Gospel Ministry- The Lord and the Lepers

I. The Lostness of the Leper (v.40)

A. Seen in His State of Being

We don’t know much about this man except for his condition, and that was of leprosy. Leprosy was a very saddening disease. Of the may different types of sicknesses one could get, leprosy could be considered the worst. It affected the whole person. Not just physically, but also emotionally as it made one an outcast of society, but also religiously. They were condemned as unclean. That’s talk about these 3 things briefly to better understand this man’s state of being.

1. Physically Ravaged

As we mentioned already, leprosy was a disease of the skin. In fact, the very word leprosy derived from the Greek means “scale”. This would imply that the leper’s skin often had a scaly appearance. There are all sorts of diseases that could be lumped into this category.… severe eczema, chronic inflammations, even boils like what the Egyptians received during the plagues. But none was so devastating then what is now known as Hansen’s disease. This disease caused by some bacterial infection led to many different problems such as ...

-caused spongy, tumorlike swellings to appear all over the body (at first these were extremely itchy and painful)

-then as the infections continued to penetrate the body, it would affect the internal organs like the.... nervous system leading to more harm to the body… people would lose body parts, not primarily because of the disease but because they couldn’t feel anything. It’s reported that people often loss fingers and toes to rats while they slept, hands to hot objects, and other extremities even just to the heat of the sun. But without feeling, they weren’t aware of the harm they were doing to their bodies.

-on top of nervous system failing, other internal systems were compromised as well like their bones, their immune systems, their digestive systems, and so on.

-this obviously lead to extreme physical discomfort even if you couldn’t feel, and an eventual and quicker death.

And if the physical wasn’t bad enough, the emotion side was just as bad. Because the disease was so contagious, traveling thru air or touch, God separated the lepers from his chosen people. This was done in order to protect and preserve them. Thus the became...

2. Socially Despised

In the Old Testament law, strict rules were made regarding the leper. The entire chapter of Leviticus 13 (all 59 verses) deal with the priest identifying and pronouncing whether or not the person with the skin abrasion wasn’t indeed clean or unclean. There was an intense examination process that occured. Sometimes, they immediately pronounced someone unclean, other times, they would send someone away for a week and then check them again to see if it was indeed a leprous disease. Either way, the results of being pronounced a leper were devastating.

Leviticus 13:45–46 ESV

“The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.

Mark 1–8: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Leper’s Predicament (1:40)

According to the Talmud, the closest a leper could come to someone without the disease was six feet. On windy days, the distance was extended to 150 feet.

And yet, even as bad as these are, there is yet another sobering effect of being a leper. He or she was deemed...

3. Religiously Unclean

God has always been very particular in keeping His covenant people pure.… especially in the Old Testament. This meant physically pure, in the sense of not being defiled by physical ailments that could destroy an entire nation… but He also meant to keep them ceremonially pure.

Numbers 5:1–3 ESV

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone who is leprous or has a discharge and everyone who is unclean through contact with the dead. You shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.”

God set His chosen people, Israel, apart from all other nations. Because they were His own people, the Lord commanded, “You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own” (Leviticus 20:26). Distinguishing between animals, practices, and conditions that were considered, ceremony pronounced as clean and unclean was an important part of maintaining Israel’s relationship with a holy God. A leper was considered unclean when compared to a Holy God and therefore needed to be set apart from God’s chosen people.

Not only was this a moment of spiritual distinction, but it bore effects on their spiritual well-being as well.

Because their were proclaimed unclean by the priests and given strict commands to stay as outcasts, that meant that they were not allowed to participate in any communion activities, including to entering the temple to worship, or offer sacrifices… a major part of their fellowship with God. That was now removed from them.

