
see the evidence before their very eyes and recognize that only God could do
the things that Jesus was doing? It seems like some were open, like Nicodemus,
who came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi,
we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs
that you do unless God is with him…” (John 3:2). But others, in fact most,
would not, or could not, believe. In fact, the healed man seems to disregard
Jesus’ instruction and goes out “talking freely” and spreading the news about
what Jesus had done.
The
“sacrifice for our cleansing” has been offered, once for all. What “offering”
is proper for us? There is an interesting contrast in the command to the
leper, and to the command that is given to us as the church. In view of God’s
mercy, we should offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, that is our reasonable
service of worship! (Rom 12:1,2). And
rather than going, and staying silent, we are to go as His witnesses, and make
disciples of every nation, baptizing them and teaching them the things He has
taught us (Mt 28:18,20).
How did the healed man respond? It seems
shocking, but apparently he is so overcome with joy at his healing, that he
ignores the instruction of Jesus completely: “But he went out and began to talk freely
about it, and to spread the news…” Notice the result: “…so that Jesus
could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people
were coming to him from every quarter.”
We see the importance of obedience… at this
moment it was to remain silent, for us it is to speak up—to be His witnesses…
God’s Word to me in this passage: We were unclean, filthy sinners, alienated from God,
but now He has graciously touched us, and made us clean, reconciled us to God.
What
would God have me to do in response to this passage? I don’t know if you ever got into the paint when you
were a kid—I did (literally!), but not as “effectively” as the kids in that
video! But I got into enough other stuff in my years before I knew Christ, to
know that my heart was desperately wicked, and that my works were like filthy
rags before Him. Thank God for His Amazing Grace!
A few years back we defined our
“mission” as a church: “To know God and
to make Him known.” That is perhaps minimalist in terms of the use of
words, but it is a challenge that could keep us engaged till the Lord returns. Does
this scene reveal God a little bit more to you? Do you see in Jesus’ act of
compassion in touching that leper something of his love for humans? Does it reveal something of his desire for
reconciliation? Does His intervention in
your life speak to His love for you? Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep my commandments!” (John 14:15, NKJV).
This is how God showed his love among us, He sent His one and only Son
into the world, that we might live through Him! The more our eyes are opened to
what He did for us, the better we know Him, the more we will love Him. Who are the outcasts, the untouchables around
us, who need to know the love of God? “And
such were some of you [Us! SN]. But you were washed, you were sanctified,
you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of
our God.” (I Cor 6:11). The Lord’s
Table is an opportunity to look back, and reflect on God’s gracious intervention
in our story. And as we look ahead to His return, it is a motivation to
stay faithful and engaged in His mission in the world. AMEN.
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