Jesus Cleanses a Leper (Mark 1:40-45)

INTRODUCTION

If you have your Bible, please turn it to Mark 1:40-45.

As you know, we’ve been working through the Gospel according to Mark for about a month and when I introduced the book to us at the beginning of last month, I made the argument that Mark is primarily concerned with answer two questions throughout his Gospel account—(1) who is Jesus and (2) what type of Christ is Jesus?

So far in the first chapter, we’ve answered the first question in a variety of different ways from a variety of different perspectives—from the onset, we see Mark quoting from the prophets about the one who would prepare the way for the Lord—and then we immediately are introduced to John, who baptizes people in the wilderness while proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin.

Just prior to Jesus coming to him, he makes a statement that someone mightier than him is coming to baptize with the Holy Spirit; and then we’re introduced to Jesus who is baptized and we see the Spirit and hear the Father affirming Him as God’s beloved Son; with whom He is well pleased—who is Jesus? He is the Son of God, the LORD.

After Jesus’ baptism, we see Him tempted by Satan in the wilderness, we see angels ministering to Him; and then Jesus starts His earthly ministry in which he proclaims the gospel of God, saying “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Jesus calls His first disciples about halfway through the chapter and we start seeing the power and majesty of Jesus displayed in how He speaks, teaches, and preaches, and how He heals various people, which serves as confirmation of who He is and what He has spoken and preached.

The text that we’re starting this morning continues by recording another healing performed by Jesus to a leprous man; and it seems as if it’s just a short statement of this healing, but if you remember something that Pastor Dave said last week, that there are several theological points that are melded into the text that’s worth us teasing out—and so we need to do just that because there are things in Mark 1:40-45 that speak to who Jesus is and what type of Christ He is.

Keep this in mind as we read the text together:

Mark 1:40–45 ESV

40 And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” 41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” 42 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. 43 And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, 44 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.” 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, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.

As we study this text together, we’re going to take it in three parts: (1) The Leprous Man (40), (2) Jesus Cleanses the Man (41-42), and (3) The Cleansed Man is Sent Away (43-45)— the first section introduces the leprous man and we’ll spend a little time discussing what exactly leprosy was and how it was viewed by the average person, the second deals with Jesus cleansing the man, and the third really ties this all together by showing us what all this reveals about Jesus.

Our goal for this morning is to see what this text reveals about Jesus in terms of Him being the Christ who comes to His people in authority, in power—to cleanse while remaining clean Himself, which really reveals Him to be a God who while holy comes to His people to cleanse them—not of leprosy, but really their sin.

Prayer for Illumination

The Leprous Man (40)

The Leprous Man’s Request

Our text starts by laying out the setting of the event:

We’re told that a man, who was a leper came to Jesus—we don’t really know much about this man, but what we do know about him is worth considering:

e.g., he comes to Jesus with at least some knowledge of who Jesus is—we see that primarily because he doesn’t hesitate to make his request known. That ought not surprise us simply because we’ve already seen that knowledge of who Jesus is has been spreading—though clearly, in many instances, who exactly Jesus is, was still a bit of a question for many people.

In the case of this man suffering with leprosy, he knows enough about Jesus to know that Jesus had some ability, power, or authority—or even, some combination of all three, to make him clean and so his request is based on that knowledge—though, we’ll come back to his request momentarily.

We know, that up to this point, Jesus had been teaching and proclaiming—particularly the Gospel of God, and in the midst of doing this, He had cast out demons and He had healed many people.

And He had done this in various places throughout Galilee.

He was starting to gain in popularity when this man comes to find Him.

Additionally, there is something to be said about the way that the man comes to Jesus.

Despite the fact that many still struggled with who exactly Jesus was and what exactly that meant—there is, in the way that this man came to Jesus, a very clear understanding that he sees Jesus as someone worthy of his request and someone that deserved honor—as we see him both imploring and kneeling.

The imploring really speaks of his desperation in the moment—the idea of imploring is to make a sincere, emotional, and desperate request of some sort to someone, which makes sense when you understand leprosy as a disease and how it was handled according to the Law.