Truthfully, as you consider the state of being of the leper, it was a state of death. Physically, emotionally, spiritually. In fact, that is exactly what scriptures says of Miriam was she was struck with leprosy. Num. 12 says seem became as “one dead” and as a stillborn infant. That’s why lepers are commanded to wear torn up old clothes, and have raggedy hair. This was proper attire of one who mourns for death. They leper is caused to wear clothes that mourn his or her own proverbial “death.”

This man was lost beyond what words can ever describe. Yet, sometimes we can be in a utterly dismal situation, and still not recognize the fullness of how lost we are. We might focus in our unfortunate circumstances and still miss sometime else super significant. This man was desperately lost, and He was very aware of the fullness of His situation as seen in ....

B. Seen in His Request of Worship

When I say his request of worship. I’m not saying he requested worship, but that his request was composed in worship. When you look at how He came to the Lord and made his plea, the entirety of the request that he made is that of worship. So what does this man say that reflects both lostness and worship. The first thing we see if...

1. Dependence

Looking at verse 41… we see the words “came to him” “begging Him”

These statements correctly identify how desperately lost he was. He had no hope. He had no strength. He had no ability to do anything of himself, and he went to the one he thought could help him. Totally dependent on Christ.

Come to me all ye who are weak and heavy laden and I will give you rest. God is greater honored when people understand the truth that we are not enough. We need him. That is an act of worship. But notice also how he came to ask his request.

2. Humility

“kneeling” - this is the correct way to posture oneself when one perceives who they are and who they are in the midst of. When we knee before someone, we recognize the vast difference in the status between the 2. Kneeing acknowledges who is greater. It willfully recognizes ones power and authority and the meaning of ones subjugation and submission to that authority. When we bow, we are in essence saying, we are understand even you feet. We do not stand eye to eye. Your are far greater. You cannot “size up” the other person. So it shows great humility.

But notice the humility doesn’t just come from lepers actions, but also his words.

“If you are willing”....

Not being presumptive.… or demanding.

This is critical. My kids can ask me for things. One way they can ask respects and honors me. The other way it does not.

When we ask for things in a demanding way, it obviously doesn’t show humility, it obviously lacks respect, but as was mentioned before it elevates people to an improper level. It says I’m just as important as you. Service is required both ways. I’ll serve you if you serve me.

But the reality is… we are not God. Service doesn’t have to go both ways. We expect God to serve us because in His goodness, He does serve us. He shows us kindness. And we should so much every be grateful for that. But we did nothing to deserve that, and who we are does nothing to deserve that. We are not kings, rulers… are not divine. We are humans with so many limitations. In our arrogance though, we twist God’s kindness in our thinking to elevate ourselves to His status. God serves us because we something super special. We must be something super important. Super great. But we are not. God choses to serve us because that is who He is. He chose to set His affections of people that don’t deserve it. The leper in our passage gets this right.

GOD OWES YOU NOTHING!!!! God owes us nothing. He is not in debt to us in any way. He is not subservient to us in any way. Yet we think that He is required to obey us.

PAUSE

Anytime we ask anything of God (He is greatly pleased when we do), we must ask knowing that God does not have to answer our prayers to the way we want simply because........ He is God, and we are not..….

They leper, in His worshipful request says.… “If you are willing.....” To ask in a demanding way is not honoring to God, incorrectly perceives who you are, and will likely end in your own downfall.

James 4:6 ESV

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

So leper comes in to Jesus in dependence, in humility, but also in...

3. Faith

It would have been wrong for this leper to come with presumption… Jesus has to heal me… but it would have been equally dishonoring for him to come to Jesus with doubt that He would.

How does doubt dishonor God?

When people come to God and ask for things with doubt, what it is actually saying to God is… God I don’t think you can do this… we knock down God power in our eyes. We put him on a lower pedestal than He deserves. Maybe we don’t doubt God’s power, but maybe we doubt God’s goodness. I don’t think God really cares enough about me or this situation… Either response of doubt dishonors God.

Hebrews 11:6 ESV

And 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.

