Are you willing?
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A Man Cleansed
A Man Cleansed
39 He went into all of Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
40 Then a man with leprosy came to him and, on his knees, begged him, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”
41 Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched him. “I am willing,” he told him. “Be made clean.”
42 Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.
43 Then he sternly warned him and sent him away at once,
44 telling him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go and show yourself to the priest, and offer what Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”
45 Yet he went out and began to proclaim it widely and to spread the news, with the result that Jesus could no longer enter a town openly. But he was out in deserted places, and they came to him from everywhere.
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Main Idea - Jesus continues to demonstrate his authority over disease, this time bringing physical healing and ceremonial purification to a man whose disease had isolated him from family relationships and from corporate worship with the people of God.
1. Jesus’s Messianic Authority
As throughout the early Galilean ministry, Jesus’ authority is the central theme of this passage. The Messiah has authority in announcing the Kingdom of God, in calling disciples, in teaching, over demons, over disease, and over ritual defilement. All of these confirm his role as God’s agent in announcing and inaugurating the kingdom of God.
39 He went into all of Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
40 Then a man with leprosy came to him and, on his knees, begged him, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”
1 When he came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him.
Leviticus 13 Talks about Regulations About Defiling Skin Diseases
45 “The person who has a case of serious skin disease is to have his clothes torn and his hair hanging loose, and he must cover his mouth and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’
46 He will remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean. He must live alone in a place outside the camp.
Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible Leprosy
A chronic, though not highly contagious, disease that primarily affects the skin, mucous membranes, and nerves, known also as Hansen’s disease. The cause is an organism, Mycobacterium laprae, identified by the Norwegian physician G. A. H. Hansen (1841–1912).
Most scholars agree that Heb. ṣaraʿaṯ, translated “leprosy” by most English versions (Lev. 13–14), should not be equated with Hansen’s disease. This term encompassed a variety of conditions characterized by chronic discoloration of surfaces, including human skin and the walls of houses (Lev. 14:34–57). Persons afflicted with ṣaraʿaṯ were regarded as impure, and Lev. 13:44–46 prescribes exile from the community for them. Some texts from Qumran apply even more comprehensive restrictions for “lepers.”
The sociological implications of levitical policies, if implemented, were probably significant. Bands of persons affected with ṣaraʿaṯ roam outside of cities (2 Kgs. 7:3). The cases of Namaan (2 Kgs. 5) and Uzziah (2 Chr. 26:16–21) show that even officials and kings with ṣaraʿaṯ were not exempt from negative social consequences. Early Christianity apparently disagreed with levitical policies. Jesus touches a “leper” (Mark 1:41) and commands his disciples to minister to them (Matt. 10:8).
2. The Necessity of Faith
As the man affirms Jesus’ power to heal: “If you are willing. you can cleanse me.” It is not the amount of faith that is important, but the object of faith (Matt. 17:20). The man’s simple declaration that Jesus is able to heal stirs Jesus to respond.
20 “Because of your little faith,” he told them. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
41 Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched him. “I am willing,” he told him. “Be made clean.”
3. Jesus Compassion
Jesus’compassion, which motivates the healing. Jesus’ willingness to touch the man, and his words of healing all reveal his empathy. He also shows concern for the man’s social restoration by insisting he perform the rituals necessary for purification. Those who minister effectively to people know that true healing concerns more than healing bodies or meeting physical needs. It involves emotional health, spiritual wholeness, and reconciliation with God and others.
42 Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.
43 Then he sternly warned him and sent him away at once,
44 telling him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go and show yourself to the priest, and offer what Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”
See that you say nothing to anyone:
1 Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at him, no appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him.
4 Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.
Leviticus 14 Talks about Cleansing From Defiling Skin Diseases
1 The Lord spoke to Moses:
2 “This is the law concerning the person afflicted with a skin disease on the day of his cleansing. He is to be brought to the priest,
3 who will go outside the camp and examine him. If the skin disease has disappeared from the afflicted person,
4 the priest will order that two live clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop be brought for the one who is to be cleansed.
5 Then the priest will order that one of the birds be slaughtered over fresh water in a clay pot.
6 He is to take the live bird together with the cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop, and dip them all into the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the fresh water.
7 He will then sprinkle the blood seven times on the one who is to be cleansed from the skin disease. He is to pronounce him clean and release the live bird over the open countryside.
8 The one who is to be cleansed must wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe with water; he is clean. Afterward he may enter the camp, but he must remain outside his tent for seven days.
9 He is to shave off all his hair again on the seventh day: his head, his beard, his eyebrows, and the rest of his hair. He is to wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; he is clean.
There is more to the process in verses 10-32. Within these verses the priest will make offerings of both guilt and sin offerings.
45 Yet he went out and began to proclaim it widely and to spread the news, with the result that Jesus could no longer enter a town openly. But he was out in deserted places, and they came to him from everywhere.
4. The Sanctifying Power of the Kingdom of God
The purifying touch of Jesus. Instead of becoming defiled by the man’s leprosy, Jesus brings purity and healing. In the old covenant, Isreal was called to be a people separated from the world around them and set apart to God. The whole ceremonial system confirmed the need to maintain separation from a world of sin and impurity. While believers today are also called to personal purity and sanctification, the kingdom has an outward rather than an inward focus, permeating the world and taking back territory for God.
Jesus takes an offensive posture, not a defensive one, by invading the domain of Satan and claiming back its captives. The people of God. Jesus says in Matthew, are to be salt and light (Matt. 5:13-16)
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
two substances that permeate and transform their environment.
33 “Watch! Be alert! For you don’t know when the time is coming.
Paul tells us a similar point in 1 Cor. 7:12-16.
12 But I (not the Lord) say to the rest: If any brother has an unbelieving wife and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her.
13 Also, if any woman has an unbelieving husband and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce her husband.
14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy by the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is they are holy.
15 But if the unbeliever leaves, let him leave. A brother or a sister is not bound in such cases. God has called you to live in peace.
16 Wife, for all you know, you might save your husband. Husband, for all you know, you might save your wife.
Some in the Corinthian church were evidently encouraging those married to unbelievers to divorce their spouses iin order to avoid the defilement that na unbeliever brought to the marriage. This would be analogous to the situation in the OT book of Ezra, where the Israelites were called to divorce their pagan wives in order to maintain spiritual purity (Ezra 10:10-11; cf Judg. 3:6)
10 Then the priest Ezra stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful by marrying foreign women, adding to Israel’s guilt.
11 Therefore, make a confession to the Lord, the God of your ancestors, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the surrounding peoples and your foreign wives.”
6 The Israelites took their daughters as wives for themselves, gave their own daughters to their sons, and worshiped their gods.
Paul, however, encourages the Corinthians to remain with their spouses
14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy by the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is they are holy.
It is significant that Paul uses the language of purity and defilement here. Paul is not saying that a person is saved by default because he or she is married to a believer, but rather that the children of the kingdom bring a purging and transforming influence wherever they go. In the new age of salvation, the old laws of ritual purity and defilement no longer apply because the kingdom is not an inward protective cocoon but and outward force of the Spirit with the power to transform the world and bring it once again into a right relationship with God.
The church today needs to claim back its authority as salt and light. We should not take a defensive stance, cringing back in fear at society’s defiling encroachment on our values and beliefs. Instead we need to go on the offensive, transforming the world through the unconditional and self-sacrificial love of God. Rather than complaining about the world’s defilement, we restore it to purity and wholeness by overcoming evil with good.