The kneeling really speaks of his understanding (even if its imperfect) of who Jesus is—reason tells us that its not common to kneel to other people unless you think of that person as being worthy of respect or honor beyond what you yourself might be worth; and it makes sense, as he (at the very least) thinks that Jesus is capable of cleansing him from the disease which has radically altered his life.

Understanding Leprosy in the First Century — And that’s exactly what leprosy did to someone in the Ancient Near Eastern context during this time period.

We need to understand what all it meant that someone like this man had leprosy because understanding what it meant aids in our understanding of the text.

Leprosy isn’t a singular disease, but rather, it’s any number of skin-related diseases that were highly contagious and were often chronic—it didn’t just go away in a week, it often lasted a significant amount of time, it was consistent, and it was very difficult to get rid of.

Of course, because of leprosy’s highly contagious nature, those who suffered with leprosy were separated from the rest of the community in an effort to prevent the disease from spreading—that’s actually what the Mosaic Law commanded concerning those with leprosy. If you read Lev 13-14, which we won’t do in their entirety this morning, you’ll see that there are comprehensive laws given by God to protect the nation of Israel from the spread of leprosy amongst the people—we won’t read it, but let me give you some of the highlights:

Leviticus 13 lays out several different examples of what leprosy could look like on a person and in each case, the person is to go to the priest, be inspected by the priest, and the priest would determine whether or not that person has leprosy or not—the priest would declare that person clean or unclean.

If a person is determined to be unclean because of leprosy, Leviticus 13:45–46 tells us what that person ought to do: “45 “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.’ 46 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.”

Or, in other words, he is to make it known that he has leprosy and for the good of the rest of the camp, he needs to separate from everyone else in an effort to prevent the spread of disease.

The idea is that while the person has the disease, he separates himself, but if he is cleansed from the disease, he can return to the camp if the priest affirms that the person no longer has leprosy.

It may sound a little harsh to consider that the person would have to leave everything behind, but I think if you understood how significantly contagious these sorts of skin diseases were and are, you’d understand the need for that separation:

Leprosy isn’t like just having dry skin or something like that—leprosy destroyed the skin and spread rapidly if not taken care of.

Elsewhere in the OT, you also see additional statements about leprosy that are worth considering:

e.g., in Number 5, the idea of forcing people outside of the city when they were diagnosed with leprosy is reiterated.

Additionally, there are a handful of examples where leprosy was divine punishment for sin:

e.g., in Numbers 12, Miriam and Aaron speak out against Moses, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses?” This had to deal with Moses’ decision to marry a Cushite woman.

God affirms Moses in the Tent of Meeting and Miriam (possibly because grammatically, she seems to be the primary instigator in the opposition towards Moses) is then struck by leprosy.

After which Aaron acknowledges their sin and expresses repentance.

e.g., in 2 Chron 26, King Uzziah enters the temple of the Lord and despite protest from the priests decides to burn incense on the altar of incense—the priests try to stop him because that was something that God had already declared was just for the priests to do.

King Uzziah does it anyway and he is struck with leprosy as punishment for his sin—and if you question whether the Lord did it or not, v. 20, specifically says that it was the LORD who struck him.

And Uzziah was forced out and remained a leper until the day of his death—again, as punishment for his sin.

Of course, because the Mosaic Law was so firm on what to do concerning leprosy and because the people understood how contagious the diseases were and because there were a handful of instances in which leprosy was connected to divine punishment for sin, there was an element to the separation due to the disease that might’ve made the life of leprous people even harsher

It’s tied with the concept of ceremonial or ritual uncleanness—part of the Law in Leviticus concerning ceremonial or ritual uncleanness is that if you as someone who wasn’t ritually or ceremonially unclean touched someone or something that was unclean, you would then become unclean.

It’s tied in with the assumption that you may have sinned and thus are being punished with leprosy.

And you can only imagine through Jewish tradition and custom just how much more ostracized someone with leprosy would be.

To have leprosy wasn’t pleasant, but when you tack on the idea that Jewish tradition and custom tended to extend the meaning of the Mosaic Law beyond its intent, you can see just how much worse life would be for someone suffering with leprosy.

Transition: And thus, you can understand some of the desperation behind this man’s request to Jesus to cleanse him from leprosy. Not only is he suffering with a disease that has ravaged his body, he’s ostracized from the community as one who was unclean ceremonially and ritually—and the people around him might think that the suffering that he’s enduring was the result of his own sin.