God desires us to view Him in the highest possible way. His name is greatly to be praised. Like the Psalmists says that there is no one in all of the heavens like you. And that is what is reflected in the words of the Leper.… he says “if you will, you can make me clean...” You can do the impossible, you do care about me enough. And you ALWAYS answer to what is best for my life even when the answer does not make sense to me. This is a request of faith. In fact, in that day, there was no cure for leprosy. It really was a death sentence. But this leper shows an incredible faith in Jesus that says I believe he can cure then uncurable, and I am willing to travel great lengths even though my strength is little to come to Jesus.

What we can learn from this leper is that it is possible to us to pray and ask God for these things in this way without ever doubting the power, the goodness, and the wisdom of God. To come in dependence, in humility, and in faith… true responses of worship.

As we plead with God in our lostness as the leper did, let us do so in true worship. God rewards those that diligently and worshipfully seek Him. And what He always rewards them with is Himself.… as we will see in the next point....

We are lost and He is our light… our hope.

II. The Light of the Lord

How is Jesus the light and hope of those that are lost. Looking at this passage we can see why we should come to Him.

A. Seen in His Reactions of Love (v.41)

How did he react to the lostness and the worshipful response of this leper.

1. Moved with Compassion

Just stop and think with me for a moment of the setting of this event. Jesus is going about preaching on his Galilean tour. Along the way, a leper approaches him and begs to be healed. The crowd is shocked. Some are angry at him for coming out in public. How dare he defy the laws of Moses! He is an outcast. He shouldn’t be here. Some stand there in curiosity. Wondering what might happen next. Some are disgusted and are worried for themselves. They cover their mouths, and they run away for fear that he may spread the disease to them.

And here Jesus stands, apart from all the others. While others condemn and flee, Jesus moves towards the man.

Why.… because of the compassion that swells up within in.

This lepers faith was well founded. He was right to believe that Jesus did care. For compassion isn’t something that Jesus just feels once in awhile, but compassion is who Jesus really is.

Matthew 14:14 ESV

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

Matthew 15:32 ESV

Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”

Mark 6:34 ESV

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.

Luke 7:13 ESV

And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”

The greek word for compassion is the same in all these texts. It literally refers to the guts or bowels of person. Who they are inside. Jesus has within Himself a great concern with others. When He cried… He cried not for Himself but for others.

“Time and again it is the morally disgusting, the socially reviled, the inexcusable and undeserving, who do not simply receive Christ’s mercy, but to whom Christ most naturally gravitates. He is, by his enemies’ testimony, the ‘friend of sinners’”

“The cumulative testimony of the four Gospels is that when Jesus Christ sees the fallenness of the world all about him, his deepest impulse, his most natural instinct, is to move toward that sin and suffering, not away from it.” - Gentle and Lowly

And that’s what we see of Jesus in this passage. But Jesus compassion isn’t just passive sympathy, active engagement with the lost. What He is, He does.

And so Jesus does the unthinkable.… He...

2. Touched Him

This is a mind boggling concept. Jesus is God. Could He have healed this leper anyway He wanted to? Yes. We know from other gospel accounts that Jesus healed people who were miles away from where He physically was with just a word. Why touch this leper… A few reasons should be stated here that gives us insight to understanding Jesus.

It shows Christ’s.....

-Thoughtfulness

This leper had been void of all human physical touch for decades of his life.

God created physical affection as a big part of our connection to others, and an aid to even our physical help and health. When you are going thru a terrible and overwhelmingly emotional time, how much does the physical embrace of another mean to you. It’s usually quite powerful. It provides comfort where words alone can’t go.

And this man had been without that for such a long time. Jesus’ willingness to heal in this way was another touch of His sincere tenderness and compassion to people. To heal and help them in a way that would be extra meaningful to them.

-Fearless

Another obvious thing that it shows of Christ was His fearlessness. Yes, He was God, and yet He was still man. As man, he was striken, smitten, and afflicted. Afflicted with pain, sickness, sorrow, weakness, and even death as part of being a man. Yet, that didn’t stop him from approaching this man that had the worst sickness of life.

