Mark 1:39-45

January 29, 2023

If You Are Willing, You Can Make Me Clean

Part 1

For the Jew, Leprosy was more than a disease, it was a sentence from God.

Most of us in the room are old enough to remember 9/11/2001; September 11 of 2001. And if those of us who are in the room that are old enough to remember that day, I think I'm probably right in saying that at least two things resonated among all of us who were watching the events unfold on that day. All of us who remember that day--there was a lot of things going on; there was so, much confusion and so, many emotions, but I think two things in particular really hit home for all of us. One was just a great deal of confusion and anxiety and trepidation over what we were seeing unfold on the TV screens. But I think another emotion that was really prevalent among all of us who are watching the events of that day, was just this sense--I don't even know what a name to put to it--but this the sense that what we were watching on the TV was going to change our life forever. We didn't know how we didn't understand this. We didn't know who was doing this. We didn't know what this meant for the immediate future. But I think all of us had a sense that what we were seeing was something that was going to change all of our lives forever. We didn't know to what extent, we didn't know how, but we just knew that we were watching the end of one life and the beginning of another. I think that's something that is unique in modern American history. Perhaps we could compare it to maybe the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The bombing of Pearl Harbor certainly equaled the events of September 11, in the sense of the impact that it made, the deaths on that day, and the change in the trajectory of the nation. That certainly was equal in that way. But what was different about Pearl Harbor Day was the fact that we weren't watching that on TV. I wasn't here to watch anything on TV, but those who were alive, weren't watching it unfold. They heard about it on the radio, the next day, they read it in the newspapers, but they weren't watching it unfold like we were on September 11. We were watching before our eyes, things that we did not understand, but yet we knew they were going to change us. In that sense, we are like the people in Mark's gospel. Because in Mark's gospel, there are all these crowds, and spectators, and disciples, and all of them are watching these things happen. And they don't understand all these things that are happening, but I think that there is this strong sense that what they're seeing is going to change life for them forever. They don't know how, they don't understand the scope of what they're seeing, they don't understand the meaning of everything that they're seeing, but they know that what they're seeing is going to change things for them. And the story before us this morning is a story in which that is true to a great degree--that what they saw, what they witnessed in our story is something that will change their life. But I think they had little understanding as to how that would change their lives. So, this story they we're turned to--just five verses here beginning from verse 40. Let's begin by reading from verse 39, through the end of the chapter. And as we read this, we will try this morning to place ourselves, as much as we can, into the context, into the understanding, into the crowd that was watching this, even the leper himself, in order to understand to a greater degree what God has for us this morning. So, the events that we just read are events that are familiar to us--this interaction with this leper, the cleansing of the leper, but in order to begin unpacking the story, and really getting a firm grasp on what God has for us in the story, we need to understand something about leprosy. So, let's read from verse 39. And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. And a leper came to Him imploring Him, and kneeling, said to him, if you will, you can make me clean. Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, I will; be clean. And immediately the leprosy left him and he was made clean. And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, 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. 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. Now, I understand probably everybody here within the hearing of my voice this morning, we've all come in contact with the teachings of leprosy in the Scripture. I mean, leprosy is so, prevalent in the scriptures. You can hardly read your Old Testament without coming across leprosy somewhere in the pages of the Old Testament. You can hardly read the gospels without coming across Jesus encountering a leper. And so, we are accustomed to hearing of this phenomenon called leprosy. And we know that this leprosy, that's spoken of in the scriptures, is something that covers a vast array of skin diseases. Some scholars believe as many as 70 different skin diseases were covered under this term leprosy, and some of them were very mild in the sense of maybe just some eczema. Others were very serious. And the most serious of all was what we know of today is Hansen's disease. And I'm sure all of us have heard something said from the pulpit about Hansen's disease, and what Hansen's Disease is and what it does to the person, the sufferer of Hansen's disease. And so, we won't take a great deal of time to go back through that. But just to kind of just hit the high points--if we can call them high points--of what Hansen's Disease is. As we'll see in our text a little bit later, we know that this leper was not one who had a mild form of leprosy. We know that he was one who had the most severe form. And we also know it was a form of leprosy, a case of leprosy that was much advanced. We'll see that in the text just a little bit later. But before we go there, let's just understand a little bit about what this was about this Hansen's Disease. This disease of leprosy was a horrible, in fact, it's still a horrible disease. There was no cure for it. And still today, there is no cure for this disease. There are medical treatments that can greatly remediate the symptoms of the disease, yet there still is no cure for this disease even today. So, in Jesus's day, in the Old Testament days, this disease, when it struck, was a hideous sort-of thing. It was a disease that attacked the nervous system, it was passed by contact between people. And when it infected the nervous system, it manifested itself in the skin. It would manifest itself in bulbous sort-of growths on the skin. In fact, the word leper, or leprosy from the Greek is from lepros, which is which means scale. And so, you can kind of get an idea, there that the word itself is trying to describe what the disease looks like--this scaly sort-of bulbous growth. We've all sort-of googled, I'm sure you can go--don't do right now--but you can google leprosy. And you can see all kinds of pictures of people infected with such a disease as this, and it's a hideous looking thing. So, as it attacks the body, the nervous system, and manifests itself in the skin, it causes the skin to grow in abnormal ways, to begin to lose sensation, to be painful, but then eventually to lose the sensation to such a degree that we're told that most of the injuries, most of the damage from leprosy occurs from the victim having no longer any feeling in that limb, or that appendage, to such a point that they damage their hands or their feet or, or whatnot, because they don't feel any pain. And there's many stories, there's many verified accounts of lepers who would do great damage to their hand, because they used a hoe all