And so he comes to Jesus with a request and the request is simple, but reveals a great hope in what Jesus could do, “if you will, you can make me clean.” Notice that statement, “if you will.”

He bases whether or not Jesus can cleanse him on really Jesus’ want to heal him. Essentially, the leper says that he knows that Jesus can do it, it’s just whether or not Jesus wants to do it. Look at vv. 41-42 with me.

Jesus Cleanses the Man (41-42)

Mark 1:41–42 ESV

41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” 42 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.

Jesus’ Willingness to Cleanse (41) — Jesus responds to the man by not just expressing his desire to cleanse, but by actually cleansing this man.

The ESV says that Jesus was moved with pity, with that in mind, we actually have to discuss what is intended here because there is what scholars call a textual variant in v. 41 that actually has a difference of meaning. By textual variant, I mean that in some manuscripts a different Greek word is used in v. 41 than what’s translated as pity or compassion.

Many manuscripts use a Greek word that can be translated as pity or compassion here; and that gives the impression that Jesus was concerned about the individual and the suffering that he was going through—that’s what the majority of manuscripts say, but that’s not what all the manuscripts say (and I’m only pointing this out because some translations follow the alternative reading in which the Greek word that’s used is actually translated as anger or indignant—and many biblical theologians have argued that Jesus being moved by pity or compassion isn’t the original reading of the text.

There are a few manuscripts that actually say that Jesus was moved by anger or indignation, which then shifts the focus of what moved Jesus to act—instead of being moved by pity or compassion over the man’s suffering, Jesus is moved by anger or indignation—over what exactly?

Some have suggested that Jesus was moved by anger or indignation over the question itself—almost like a, “haven’t you heard that I’ve healed several people; why wouldn’t I clean you?” Sort of thing. I think that’s rather unlikely as Jesus didn’t always heal—after all, He makes the argument that He came primarily to preach the Gospel of God.

I actually think it deals more with the spiritual realities that are present—think through what all we’ve seen so far in the life of Christ—yes, he’s healed physical maladies, but he’s also done a significant lot with exorcising demons.

Even the sentence just before our text for this morning makes the statement that Jesus preached in the synagogues and cast out demons.

And when you consider that every physical ailment that exists is result of the curse of sin on creation—it then makes sense that Jesus would have anger or indignation about the results of sin even to the extent of physical maladies and ailments.

It actually ties in well with this concept of Jesus, who is the cosmic King of all things, waging a war against those who oppose Him, including that of sin and its consequences.

William Lane, “Assuming that Jesus is the subject, the anger can be understood as an expression of righteous indignation at the ravages of sin, disease and death which take their toll even upon the living, a toll particularly evident in a leper. As such, Jesus’ encounter with the leper brings him once more into the sphere of the demonic. It is, perhaps, in this perspective that elements in the narrative which seem more appropriate to an exorcism narrative than to an account of healing are to be explained.” William L. Lane, The Gospel of Mark, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1974), 86.

Regardless of which variant is taken, the result is a Jesus who has great concern over this man—even to the extent that He wills for the man to be cleansed.

And so Jesus, responds to this man’s request either in compassion for what the man is suffering with or in anger against the effects of sin on this man’s body—regardless of the textual variant, the result is the same, “he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, ‘I will; be clean.’” — there are some significant truths to consider with that sentence.

First off, Jesus didn’t need to touch this man to cleanse this man and the text doesn’t give the impression that it was the only the touch that actually cleansed—rather, it was Jesus’ willingness to cleanse, as requested by this man, but also affirmed in what Jesus says that Jesus wills; and thus, the man is cleansed.

Second, that does bring to mind the question of why Jesus actually touched this man instead of just willing or stating with his words that this man ought to be cleansed; and I think you’ll find the answer to that by considering the Mosaic Law with me again.

The Mosaic Law concerning leprosy expressed that anyone who had leprosy was unclean and was to be separated from all people—to be avoided and not touched less the other person becomes unclean as well.

Jesus, on the other hand, who knew the Mosaic Law as He is God and is the same being as the one who gave the Law—touches this man despite knowing the Law and knowing that this man indeed had leprosy.

