Consider these questions as you dwell in Mark 1:40-45.

1. How does Jesus's action of touching the leper demonstrate his authority and power in a culturally significant way?

2. What is the significance of Jesus instructing the cleansed man to go show himself to the priests, and how does it relate to the man's reintegration into the community?

3. How does the interaction with the cleansed leper serve as a powerful metaphor for the Gospel message, and what does it teach us about God's grace and our response to it?

Transcript:

Another story of something that Jesus is doing, and another story that is telling us about his authority to do his ministry. Now, this is a different one because it involves cleansing a leper. We see that Jesus does something that's rather outlandish. For us, we might jump over it because we just don't think this way. But when Jesus heals him, he touches him. That would have been outrageous. You weren't supposed to touch a leper in fear that you yourself will become ritually unclean. But Jesus is the one who makes us clean, and so He can reach out and touch and heal. That's the idea being conveyed here, that Jesus is showing us that He has authority to make us clean. And so let's look at how this story goes. Jesus is moved with pity. He touches Him. And I love what Jesus has to say here. I will heal you. And He says, Be clean. He speaks with authority. He doesn't try and coax the cleanliness into this man. He doesn't say, You do something. I'm going to do my part, but you do yours. Jesus speaks, and the man is made clean. And notice what it says.

 Our word is back. Immediately, the leprosy left him. Jesus has authority. This is happening quickly. Jesus has the power. And this man was made clean. Well, once again, another short passage, another example of one of the themes that we see in the Book of Mark, the Messianic secret. Jesus sternally charged him and sent him away. And he tells him, Don't say anything to anyone. Don't do something. Again, Jesus doesn't want his fame to grow and for people to try and force him into a position of power. Jesus has a different mission than overthrowing the Roman government. But notice what I've highlighted if you're watching on video here. Jesus sent him away at once. Now, if we were to look at the original language, that is the word immediate again, same word that we translate immediately for the sake of reading. I'm sure they translated this at once because it fits in the sentence better. And honestly, if you try to read this and you read it and it says, And immediately the lepers left him and Jesus sent him away immediately, there's the use of the same word over and over. It makes it hard to read, but it is the same word.

 The idea here again, is that Jesus is doing things quickly with urgency in what he's doing. So what happened? What went on in this story? Jesus tells the man not to tell anyone, but he just does say, Go show the priests that you're clean. In other words, he wants this man to beritually clean again. He wants him to be a part of the community again, because back then, if you were a leper, and for good reason, you were put outside the community so that you wouldn't get other people sick. So they had to go to the priests, show that they were made clean, and be allowed back into interacting with people in the community again. But what does this man do? Like so many other people in the Gospel of Mark and in the other Gospels, he doesn't do what Jesus says. He actually tells people what Jesus has done, and the fame of Jesus continues to spread. It says here, So that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, the fame of Jesus has expanded greatly because of his healing ministry, because he has authority, people are noticing what he's doing. And we're going to see this continue to be a theme throughout the Book of Mark.

 So what do we do with this short passage for us today? There's just a beauty in this passage of the truth that Jesus makes this man clean. He touched someone who was unclean, and he made him clean. Now, when it all comes down, this is a picture for us. It shows us what Jesus has done for us. He has saved us from our sin. We were unclean, dead in our trespasses and sins, but He saved us by His grace. And ultimately, what did Jesus do? He stepped into an unclean world in our very own flesh to save us from our sin. What a wonderful reminder of the Gospel that we see in this passage. So as we go about our days today, may we think about how Jesus has made us clean. It's not because of anything that we've done, but because he has reached out and touched us by his grace. So may that be the motivating factor in our lives today, that we are living to the glory of God because he has saved us by his miraculous and awesome grace.