day that had a nail sticking out of the handle, they didn't know it. Or accounts of lepers that will reach into a fire to grab a potato that they dropped into the fire. And so, much of the damage comes because there's no longer any pain receptors. But the damage is not limited to that. These growths will just continue, and and eventually the skin will begin to decay. And it will emit a--what I'm told--is a strong odor. Lepers, I'm told, have a very foul smell to them. And in addition to that, as the disease progresses, the appendages eventually begin to fall off. And so, if you do that Google thing, and you look at those pictures, you'll see many pictures of victims of leprosy that will have no longer any fingers, maybe just a stub for a hand, no longer any toes, maybe not any feet, the nose, the ears, all those things will eventually fall off. It's a hideous disease. And so, we know something about what it looks like, we've all heard this talked about before from the pulpit. But as we begin the story this morning, where we need to begin is to really understand what leprosy is, and why leprosy is such a big deal in the scriptures. Because if we don't understand this--it's not like we can't understand what God's saying to us in the passage at all--but unless we understand leprosy, we won't fully grasp what the passage is about this morning. Leprosy is not like anything else in all the scriptures. Leprosy is in a category all its own. So, we know that all diseases, and all maladies, and all deformities of the body, we know that the Scriptures teach us that all those things are the result, the eventual result, of the fall, of the sinfulness that's present in the world. And so, every illness, every cancer, every heart disease, all of that we can trace back to the fall. If there were not sin, there would be no disease and sickness. Now, sometimes those sicknesses and those illnesses in the Scriptures can be directly attributed to the sinfulness of the victim. But there's this ambiguity. There's always this ambiguity in the scriptures, except for those instances in which we're told specifically, but there's this ambiguity in the scriptures in which there'll be a sick person, or lame person, or a blind person, and we're not sure whether that was a direct result of sin in their life, or whether it was just the result of living in a fallen world. Think about the story of Job. As Job is suffering all these losses, and the boils, and everything all over his skin, his friends come and they say, Job, this has got to be because you have sinned hideously. And Job says, No, it's not, I've not sinned. Or think about the blind man, the man born blind in John chapter nine, in which the disciples say to Jesus, Jesus was, Is this man blind because of his sin? Or is it a more indirect result of his parents’ sin? And Jesus says--neither. So, there's this ambiguity when we come, when we come across malformations, or deformations, or missing appendages, or blindness, or deafness, or sickness. We're just not quite sure all the time whether that's a direct result of sin, or whether it's not. Paul himself even says to the Corinthians, some of you are sick and have died because of your sin. He didn't say all of them have. So, we know that to be the fact with sicknesses and illnesses and diseases. However, leprosy is different. With leprosy, there is no ambiguity with leprosy. The Scriptures tell us it is always the result of the person's sin. Whether or not that sin is known or unknown. In the scriptures, in the Old Testament, we are led to believe, we are taught that the manifestation of leprosy is always the result--the direct result--of sin, that leprosy in the scriptures is given to us as the manifestation of God's judgment upon the sin, whether that sin be a known sin or an unknown sin. Look with me in Numbers, chapter 12, and your handout Numbers chapter 12, verses nine through 12. This is the instance of leprosy that struck Miriam, the sister of Moses, remember when Miriam and Aaron, they rebelled, revolted against Moses, and they said; Who is this, Moses? He's not the only one that can speak for God, we can also. So, they revolted against Moses. And so, as a judgment against that, God struck Miriam with leprosy. And just take a look at the account. In verse nine, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against them (meaning Aaron and Miriam), and he departed. And when the cloud removed over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam and behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said to Moses, Oh, my lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned. Let her not be as one dead whose flesh is half eaten away. So, here is Miriam struck with leprosy that's a clear result of her immediate sin just prior to that. We think of the instance of Uzza, who's (I'm sorry), Uzziah in Second Chronicles, Chapter 26, verses 19 and 21. Then Uzziah was angry, (he was angry at the priests. Why? Because he wanted to be a priest himself, he wanted to be be king and priest). So, he had taken the censor in his hand, (which is what the priests do), and he wanted to burn incense. And when he became angry with the priest, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priest, in the house of the Lord, and King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death. And being a leper, he lived in a separate house, and it was excluded from the house of the Lord. So, here's what we see in the pages of the Old Testament, is leprosy is always a direct result of the sin of the individual. And so, this leprosy is given to us in the scriptures as something that's a manifestation of God's judgment upon sin. One of the things that shows us what's important to God is oftentimes how much space God devotes to it in His Word. And so, if something's important to God, we can expect that it will receive lots of treatment in God's Word. And so, do you know that God's treatment of leprosy in the Old Testament, God's directions to the priests on how to recognize leprosy, and how to proclaim it, how to declare it and then what to do about it, do you know that that equals his treatment of the Day of Atonement? The rituals surrounding leprosy equal in space, the amount of space, given to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the most important day of the year. And so, the most important day of the year, all the rituals surrounding that day equal the amount of space given to leprosy. Chapter 13 and chapter 14 of Leviticus are devoted entirely to leprosy. And neither one of those are short chapters; chapter 13 is 59 verses, chapter 14 is 57 verses. So, some 116 verses are given to us for the recognition, the declaration of leprosy, and then the recognition if someone has been cleansed of leprosy, and then the sacrifices, and the rituals that involve that. So, some of the places that come to us, for example, in Leviticus chapter 13, verses 45 and 46. So, we just talked about how much space is given to this, but just here's just a tiny little snippet of how God instructs his people to deal with leprosy once it's manifested among them. Verse 46, the leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes, and let the hair of his head hang loose, let it the hair of his head, hang loose. Do you know that leprosy is the only thing in Scripture in which the victim is told to make himself look worse? There's nothing else in Scripture like it, in which those suffer from the disease is told to purposely, intentionally make yourself look even worse than you do. He shall let the hair of his head hang loose, shall cover his upper lip, and he shall cry out, Unclean, unclean