Despite knowing that leprosy makes someone ceremonially unclean, Jesus reaches out to this man in an act of great compassion for someone suffering disease and someone ostracized by the society around him. A great act of compassion for someone who desperately wanted cleansing.

And the leprosy left this man immediately, the man was made clean

There is something about Jesus touching this man and the leprosy leaving rather than infecting Jesus that’s worth reflecting on.

Especially when you consider how leprosy was often understood as something resulting from sin itself.

And yet, Jesus physically touching this person doesn’t spread the uncleanness of the disease to Himself

Rather, the man is cleansed and Jesus remains clean.

The Immediacy of Jesus’ Work (42) — Additionally, there is an immediacy in the work of Jesus concerning the cleansing of this man’s body from leprosy.

Which isn’t too surprising when you consider that anytime Jesus heals or cleanses throughout the NT, it’s always instantaneous

Just as a side-note: I think we can make a legitimate correlation between the instantaneous physical cleansings and healings seen throughout the Gospels and spiritual healing or cleansing—at least in how it pertains to salvation.

That salvation itself is not a slow healing or cleansing—but there is an instantaneous element to it.

Not negating that we are progressively sanctified from the moment of salvation until we’re in the next life, but concerning salvation itself—Jesus doesn’t partway save us, He saves us completely.

And Jesus doesn’t save us a little bit today and a little bit tomorrow, but He saves us completely.

So the instantaneous nature of the cleansing of the leprous man ought not surprise us one bit.

It ought not surprise us that Jesus, who has been revealed as God multiple times throughout Mark 1 can, in a moment, cleanse someone of a disease that ravaged his body and turns him into a pariah of society.

What might surprise us is the fact that in this account, is the fact that again, Jesus Remains Clean

Despite the fact that he physically touched someone who was unclean because of the bodily disease that plagued Him—the text gives no indication that He Himself became ritually unclean.

And I do want to clarify, because some look at this and make the statement that Jesus’ touching of a leprous man is Him disregarding the Mosaic Law, but that can’t be true, because in v. 44, Jesus appeals to the Law.

Additionally, elsewhere in Scripture Jesus emphatically states that He didn’t come to abolish the Law, but rather to fulfill it.

We can make a few implications from this fact—that Jesus cleanses and yet remains clean in Mark 1. For example:

First, the severity of the uncleanness of leprosy, Jesus isn’t really influenced or effected by that uncleanness.

The man’s body is ravaged to the extent that he’s very clearly and visibly leprous and relegated to the outskirts of town, but Jesus shows no effects from the touching of that man’s body.

Think back to a few minutes when we made that connection between instantaneous physical cleansings and healings and salvation—we can do a similar correlation here. Our sin makes us unclean, but Jesus cleanses without Him becoming unclean.

Think back to our Call to Worship this morning—Isaiah has a vision of the Lord sitting upon a throne and the seraphim cried out, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And Isaiah’s response to everything that occurs in this vision is to say, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

Isaiah was unclean, he was then made clean, but the King never stopped being holy.

Second, it speaks to the reality that Jesus isn’t subject to His creation nor is He forced into subjection to the consequences of sin.

Meaning, the man’s request was chosen by God to be honored; the man didn’t force Jesus to do anything—the cleansing was based on the will of Jesus.

And, when Jesus touches the man, the consequences of living in a sin cursed world doesn’t force itself upon Jesus, which has a very real implication when it comes to the cross when Jesus took on the sins of mankind, He chose to do that, the sins didn’t force their way upon Him.

Transition: This man comes to Jesus and Jesus in pity or compassion or in anger cleanses him in a great act of compassion—immediately, instantaneously, and radically without any diminishing of His own holiness, any subjection to sin or its consequences—Jesus remains clean through the event.

And in the last three verses we see how this whole scenario wraps up. Look at vv 43-45 with me.

The Cleansed Man is Sent Away (43-45)

Mark 1:43–45 ESV

43 And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, 44 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.” 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, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.

Jesus’ Charge (43-44a) — Jesus charges this man with a command and its a command with two parts: (1) don’t say anything to anyone and (2) show yourself to the priest.

