40 A man with a skin disease came to Jesus. He fell to his knees and begged Jesus, “You can heal me if you will.” 41 Jesus felt sorry for the man, so he reached out his hand and touched him and said, “I will. Be healed!” 42 Immediately the disease left the man, and he was healed.
43 Jesus told the man to go away at once, but he warned him strongly, 44 “Don’t tell anyone about this. But go and show yourself to the priest. And offer the gift Moses commanded for people who are made well. This will show the people what I have done.” 45 The man left there, but he began to tell everyone that Jesus had healed him, and so he spread the news about Jesus. As a result, Jesus could not enter a town if people saw him. He stayed in places where nobody lived, but people came to him from everywhere. ~ Mark 1:40-45
Today's story is about a man with a very contagious skin disease. Those who had this disease were called "the walking dead." Once this man was diagnosed to having had this disease, he was separated from community, and, when he was within 50 paces from anyone, he was required to loudly yell out to all around him "unclean, unclean" to keep them safe from him. According to Leviticus 13 the Lepers were kept outside the camp, and they were very lonely people.
In v.40 of today's passage we read, "A man with a skin disease came to Jesus. He fell to his knees and begged Jesus, 'You can heal me if you will.'"
This leprous man was so beaten down by this dreaded disease that he begged the Lord Jesus to heal him. This man with this highly unwanted disease was ushered to the best place in all of existence, the place of humility and reality. His pain and isolation had led him to the place of desperation which enabled him to entertain the right questions and to take those questions to the most important man to ever walk this earth. It was out of that posture he was enabled to believe the Lord Jesus could heal him & to make him whole.
According to Luke 5:12, this man was full of leprosy. He did not have a mild case of leprosy for he had had it for many years. His isolated experience had separated him from others, and, it had done a work in his heart that perhaps nothing else could. This man right now enjoys a blissful eternity due to contracting this most dreaded disease. This was a case of the blessing of God arriving in a man's life who thought the blessing was a curse.
Like this man, we all want to belong. True belonging only happens when we ask the right questions and we embrace our authentic, imperfect selves. Belonging is the essence of life. Everything else rests on it. Every other gift celebrates it, in its own way. We belong to God. And, until we see that, we will never know our place in this world or the one to come.
Like this man, we all want to belong. True belonging only happens when we ask the right questions and we embrace our authentic, imperfect selves. Belonging is the essence of life. Everything else rests on it. Every other gift celebrates it, in its own way. We belong to God. And, until we see that, we will never know our place in this world or the one to come.
This leprous man came to the Lord Jesus and said, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." In response, the Lord Jesus did not tell him to claim his healing or to speak his healing into existence. This idea is nowhere found in the Scriptures. Many do not like it but there are times when it is in the will of God for us to get sick. Given the fallen nature of this world and of humanity, there are times when God's will for us is to pass through physical affliction. This is so we would entertain the right questions and turn to Him for the answers.
The Apostle Paul asked the Lord three times for the removal of a physical "thorn in the flesh." God's response was, "My grace is sufficient for you." Paul understood that God wanted him to put up with it, learn how to handle it by the grace of God. So, it is clear that it is not the teaching of Scripture that everybody must be healed.
In v.41-42 of today's passage we read, "Jesus felt sorry for the man, so he reached out his hand and touched him and said, 'I will. Be healed! 42 Immediately the disease left the man, and he was healed.'"
The Lord Jesus was moved with compassion for this highly diseased man, and so, He touched him. In that touch, the Lord Jesus gave that man the greatest amount of value ever. In addition, He granted the man the greatest amount of belonging, as well. The Lord Jesus has always been known to touch the untouchable. He has always had a heart for the unlovable.
The Lord Jesus was also moved with compassion to speak with this man, pronouncing to him the greatest words he had to that point ever heard, "Be healed." Here was a man who had not experienced a human touch in who knows how long. If he was married, he hadn't felt the embrace of his wife, or his children for a long, long time.
In v.43-44 of today's passage we read, "43 Jesus told the man to go away at once, but he warned him strongly, 44 "Don’t tell anyone about this. But go and show yourself to the priest. And offer the gift Moses commanded for people who are made well. This will show the people what I have done.'"
In the same way the demon left the man in the synagogue of Capernaum and just as the fever left Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, the leprosy left this man. Having cleansed the leprous man, the Lord Jesus commands him to keep quiet about his healing. Then, the Lord Jesus tells him to go to the priest and show himself to him so that he would pronounce him clean. This was mandatory in order for him to rejoin the community. In the end, testimony concerning the healing of a leper would be evidence that the kingdom of God had arrived for no one in Israel had been cured of leprosy since the days of Naaman the Syrian. Compassionately, those who had resisted the Lord Jesus the most were given firsthand evidence of the Lord Jesus' deity.
In v.45 of today's passage we read, "The man left there, but he began to tell everyone that Jesus had healed him, and so he spread the news about Jesus. As a result, Jesus could not enter a town if people saw him. He stayed in places where nobody lived, but people came to him from everywhere."
That day, the Lord Jesus, like any leper, stayed in places where nobody lived, while the leper enjoyed being reunited with all whom he loved and who loved him. This is the gospel! The sinner becomes like the Lord Jesus while the Lord Jesus becomes like the sinner.
Christianity is a relationship. It is not about us arriving at some idealistic state of perfection. Christianity is about a person who accepts us in our messed up condition. That is where we find Him, in our messedupness where we give up on trying to run our lives for ourselves. And, we are discovering that this new found relationship with God is about God embracing us in our messed up condition.