wherever he goes. So, he must cry out wherever he goes, Unclean! To let everyone know that here approaches this unclean person. And so, we're told that the amount of ostracizing that took place was extreme. And all this was from the direction of God; God directed his people to ostracize the leper. And so, we're told that whenever a leper, they had to live away from people. Luke chapter 17, we're told that the lepers stood 50 paces away from Jesus. And so, they had to live outside. And not only could they not come into the assembly of God's people, so, once the priests, once the priest stood up and declared that this was leprosy, unless you were cleansed, that meant that that day was the last time you would ever be among God's people, unless you were cleansed. And then not only that, but you had to live outside the town you had to live away from others. We're probably familiar in the New Testament, with Gehanna, which was sort-of like that ancient trash dump. That's where the lepers lived. And so, you were immediately displaced from your home, you immediately had to go live away from your home, the lepers house, after he was declared to be a leper, his house was torn down and burned. So, not only was he now destitute, unable to provide for himself in any way, his family, though they couldn't see him anymore, were now homeless. And so, they had to live away from others, he shall remain unclean, as long as he has the disease, he is unclean, he shall live alone, His dwelling place shall be outside the camp. Not only could he not live with his family, he couldn't even live in town. And we're told that even, if a leper, of course, entered a house, the house would be unclean, but we're also told that if a leper stood under the shade of a tree, the shade of the tree was unclean. And you, yourself, would be made unclean by standing under the shade of the same tree that a leper had stood. And that's the seriousness. That's the radical nature of God's direction to ostracize the leper from among them, to drive the leper out from among them. And God's people took it seriously. It's well known that when a leper would come around, that people would throw rocks at them, and throw sticks at them. Kids were trained, they were taught, to throw rocks at the lepers, to drive them away, to grab sticks, and yell at them, Get away!, like some sort-of dog, some sort-of mongrel dog that was coming around looking for scraps. They were told to drive them away from them. So, you're starting to kind of get a picture of what this was like, not only the disease itself, but God's requirements for his people to deal with the one who had such a disease as this. To be cast off from God's people all together, to be cut off from God's people. Leprosy is the only thing in which they were told that the disease became the person's identity. You remember, in the pages of the New Testament, the fellow named Simon the leper, who was even called Simon the leper, after Jesus cleansed him? That's the only thing in which the disease becomes the identity of the person. That's how ingrained it was. And so, no other thing in the pages of Scripture is parallel to this. The only thing in the pages of Scripture that really kind of comes close to this, in terms of ritual defilement, would be the touching of a corpse. In Scripture, we know that, in the pages of the Old Testament, the Jewish people would become unclean if they touched a corpse. And so, the ritual regulations revolving, or revolving around touching a corpse would be similar, in some way, to coming close to a leper. But what's interesting is that the disease leprosy itself, was somehow akin to being dead in itself. Take a look once again in Numbers chapter 12, and verse 12. This is again describing Miriam who was struck with leprosy due to her sin. Read verse 12 with me here: Let her (Miriam), let her not be as one dead. This is Aaron crying out to Moses, let her not be as one dead. The leprous person was like the Old Testament version of the Living Dead. The one who's dead, but still alive. That's what they were. They were dead, but still breathing. They were dead, but still moving and eating. Their life, in a sense, was over. They were just chased away from people with rocks and sticks. And children would taunt them, and berate them. They were like the dead who had not yet died. That's the curse that was placed upon them. No other condition in all the pages of Scripture is such a manifestation of God's judgment upon sin. So, this is what we are looking at when we look at the leper. And this is what we must grasp as we...when Jesus will cleanse the leper, Jesus is not healing him. In fact, nowhere in the New Testament, will you ever--you can go home and check your concordance--nowhere in the New Testament are we ever told that Jesus ever healed a leper--he cleansed them. And that's the only thing he cleansed. He didn't cleanse the blind. He didn't cleanse the demon possessed people. He didn't cleanse Peter's mother Law with a fever. He healed them. But He cleansed the leper. Because leprosy was not so, much a disease, as it was a sentence from God. Leprosy in the scriptures, is a manifestation, it's an illustration of our sinful condition of the consequences of our sinful condition, and the status of being separated from God. That's what leprosy is in the pages of the scriptures. So, if we think of pages of scriptures, like, for example, Ephesians chapter two, verses one, two, and three--this vivid description, this is back on page one of your handout, this vivid description of the heart that is separated from God; You were dead in your trespasses and sins. You see the connection? They were the dead, who are not yet dead. In the same way, that you are dead in your trespasses and sins, you are dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that's now at work and the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind. And were by nature children of wrath. If you could take leprosy, and transform it over into the spiritual realm, that would be Ephesians, 2:1, 2, and 3. If you could see the spiritual equivalent of leprosy, it would be Romans, chapter three, verses 10 through 12; None is righteous, not one, no one understands, no one seeks for God. That's the spiritual equivalent of the leper. Now, we're told very plainly in both of those passages, that that's the condition of all of us apart from the regenerating work of Christ. So, a very troubling question probably enters our mind at this point. And the troubling question is this. Why would God strike some people with such a hideous condition, when we just read that all of us are like that? Why would God choose some people to be the ones that are struck with such an awful affliction, when we're plainly told that, apart from the regenerating work of Christ, that's all of us? And if that troubling question enters your mind, you must fight that question with the more correct question, with a more proper question. Instead of asking; Why would God afflict some with such a hideous disease? The right question to ask is; How can God be so, merciful, so, as not to afflict all of us with what we really are? Because all of us are spiritual lepers apart from the regenerating work of Christ. So, the real question is; How can God be so, abundantly merciful to most? Because what we see in this leper as we begin to look at the story, just a few moments what we're going to see in this leper, you should transmit that over into the spiritual dimension. And you should see yourself, apart from Christ, as this leper kneeling before Christ.

Part 2

Cleansing the leper is reversing a sentence of God upon a sinner.