The not speaking to anyone part is a bit difficult for us to tease out because the reasoning for that command isn’t necessarily explicit and so we’re trying to deduce why Jesus would command this man not to speak and from the text, I would say that there are two predominant reasons:

The first could potentially just be because Jesus’ reputation in the surrounding areas had already grown; and knowing the instantaneous and radical cleansing of this man would be noticed—Jesus tells the man not to spread word of it in an effort to curtail the growth of His own popularity.

Whether or not that’s Jesus’ reasoning is hard to discern.

But we do see at the end of this chapter, the issue that arises from Jesus’ reputation growing in Galilee is that He can no longer openly enter towns because people are flocking to see Him.

That said, I actually think that his reasoning ties in more with the second part of this command—I don’t consider these as two separate commands, but one command with two parts.

The second part of the command is for the formerly leprous man to show himself to the priest, to offer what Moses had commanded, to show them proof.

And so, consider what Jesus is saying—don’t stop, don’t bother talking to other people about this right now, just go and do as the Mosaic Law states.

The Mosaic Law (44b) — we’ve already discussed what the Mosaic Law says about those who are suffering with leprosy and their need to separate from the other people. We haven’t discussed what people are to do if they’re cleansed from leprosy and that’s what Jesus is appealing to in Mark 1:44.

Lev 14 says that if the person thinks that he has been cleansed, it isn’t for him to determine that he was cleansed—it’s the priest who declares that he is indeed cleansed from leprosy.

Which by the way, is something to consider after seeing Jesus declare someone clean—the average person didn’t make those decisions, but that’s a side-note for another time.

The priest is to investigate this person and if the priest determine that the disease has been cleansed or healed, the formerly leprous person is to make an offering to the LORD.

Multiple sacrifices, washings, and a period of reintegration into the community was prescribed by the Mosaic Law.

The priest would then make a sacrifice for the man’s atonement and formally declare him as clean.

In other words, the priest didn’t heal or cleanse the leper; the priest examined someone according to what God commanded and then declared him clean.

Jesus does something in Mark 1 that priests can’t do in that He Himself makes this man clean before telling him to go to the priest and be examined.

Who actually makes the man clean—it’s Jesus.

And in cleansing this man, Jesus doesn’t disregard the Law at all, rather, He obey His Law and tells the man to do exactly what was told for the Israelites to do in Leviticus 13-14.

Jesus Left in Desolate Places (45) — of course, v. 45 tells us that this man didn’t obey what Jesus had said.

Rather, this man “went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news,” but that’s not actually that surprising to me and I don’t think it ought to be that surprising to you.

On the one hand, this man has experienced a tremendous physical healing from a malady that has essentially destroyed life as he knew it.

And while he had an impression about Jesus that Jesus could cleanse him—he doesn’t necessarily reveal any indication that he understood that Jesus was God.

And so, perhaps we could understand his disobedience in that light.

What’s perhaps a little more surprising in the text is what’s said in the last sentence—that “Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places [out in the wilderness], and people were coming to him from every quarter.”

We keep seeing that idea in ch. 1 of Jesus someone winding up in desolate places and there’s a rather significant image here to consider.

People afflicted by leprosy were required to live in the outskirts of civilization—in desolate places or the wilderness.

There’s an assumption in the first century that those afflicted by leprosy were being punished for some form of sin.

And, in the cleansing of the man, the man is able to reintegrate into society, but Jesus, who is still clean is relegated to desolate places—like a substitute for the man—it sounds an awful lot like what Jesus does for His people on the cross, but I digress.

Now, let’s consider all of this together. We’re in a book that exists to answer the question of who Jesus is and what type of Christ Jesus is.

That’s been answered in a number of different ways throughout the first chapter.

We’re explicitly told that Jesus is the Son of God, who was prophesied about in the OT, who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.

We see the Holy Spirit descend on Him and the Father approve of Him verbally during His baptism.

We witness Jesus being tempted by Satan himself before Jesus starts his earthly ministry by proclaiming the Gospel of God, that “the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; [so] repent and believe in the gospel.”

We read about Jesus’ power and authority—and even in how He calls His first disciples, there’s just something about Him that causes these men to drop everything and follow Him.