-Incorruptible

Another wonderful truth about this event is how it casts a great light on the extreme purity of Jesus. Ceremonially, it was decreed that whoever touches a defiled thing becomes defiled themselves. That’s why God made laws against touching dead things, like in the account of Samson, or certain types of animals and birds and insects, bodily discharge, specific type of mold in a house, and so on.… often because of how they would affect His people. These things often produced diseases and the like. So God separated His people for their protection. But when Jesus came into contact with the unclean, He was able to do what no other man can do.

When Jesus, the Clean One, touched an unclean sinner, Christ did not become unclean. The sinner became clean. The significance of this event is incredible. It totally flew in the face of all the people and religious leaders of the day. Jesus reversed a man’s uncleanliness. He wasn’t affected by the uncleanliness but physically made the unclean clean… He made Him whole. More on that in a minute.

From these, we do see from Jesus’ reactions, how He is truly the light and hope for those lost in darkness. Not only from his reactions’, but let’s also see how he is the light and hope from His Commands of Authority.

B. Seen in His Commands of Authority (v.41-44)

1. Be Clean

Once again, notice how the faith of the leper was well placed in the power of Jesus. An incurable disease, a horrendous outlook, a nightmare of a situation. And with one word, the illness is gone completely. How drastic this must have been for those that looked on.

They say a disfigured man, who probably lacked appendages, figures, toes, ears, etc, with scaly nasty skin, become instantaneously whole. We read in this account that this particular ministry of Jesus really lite the known world on fire. No one has ever done such a thing. He can even heal the leper. What once was thought of as impossible, Jesus did. Obviously this significantly showcased His omnipotence.

-Omnipotence

Say it this way, why is this miracle more incredible than most other miracles. What some theologians call the “messianic miracles” because these are only miracles Christ did. Is that they not only proved His power, but it should that He could reverse far more than just skin level disease.

2. Tell No One

-Why would Jesus command such a thing? Why would He not want people to know about this. Wasn’t His whole point of coming to point to His Messiahship, to bring about His Kingdom in people’s lives… if that’s true, you don’t want to silence the spread of the news, you want it going forward. Doesn’t this seem to contract His gospel purpose.

Not in the slightest. In fact, this command gives us greater confidence in Jesus as our Lord and Light. Our hope for He knows and understands far more than we know.

-First, it proved that Jesus didn’t come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. He strictly charged the man to report first to the priest as is commanded in the law. It was important that He followed prodical so that the world would understand what Jesus was doing. He was actually pointing them back to the fulfillment of the OT. We will come back to this one again in our next point.

-Second, it could well be asserted that Jesus wanted to prevent premature opposition. If news spread too quickly about this grand miracle, the hostility may have grown too quickly. Jesus suffering and death were at an appointed time so He was set to make sure things lined up as they should.

-Third, avoiding crowds that disrupted His mission. This one should be clear from the text. The man didn’t obey, but rather told everyone and forced Jesus to abandon his preaching tour in Galilee and instead flee to the outskirts simply because people were sworming Him in every town. He couldn’t even enter the city as the scripture says. Is that a bad thing? For the gospel mission, it evidently was for Capernaum as we said last week.

-Fourth, Jesus didn’t want to give a misunderstanding of His mission. It was also preaching first miracles and training disciples second. The miracles only supported the preaching, but were never a means themselves. That weren’t the main thing. “I must preach the Kingdom of God… for that is why I was sent.”

-Fifth, to prevent false expectations of His Messiahship. Some tried to make Him king by force… especially after seeing His miracles. But that timeline is wrong once again.

So when we stop and evaluate why this odd command, when we look at it from a bigger picture we see the omniscience of God. He knows when it is best, and it gives us greater confidence in Him.