So, as he comes here, verse 40, let's pick up the text now for verse 40. And a leper came to Him, imploring Him, and kneeling, he said to him, if you will, you can make me clean. So, the pathos of the story is just so, thick. You can just sense, it's just palpable―the emotion and the pain and the anguish of the story’s events as they unfold before. So, we're told in Luke's gospel, Luke tells us the same story in chapter five of Luke, that Jesus was in one of the cities. So, it's not in Capernaum. Remember, he left Capernaum because all the healing had created this, such a stir, the big night of healing there? And so, the Father directed him to leave. And so, he's left Capernaum. He's in another city somewhere in the area. And as he's in the city, you can imagine now we said last week, that beginning from verse 38, forward, Jesus will never be alone again, unless he purposely, and intentionally seeks it in the early morning hours or in the late evening hours. Other than that, Jesus, from that point on, he's going to have a crowd clamoring around him. He's going to have people listening to his teaching, he's going to have people asking them questions, he's going to have people challenging him, he's going to have people asking to be healed. And so, you can imagine the scenario. Wherever Jesus is, at this point, he's got a crowd of people around him, and they've flocked around him. He has been teaching, he's been telling parables, he has been giving people instructions, people are coming asking to be healed. There's demon possessed people, there's been battles with the kingdom of darkness, all this is going on. And here comes this leper. Now in Luke's gospel, chapter five, verse 12, I believe, is Luke, the physician tells us that this man was full of leprosy. So, that tells us once again, that this was not just a passing case of a bad case of eczema. This was the full form of leprosy, and its much advanced. So, this man likely has been a leper for years. It's been years since he had a conversation with a person. It's been years since he touched another person. He has had rocks thrown at him, sticks thrown at him. He's had dogs bark at him. He is the epitome of the one cast out. In addition to that, you can only imagine what his body probably looks like. Perhaps his feet are gone, or half gone. And so, walking up to Jesus would not have been easy. Perhaps he's stumbling, perhaps he has a crutch under one shoulder. And here he comes stumbling up to Jesus, and the crowd around him is so, enthralled with Jesus, they can't stop talking to Jesus, and listening to Jesus, because they're so, enthralled with what he's saying. There's requests for healing, there's all these things going on. And so, probably he comes up without the crowd even noticing. Can you imagine that? That they're so, attentive to Jesus that they don't even notice this leper coming up, and hobbling up into the crowd? But then somebody either sees him or smells him. And can you just imagine the gasps? Probably several ladies scream. Men begin picking up rocks to throw it him, and sticks to start beating him, and driving him away. How dare he come near not only them, but how dare he come to Jesus. And as this chaos is beginning to break out in the crowd, and there's screams and gasps and here's this leper―one moment ago, he had people near him, and now the crowd has vacated around him. And people are leaving to get away from him. But here he comes into Jesus's presence. And we hear these words. We’re told that he implores and, and we're told that he kneels. So, he comes into Jesus presence, and drops to his knees. Matthew tells us he calls him Lord. And he drops to his knees and implores Jesus―Master, Lord; If you're willing, you can make me clean. You can free me from this curse. If you are willing, you can set me free from my misery, from my agony. You can make me alive again. And as he makes this imploring request to Jesus kneeling before him, as he's Looking up to Jesus, he hasn't been this close to another person in years. And we can imagine, as Jesus―we don't know if Jesus is going to kneel with him or bend over, maybe bend over his head, maybe put his hands on his shoulder, we don't know―but for the first time, he looks into someone's face, and he doesn't see revulsion. He doesn't see disgust, and he doesn't see hatred, for the first time in years. Imploring Him, you can make me clean. There's something to be said about the boldness of his faith, the audacity, if you will of his faith. There's a certain confidence, there's a certain desperate hopefulness to his faith. As he comes in, to break the Law, he's breaking the Law to come into Jesus's presence. And yet he's audacious enough to do just that. You know that the scriptures, particularly in New Testament, will teach us something about a type of faith that out of its hopeless condition, comes this boldness to ask that which is audacious―you know, the scriptures commend that to us, on numerous occasions? Think of the Syrophoenician woman. In her hopeless condition over her demon possessed daughter, Jesus―remember, she's the one that Jesus calls her a dog―and she says; But all this dog needs is a crumb from your table, Master. And Jesus commends her faith. There's a certain something about a type of faith, that's a boldness that's coming out of a hopelessness. That sees in Jesus the only hope. And it's coupled together with the boldness to ask for the unaskable. Or think of the centurion, whose servant―Jesus, you don't even need to go there. Just say the word. Or blind Bartimaeus. Jesus is walking by―Son of David, son of David, have mercy. And everybody around him: shut up, shut up. Son of David, have mercy. Shut up. Son of David, have mercy. He won't shut up. There's something about that kind of a faith, that looks behind it, and sees the wall at its back, and sees no other options, and looks to Jesus, and believes. And then has the audacity to ask the unaskable; if you will, you can make me clean. Look in your handout at Luke chapter five, and verse, (I'm sorry), Hebrews chapter 11, verse six; Without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. Or Luke chapter 12 And verse 32. We’re familiar with this; Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Or Hebrews four, and verse 16; Let us then with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace in the time of need. So, this audacious sort-of boldness to ask the unaskable, because of the hopeless condition. Let's be careful not to confuse this with something the scriptures condemn, something that our modern era calls something like; ‘Name it and claim it.’ We're all familiar with this, sort-of, ‘Name it and claim it’ theology. Name it and claim it theology differs from this in at least one significant way, and that's this; Name it and claim it theology views faith as something like a fulcrum, that if you have faith, you can use that faith to leverage against God. Something like, I don't know, think about getting God in a headlock―like the headlock of faith. You get God in this headlock of faith―I got you, God, because I got the faith. I got the faith. So, you got to heal me, God. That's ‘name and claim it’ theology. Do you see how this differs from that? Do you see how the leper says; Master, I don't doubt your ability. You have the authority, you have the power. You can do this. But I don't presume to know your will. I don't presume to know what you desire to do. I do acknowledge your power. And I acknowledge your authority. And I call upon that, but I don't know your will. You see how that differs greatly from saying; I've got the faith God. Whenever you see faith, you gotta heal. So, this is the boldness of his faith as he comes. But then notice, there is just going to be a stunning turn of events. Again, from verse 40; He says to Him, imploring and kneeling, he says; If you will, you can make me clean. Verse 41; Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him; I will be clean. This is an absolutely stunning turn of events. And it's stunning, for at least three ways. Three ways. All three of these are easy to miss if we're not careful. But in three ways, we just saw a declaration of the deity of Christ. Now, we have heard declarations of His Deity before in Mark. We have heard from the lips of the man possessed of the unclean spirit on the Sabbath; you are the Holy One of God, I know who you are. We've heard it from the lips of the Father Himself, in the baptismal waters in the Jordan; This is my beloved Son. We've heard it from the Baptizer, we have heard declarations of the divinity of Jesus already. However, this is the first time that we hear it from Jesus himself. In at least three ways, Jesus is declaring to us something absolutely stunning. He's declaring to us; I am God. Number one, here's what he's doing. We said earlier that leprosy for the Jew is not so, much a disease, it's a sentence from God. Jesus is not about to heal a disease. He's about to reverse a sentence from God. That's what cleansing the leper is. Cleansing the leper is undoing a sentence of God upon a sinner. Only God can do that. You know what this is preparing us for? The very next story, as Jesus will say; Your sins are forgiven. Who can forgive sins, but God? Well, how about you get up and walked, then. Jesus is declaring by saying, I will; Be clean, he saying I have the authority to take this judgment placed upon you by God, and remove it. Because I am God. That's number one. Number two, we see Jesus declaring his divinity, because Jesus is declaring himself to be Lord of the Law. You see, we know that it was unlawful for the for the leper to approach other people. But one thing that might escape us is that not only was it unlawful for the leper to approach people, it was also unlawful for people to approach a leper. It was lawbreaking both ways. Both people broke the wall. And so, by allowing the leper to come to Him, Jesus is not only allowing him to be a Law breaker, Jesus himself is violating the letter of the Law. And by so, doing, he's upholding the spirit of the Law, and declaring himself to be the Lord of the Law. As he's going to say in chapter two, he's going to say; Yes, the letter of the Law says that you shouldn't pick grain on Sabbath, but my disciples are hungry, and so, the spirit of the Law says that the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. So, he's going to declare himself to be the Lord of the Law, he's going to declare himself to be one who can set aside the letter of the Law in order to fulfill the spirit of the Law. Jesus did not come to do away with the Law, as we know. He came to fulfill the Law. Mark chapter two, and verse 28. Again, so, the Son of Man is Lord even at the Sabbath. Or Matthew chapter five and verse 17; Do not think that I've come to abolish the Law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. Romans 10, and verse four; For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Jesus Christ, in fulfilling the spirit of the Law, has the authority to set aside the letter of the Law. Think of it like this. I'm going to borrow an illustration from RC Sproul, because this works wonderfully. Think of it like this. Think of like an accident at a crossroads, where―the traffic light down the street. Just imagine that there's an accident in the middle of the intersection. And you come up to that intersection, and just a few minutes earlier, there was this head-on collision right there in the middle of the intersection. And the cars are still there. And what do you see in the middle of the intersection? You see a police officer. And what's he doing? He's directing traffic. And so, he looks at you, and he tells you to come on through. And as you're about to come through. You look up, and the light is red. You ever been that situation where you just sort-of―there's that little bit of uneasiness? I know he's telling me to come on through, but I'm just not accustomed to driving through red lights. That's like what's happening here. The traffic policeman has the authority to say; Yeah, that traffic light is the law. But I also have the authority to supersede that, in the spirit of the law, which is to get people safely through the intersection. In a similar way, Jesus is saying; Yes, that's what God handed down. But in the spirit of the Law, I set that aside, and I allow him to come into my presence, because the Son of Man is the Lord of the Law. So, that's two. Number three, the third way that Jesus is declaring who he is here is in his words. Notice what Jesus didn't say; I'll take this to the Father. I'll pray for you. I'll plead on your behalf to the Father. Nor did he even say what Elisha’s servant―the message that Elisha sent through his servant―to Naaman, to wash in the Jordan seven times. Nor did he even say what God said to Miriam―to go outside the camp for seven days. What Jesus said was; I will. Can you imagine? To the Jewish ears, knowing that this leprosy is a sentence of judgment from God, and to have Jesus say; I will, I will. I desire this, I wish this, this is my desire, be clean. So, this is a stunning declaration of the divinity, of the deity of Jesus. But also, this shows us something of the power of the Master, of the limitless power of the Master. He says; I will be clean. Now, if you continue in the passage, verse 42, immediately the leprosy left him, there's Mark's favorite word once again―immediately, the leprosy left him. So, how do we know the leprosy left him? Well, the only way that that seems to make sense to me this immediately the leprosy left him, the only way that seems to make sense is that all the effects of it were also gone. So, like all the other healings―this is not a healing, this is a cleansing―but all the other healings, just like this, the effects are immediate, and total and complete. When Jesus heals, the healing is as though the sickness never was. When Jesus restores, it’s as though