Jesus heals, He exorcising demons, which shows us His command over creation—both physical creation and spiritual creation.

And then we see Him in vv. 40-45 showing anger towards the effects of sin and great compassion for a man ravaged by the effects of sin.

We know who Jesus is; and now we know what type of Christ He is—one who is holy and remains clean, but still goes to the unclean to cleanse them.

He is one who doesn’t reject the Mosaic Law, but intentionally fulfills the Mosaic Law.

He is the type of Christ, who wills the cleansing of His people; and they’re cleansed.

Transition: And that’s precisely where our application comes into play. The account of the leprous man cleansed by Jesus highlights Jesus’ own holiness while showing us a Christ who is willing to cleanse His unclean people—what a glorious truth.

Application

For unbelievers, there’s a part of this passage that you might need to hear and its this—occasionally, people have the unwarranted perspective that they are simply too sinful, too dirty, too unclean for Jesus to want, to cleanse, or to heal.

This passage completely contradicts that idea—consider the truths that you’ve heard this morning. That a man who was unclean due to the diseases of leprosy, a man that was ostracized from the community because of his bodily condition. A man, who everyone else probably assumed deserved the apparent punishment of leprosy comes to Jesus with a simple, but profound request— “if you will, you can make me clean.”

By human standards, this man was too sinful, too dirty, too unclean.

But in his desperation, he cries out for mercy—and Jesus gives him mercy and grace through the means of cleansing.

Of course, the correlation isn’t identical—physical healing or cleansing isn’t the same as a spiritual healing or cleansing; and yet, the correlation remains.

You are never too sinful, too dirty, or too unclean for Jesus to save you and cleanse you and heal you spiritually.

And, if nothing else, what you’ve heard this morning is that the holy God has sent His Son to save those who are sinful and know they have no other hope.

If you’re in this room this morning and you don’t know Jesus Christ don’t leave this afternoon without talking to someone.

We want to help you in any way that we can.

For believers, there are a couple truths that drive our application this afternoon, e.g.,

The reminder that God cleanses His people from all manner of uncleanness is awfully comforting and profound.

Often Christians feel (even while knowing that Jesus has saved them), that they are still too sinful, too unclean, too dirty for Jesus to actually want.

Of course, many who struggle with thinking that way would verbally proclaim that they know that Jesus has saved them despite their sinfulness, uncleanness, or filth.

And yet, the realization that Jesus saves us what is clearly sinfulness, uncleanness, and filthiness is precisely what makes the Gospel such great new for God’s people.

And, really, we ought to celebrate the fact that Jesus came to us to redeem us—not because of anything that we’ve done or earned, but purely because He willed and He cleansed.

Give thanks and spread the news.

Additionally, you can very easily see God’s willingness to fulfill His Word just in how He cleanses and how He instructs the man to obey the Mosaic Law.

I’m not saying then we ought to obey every aspect of the Mosaic Law—after all, there is that three part division of the Law and the ceremonial and civil laws don’t apply in the same way as they did for this formerly lepros man.

What I am saying is that Jesus’ willingness to instruct the man to obey the Mosaic Law is actually indicative of God’s ability and desire to keep His own Word.

Or, in other words, if Jesus, who cleanses this man and knows that He indeed cleanses this man still tells him to go and be checked according to the words that God gave the Israelites in Leviticus, we can rest assured that every jot and tittle will be kept and fulfilled by our God who is faithful.

What a great truth to be reminded of as we still traverse a sin-cursed world today.

Have hope and trust the Lord who fulfills every part of His Word.

And for bonus points, one little side application to consider based on the response of the cleansed man—zeal for Jesus Christ doesn’t excuse disobedience.

Zeal for the Lord and His Kingdom is good, but obedience to what Jesus has said is equally good.

It’s not a one or the other thing—its a both and situation.

Yes, have great zeal for the Lord who has cleansed you from all manner of unrighteousness.

Also, obey what He has said, which He sums up by commanding us to love God and love one another.

As we wrap up Mark 1, we know who Jesus is and we now know what type of Christ He is—one who while holy, hears His people’s cry for mercy, cleanses them, and keeps every part of His Word—give thanks, spread the news, have hope and trust Him.

Pastoral Prayer