NOT- Messianic Secret

3. Show Yourself to Priest

-What did this accomplish?

We can see what was accomplished in what Jesus said it would do.…

-for a proof/testimony to them....

Again, in order for the former leper to be accepted back into society, he was required by law to show himself to a priest and be deemed as clean. This would then remove him from all the stain of leprousy and allow him to join again with the covenant people of God, worship, and have a life again.

The priests were given specific tasks in examining the former leper, as well as offering sacrifices for him. They were familiar with the requirements but probably a bit rusty on the actual practice… since again seeing a leper cured was just not that happened.

So when Jesus for a proof or a testimony to them… he could be saying it as a convicting witness of who He is… or he could be saying in a negative sense (an incriminating witness).

If the priests declared the leper clean but rejected the One who cleansed him, their unbelief would be incriminating evidence against them.

-Exclusive - Priests can only claim you ritually clean, but Jesus can do both

Jesus is a far superior priest who offers a cleansing that runs deeper than the skin.

When we look at this text, we are too understand that there is far more going on then the healing of uncurable man. This passage is about cleansing.… deep, real, spiritual cleansing. The leprosy represents far more than just a bad sickness, unpleasant and uncurable. It represents a far worse thing, than physical death.… it represents sin.

Very briefly look at Leviticus 14. This text gives the requirements for a leper to be ceremonially made clean.

Part of his cleansing ceremony, was to offer sacrifices. The first was a pictural sacrifice. 2 live birds were brought. One was killed and the live bird was dip and sprinkled with the blood of the dead bird and then set free to the wild. One was killed so one could be set free.

Furthermore, the leper was required to offer sacrifices of a lamb for a sin and a guilt offering before God. The blood was placed upon the former lepers right ear, thumb, and big toe to make an atonement for for him who is to be cleansed from His uncleanness. What God had set up in this law was a plan, a visual. This act made the connection all too explicit. Leprosy is a visual illustration of the ugliness of sin.

Spiritual death, cut off from the people of God, out of communion and worship with the Creator, dying and without Hope. But Jesus is that hope. The priest who not only can declare someone cleansed but to initiate cleansing from within.

What great confidence that we can have in Jesus. The light and hope of the world.

Finally, lets look at one more thing, how Jesus is that light and hope for the lost.

C. Seen in His Picture of Sacrifice (v.45)

Mark 1:45 ESV

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.

Where do we see a picture of sacrifice in this text? Notice where both the leper and Jesus started?

Mark 1–8: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Lord’s Predicament (1:45)

The leper started in the wilderness in isolation. After meeting Jesus, he was able to mingle freely in the city. Conversely, Jesus started in the city. After meeting the leper, He was isolated to the wilderness. In that sense, Jesus took the leper’s place.

Mark 1–8: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Lord’s Predicament (1:45)

The account of the leper thus provides a wonderful metaphor for what Jesus did at the cross. As sinners, believers were once spiritual lepers who lived in alienation and isolation from God. God provided a way of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ. In order to accomplish that plan of redemption, the Son left the presence of God and went into isolation. On the cross, Jesus was forsaken. He was rejected by men and even forsaken by the Father (

Conclusion:

As close our time in the word of God today, the application isn’t boy I’m glad I’m not a leper. So thankful for that. It’s not, well glad that if I ever receive a incurable disease that God can and will heal me. That’s not the application either. The application is much more powerful than that. We titled this sermon. The Lord and the Lepers. There was only one leper in this passage.… or was there. The priests, the people that watched, and all those that are living even today.… all of them and us.… lepers… spiritual lepers. Our disease far worse than the physically devastating leprosy of the skin. We were lost, were hopeless, we were cut off, we were dead.

But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

APPLICATIONS:

Do we see sin the way God sees sin?

The cured leper couldn’t keep quiet about his cleansing! We who have been cured off something far greater, what is holding us back for speaking openly and loudly about ours?