the deformity, or the blindness, or the deafness never was. It was immediate, and it was total. In the same way, this leper, I believe that if he was missing fingers, the fingers were back. If he was missing feet, the feet were back. His skin was pure again. His ears were back, his nose was back. It was immediate and total. Because no uncleanness can stand in the face of the Messiah who says; I will be clean. There is no uncleanness, there is no sickness, there's no illness, there's nothing that can stand in the face of Jesus saying; I will, therefore be clean. So, we see something of his limitless power here. This is a picture for us of the resurrection that is to come. Remember, he's as one dead? He's the dead who's not dead yet. He's the living dead. But now, he's been raised back to life. In the same way, this is showing us a picture of our resurrection to come―not just our bodily resurrection, but the resurrection―the spiritual resurrection―of the one who's made alive to God. But we also see something here of the limitless compassion of the Messiah. Look, once again; Moved with pity. He stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, I will be clean. So, just imagine, let your let your thoughts kind of rest for just a minute on how this interchange probably took place. As he's kneeling here before Jesus, and imploring Jesus, my guess is, he probably had a difficult time looking at Jesus. He probably just wanted to avert his eyes, and look down, I don't know. But once he looked at Jesus, what do you think he saw? I think their eyes locked. And for the first time in years, somebody looked him in the eye. And you know how much you can tell by looking in someone's eyes? What did he see in Jesus eyes? He saw compassion. For the first time in so long. He saw a face that wasn't offended by him. For the first time he saw a face that wasn't angry at him. He saw eyes full of love and compassion. And as Jesus looked into his eyes, he saw fear. Trepidation. If he says no, there is no hope. If he says no, this is the end, I'm just going to die. And as they looked into one another's face, into one another's eyes, it was just this moment of intense compassion. Now, I do want to make you aware that I'm, I'm aware of a textual difficulty in the passage in which there are a couple of manuscripts that say, Jesus was angry. But we're going with the majority opinion which says that Jesus was full of compassion because that's consistent of the Jesus that’s shown to us in the Gospel of Mark and all the Gospels―that his defining characteristic was his characteristic of compassion, his heart ached for the pain of this man kneeling before him. And so, he pronounces him clean. Now, the leper had to ask Jesus; If you're willing, you can make a clean. And as we said, his condition of leprosy is the physical representation of our hearts apart from Christ. But one thing that's different here is that though the leper had to ask him; If you're willing, we don't have to ask Jesus that. Because he's told us abundantly in his Word, over and over; I am willing, you don't need to ask. I am willing. Just listen to all the times that this comes to us in the pages of the New Testament. Matthew chapter 11, verse 28; Come unto me all who are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. John chapter six and verse 37, I'm using the King James here because the King James language is just golden as it phrases this sentence from Jesus, verse 37; All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. No one will come to me and be cast out, says Jesus. If you come to me, you will not be cast out. Revelation 21, verse six; To the thirsty, I will give from the spring of water of life without payment. Isaiah 55 and verse one; Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy and eat, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. John seven, and verse 37; Jesus stood up and cried out; If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. We don't have to ask Jesus, are you willing to receive me? He says; All that come to me, will be received. So, we see something of his compassion, but we also see something of his preciousness. This is a passage that shows us the preciousness of the Messiah, in very clear terms, but to see the preciousness, you have to be looking from the right perspective. We've said before that every story in the pages of Scripture invites us to put ourselves in the story. Every story you read in the gospels, every story you read the Old Testament, the book of Acts, they all invite us to put ourselves in the story. The important thing is to put yourself in the right place. Because oftentimes, we put ourselves in the story, we just put ourselves in the wrong place. In this story, it's crucial that you put yourself in the right place. The natural place to put yourself is in the crowd. The disciples who are following Jesus, listening to his teaching, clamoring for his miracles. And then this leper comes. And then Jesus cleanses him. And we're amazed and praise God, glory to God. We are not part of the crowd. You must not see yourself as part of the crowd, you must see yourself as the leper. Because if you see yourself as the leper, Jesus will be precious. If you see yourself in the crowd, Jesus will be amazing. He will be incredible, he will be powerful. He will be intriguing, he'll be interesting. But he won't be precious. He will be precious, if you are the one on your knees, coming to the Master, and saying; You are my only hope. I have every belief that you are able. If you will, will you cleanse me? Will you make me clean? And to the leper on his knees or on her knees, Jesus is so precious. Notice how the leper in order to come to Jesus, notice what he had to do. He couldn't deny his leprosy, could he? Can you imagine the leper saying; Ah, this is just a really bad case of dry skin? This must have been something I ate, but know, that the priest was wrong. The priest was wrong. I'm not a leper. Can you imagine that? There is no cleansing for that one. There is no cleansing for the leper who denies he's a leper. Cleansing is only available for the leper who comes and says; I am the leper. And to that one on their knees. Jesus is precious. Look in your handout at the words of Richard Sibbes, who puts it this way; The deeper our thoughts are of the odiousness of sin, the deeper our comfort and joy in Christ will be after. Thomas Watson puts it even more succinctly, and I think more memorably, when he says; ‘Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet. Until you are the leper, Christ will not be sweet. If you're the crowd, sor-of tagging along, Jesus will not be sweet. If you're in the crowd, sort-of tagging along, Jesus will hold your interest. Jesus will be the one who hands out miracles, and multiplies food, and calm storms, but he won't be precious unless you are the leper.

Part 3

The leper's notable faith is equaled only by his regretable disobedience.

But now also, let's continue in the passage as we look from verse 43. Well back up to verse 42. And immediately the leprosy left him and he was made clean. Now verse 43; And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once. Notice here, this passage turns on a dime. And contrast the tenderness of Jesus two verses ago, to the sternness of Jesus. Now, I mean, this absolutely stopped on a dime. Jesus, full of compassion, full of mercy, full of tenderness, touches the leper. And now he sternly charged him, and sent him away at once. Mark uses some language here, that's very clear and very straightforward. The word translated sternly there, comes from the word that means to grunt or to snort. So, literally the picture that you should have in your mind here is maybe have a bull snorting. So, Jesus sternly charged him. Jesus is not mincing words here. His words to the leper will be clear, they will be firm, and they will be direct. He sternly charged him, and sent him away at once. That's ‘ekballo,’ that's the same word for ‘cast out.’ Mark has used this word to describe the casting out of demons. Remember, he also used this word to describe the casting out of Jesus into the wilderness. And so, we talked about that this has been a few Sundays ago, but we talked about how that word, ‘ekballo,’ it means to cast out. But it doesn't always mean to cast out against one's will, as in the sense that Jesus was compelled to go into the wilderness for his temptation. But what it does always mean is it means a forceful sending out. So, Jesus sternly charged him. And then Jesus was direct and forceful in sending him out. He sent him away at once, verse 44; And he said to him; See that you say nothing to anyone. So, there's a double negative there. English is the only language I'm familiar with, that doesn't like double negatives. Double negatives for us are a no-no. But other languages do like double negatives. And in fact, when there is a double negative, it emphasizes the negativity. So, here, Mark uses a double negative; Don't say nothing to nobody. And under no circumstance, say nothing to no one. But go show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded for a proof to them. Jesus is no Law-breaker. Even though he has the authority to set aside the letter of the Law and say; Come into my presence, leper, nevertheless, Jesus is the perfect Law-keeper. And he will, in this instance, there's no reason to set aside the Law here, so, Jesus says to him, keep the letter of the Law and go show yourself to the priests. So, this was would have been in Jerusalem, a journey of 90 miles. And he says, Go show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices there. So, Leviticus 13 and 14, as we said, cover all of that, we won't go through all that in detail. But just something that's worth pointing out here is that if he does go to Jerusalem―we don't know if he ever went to Jerusalem, because we're going to see in just a moment, his disobedience. So, we don't know if he ever made it there. But whatever leper did go to Jerusalem for the ritual ceremony, that of one who had been cleansed of leprosy, it was an intricate ceremony was eight days long. And so, it began on the first day when someone would come, and they would appear to have been cleansed from leprosy. And so, what happened, the priest would look at them and examine them, and say; It does look like you've been cleansed of leprosy. And on that day, they would offer a sacrifice, then there'll be a waiting period of seven days, and on the eighth day, he would return, or she would return, and if it was indeed true that the leprosy had been cleansed, there would be another sacrifice of three lambs. But we won't go through the second sacrifice, but the first sacrifice is worth seeing, because it's just such a beautiful picture of the gospel. The first sacrifice on the first day was a sacrifice of two birds. They would bring two birds, and they would take the first bird and they would kill it. And they would take the second bird and dip it in the first bird’s blood, and set it free. Isn't that a wonderful picture of the Gospel? The bird that lived, lived because it was dipped in the blood of the bird that died. And then that bird was set free, isn’t that a wonderful picture of our Gospel of us, who are covered in the blood and set free, because Christ was the one who died on our behalf. So, he says; Go and show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded for a proof to them. Now verse 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. If ever, there was one who began well and ended poorly, this leper is him. The boldness, the audacity, the model faith that he just demonstrated moments ago, seemed to all be done with a disobedience that equals the boldness of his faith. As audacious as was his faith, just as audacious is his disobedience now. So, if ever there was one who began strongly and ended badly, this is he. So, notice in his disobedience here, Jesus has said very firmly, Jesus is not mincing words; Say nothing to nobody. But go to the priest often sacrifices keep your mouth shut. Now, why would Jesus want him to not talk? Again, we're going to come across this time and time again in Mark's gospel. And the best way just to put it succinctly, for our purposes today, the best way to look at this is just simply crowd control. Remember what just happened in the previous episode, all the healing. This created such a clamor for Jesus, that Jesus says; I am no longer able to accomplish my purpose. My purpose is preaching, my purpose is teaching. And now the crowds are inhibiting that. And so, Jesus is just simply saying; Let's keep this under control. Because I know when word gets out, it's going to inhibit my ability to do what I came to do, which right now is to preach. So, for these purposes, right now, it's just basically crowd control, that Jesus doesn't want people clamoring for miracles, the Roman government becomes aware of what's going on all these people get involved. Jesus doesn't want that yet. So, he says, Say nothing to nobody. But we're told verse 45, he went out and began to talk freely. That's the typical word for preach. That's the standard word in the New Testament for preach. So, we went about and, and began preaching. And apparently, the leper was a pretty good proclaimer, because he was quite successful. Because we're told, he went to talk―he talked freely about it, and to spread the news. The word there that Mark uses literally means that he filled the land with this news. He filled the area. Everybody heard about this. He was efficient and effective at disobeying. He did it so, well, that not just a few people heard about it, but everybody heard about it. It spread like wildfire. So, his disobedience is rivaled, or his faith is rivaled only by his following disobedience, which is a stunning, likewise, turn of events―the second turn of events in the story. And notice the result of his disobedience, verse 45; he went out and began to talk freely, spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in ‘desolate places.’ That's the sixth time that word has showed up. ‘Eremos’ in the Greek, which is wilderness, or desert places. Mark has used that word six times in chapter one to talk about; where it is that John does his ministry, where it is that Jesus went to be baptized, where it is that Jesus went to be tempted and tried, where it is that Jesus went to be alone to pray, and now, where it is that Jesus has to be, as a consequence of the leper’s―or the former leper’s―disobedience. So, notice, once again, here, just the gospel is woven so, beautifully into the story. Because that is the gospel. That's the gospel of the Messiah who traded places with us. Because of our sin, he traded places with us. He took on himself our iniquity. Going back from the first verses of chapter one, he was plunged underneath the waters of confession in his baptism. He took upon himself our iniquity, so, that we could take the righteousness that was his. Second Corinthians five and verse 21; He became sin, so, that we would become the righteousness of God. Or look at Hebrews chapter 13, verses 12 and 13; So, Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore, let us go to him outside the camp, and bear the reproach that he endured. So, Jesus as a result of this man's disobedience, he now has to be the one who's out in the desolate places. It was the leper, who had to remain in the desolate places. But now because of his disobedience, and because of Jesus's mercy, Jesus is now cast out, if you will, put out into the desolate places, into the wilderness places, because of his disobedience. Look at Second Corinthians chapter eight and verse nine; For you know that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor so that you, by his poverty, might become rich. We see this woven throughout the New Testament―the gospel that tells us in order for, to secure our regeneration, to secure our forgiveness, Jesus had to take upon himself our sin, he had to trade places with us. He had to go to the cross that was ours, he had to die the death that was ours, so, that we could trade places with him and be the righteousness that was his. And this is a beautiful illustration of that. But now, let's just see just two last two final things, and then we'll be done for this morning. This trading places, this gospel of the Messiah who trades places with us, one of the things that that should do for us, is that should be an incredibly powerful motivator to godliness―an encouragement, a motivator, to godliness in our lives, because if we really grasp the gospel, that tells us when God forgives sins, he doesn't put it away. He doesn't make it disappear. When God forgives sins, He does it because Jesus traded places with you. And he was punished for you. When that gospel really takes root in your heart, and your heart really comprehends; My sin was what he became. That's a powerful motivator. When, in the face of temptation, we can say, to a heart that truly grasp that and truly understands that; If I commit this sin, if I fall into the sin, this is what Jesus must be. This is what he must be, this is what he must die for. That's a powerful motivator for godliness in our lives. We read in First Peter chapter one, verse 18, and 19; Knowing that you are ransom from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. Therefore, Peter is going to go on to say―live holy lives, put away sinfulness. So, it's a powerful motivator. But it's also a great reminder for us, because this leper who receives the clear commands from Jesus yet he disobeys them, we must ask yourself, just kind of step back for a moment and ask yourself; Why would he do that? Why would this leper disobey the clear commands of our Lord, who was so, plain and so, direct? And he wasn't mushy about this at all? You know, he didn't say; You know, I really suggest that you just don't you kind of keep it to yourself. Jesus was plain and direct and firm. Why would the leper do this? He didn't have any ill intent. The leper didn't have any evil intent. He didn't say; Oh, yeah, that Jesus told me not to tell anybody I'm going to show him. No. I think at the end of the day, his excitement, his enthusiasm, his zeal, his gratitude, just overwhelmed him. And he thought it okay to tell one person, than two, then twenty, and then everybody he met. I think that's what happened. Not wanting to hurt Jesus, not wanting to disobey Jesus, but his zeal, his enthusiasm, overcame, in his heart, Jesus' commands to silence. You know, it is not our place to ever judge God's commands. It's our place to obey them. No doubt the leper, after he told the first person, no doubt, he probably said to himself; I don't see the harm. Isn't Jesus here to proclaim the truth? If he's Messiah, people, people need to know. No doubt, he reasoned to himself, that this was okay. It's not our place to ever judge God's commands. It's just our place to obey them. We say this quite frequently. If we are those who only obey the commands of God that make sense to us, then who's the real god? If obedience requires our assent, to the wisdom of his commands, who's really the one in charge? True obedience is obedience that precedes understanding. Jesus says in John seven, verse 17; if it's your will to do the will of the Father, you will know whether my commands whether my words are from the Father or not. So, it's not our place to judge the rightness of his commands or the wisdom of his commands. It's our place to obey. I think the leper would have been well-served, don't you, to have remembered the story of Abraham. I don't think that there's a story in Scripture that illustrates to us more powerfully, the obedience to a command that doesn't make good sense. I mean―kill your son. And this from the God who told his people, most clearly, we're not like those other people, we don't sacrifice our children. Furthermore, this is the child of promise. This is the child of your old age, this is the child of the promise, now go and sacrifice him. But can you see how the faith of Abraham had brought him to a place where he didn't question the command. For his trust, and his obedience to the God of the command superseded his need to understand. The leper’s not there. So, we too, are in such a place as this. And we live in a world today in which we can clearly say this; The majority of those around us who claim the name of Christ―the majority now―are openly defying the clear teachings of Scripture, because society deems it unwise. We're in the same place in which we have now put ourselves in the position of being the judge of Scripture, instead of Scripture being our judge. We're not in the place to judge God's commands, we're in the place to obey it. Jesus says in Luke 6:46; Why do you call Me Lord, and don't do what I say? That's the most elementary factor. The most elementary aspect of calling one Lord, is that you do what they say. But then, lastly, this morning, let's just take this point to heart. And it's this; Unbridled, undirected zeal for God will advance a kingdom―just not God's. Unbridled and undirected zeal for God will advance a kingdom, just not God's. Look at what Paul says to the Romans, in Romans 10, and verse two; I acknowledge they have a zeal for God, I bear witness, they have a great zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Paul says to the Corinthians in chapter nine, First Corinthians nine, verse 27; I discipline my body to keep it under control, lest I disqualify myself. Unbridled and undirected zeal for God will not serve His kingdom. God does not ask us for undirected zeal. What God asks us for is zeal that is directed by his Word. God does not ask us to have such an abundant, exuberant, gratitude and love for him, that we just obey what we want to obey, that we just do what we want to do. That's not what God seeks. What God seeks is the heart that has been changed, and out of love and gratitude, does what His Word directs. Because the direction of his Word is what guides the obedience that he seeks. It's often been compared to a train―we talked about this recently―it's often been compared to a train. You know, train has to have at least two elements before it's going anywhere. It has to have a locomotive, and it has to have tracks. So, you can think of the locomotive on a train as something like our gratitude, our love for God, our enthusiasm, and our zeal. But that train is not going anywhere unless it has tracks. And the tracks of the train are like the Word of God. They're like the precepts of God, the statutes of God, where God says; What I want from my people, is the locomotive of zeal and enthusiasm and gratitude and love, directed by my Word. Remember, Nadab and Abihu, who, the unauthorized sacrifice, Aaron's sons who thought they were serving God, who thought; Well, this be a great idea. God said; Don't do this. But it'd be a great idea that we do this anyway. Zeal for God that is not directed and guided by His Word is not effective for His Kingdom. In fact, it's counter-effective for his for his kingdom. The leper’s problem wasn't that he wasn't grateful. The leper’s problem wasn't that he didn't love Jesus, that he wasn't zealous for the fame of Jesus's name. The leper’s problem was that he considered his enthusiasm, his zealousness, something that God would bless…whatever. And don't we often put ourselves in that same place? Don't we often say, really, all we need is the zeal and the enthusiasm. And then, whatever that that enthusiasm produces, God will bless it. Kind of like, you know how we, as believers, we should pray over our meals. It's kind of like praying over a Whopper and large fries, and saying; Oh Lord, I just pray that you make this food nutritious for me, right? Like, God's going to just override the molecules in the food and make that Whopper nutritious for you. We do the same thing. What we want to do is often what we go ahead and do, and then ask God; Bless this, don't we? Instead of saying, my zeal and my enthusiasm must be curbed by his word. Because enthusiasm that is not directed by his Word, does not serve His kingdom.