Today’s Message

Date:               March 12, 2006

Speaker:          Pastor Steven Thomas

Title:                Touching the Untouchable

Text:                Mark 1:40-45

40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

41 Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” 42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

43 Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44 “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” 45 Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

Introduction:

We have an incident recorded in our text today that is clearly intended to drive our attention to truths that go beyond the merely physical.  Now, we are not at liberty to run through Scripture, willy nilly, making up spiritualize interpretations of historical events.  There must be clear markers that such interpretation was intended by the author.  We have such indications here.  First, Mark included an account of the healing of a leper.  In Scripture, leprosy is routinely used as a physical illustration of man’s spiritual condition—a vivid portrayal of the sinfulness of man. 

Second, we know that often the accounts of Jesus’ miracles served as more than mere indications of his power.  They went beyond their major purpose—to validate his message.  They often served as sign posts, directing our attention away from the physical reality to a significant underlying truth.  For example, in the gospel of John, we find that John did not use the normal term “miracle.”  Instead, he called the miracles of Jesus “signs.”  As signs, they had spiritual significance.  And so, Jesus multiplied a little lad’s lunch one day to feed about 20,000 people and then explained to them, “I am the bread of life.”  On another occasion, he stood in front of a tomb that contained the body of his friend Lazarus, dead three days, called him out of the grave and out of the sleep of death.  He then explained, “I am the resurrection and the life.”

Furthermore, as we will see, Mark uses our text to pave the way for next week’s text that makes explicit the implications of this story.  Therefore, please understand that:

Today’s take-home truth:  The leper served as a walking parable of the human condition.  From his encounter with Jesus we learn that:

I.          Our condition is worse than you think.  40

Leprosy is a powerful and appropriate symbol of our condition—our moral depravity.  It is progressive, destructive, and produces ruin.  Let’s spend a few moments exploring this physical object lesson and what it teaches us about our spiritual condition.

A.        The nature of our condition:

Leprosy was a widespread and fearful condition.  The term as used in the Bible refers to a wide range of diseases of the flesh.  But, in general, the implications are that:

1.         It is ugly.

The worst of the diseases would leave the victim disfigured and grotesque.  We know that one of the diseases called leprosy is better known today as Hansens’s disease (after the man who diagnosed its cause). 

See Hughes, p. 54

Part of the ugliness lay in the fact that the minds of the people blurred the distinction between the physical and the spiritual.  They attached moral significance to the disease—“What sin has this one committed to fall under the heavy hand of God’s judgment?”  This was an unjustifiable attitude, but understandable.

2.         It is isolating.

Two chapters in the book of Leviticus are devoted to the subject of leprosy.  Consider the isolation and loneliness packed into these words:

Leviticus 13:45-46

45 “The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ 46 As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp.

Imagine—everywhere you encountered other people . . . “Unclean, unclean.”

Addition laws created by the Rabbis said that a leper could not even stick his head inside a house without defiling it.  It was illegal to even greet a leper.  If a leper encountered other people out along the road, they had to stay at least 150 away if they were up wind.  If down wind, they could come no closer than six feet.

Josephus said that they were treated, “as if they were, in effect, dead men.”

3.         It is incurable.

One of the interesting features of biblical discussion of leprosy is that it is never referred to as being “healed,” it is always cleansed (a word that preserves the sense of moral defilement). 

(Explain the NIV translation “cured”

No, the only One who could cleanse the leper was God.

Tell the story of Namaan/Elisha/king of Aram

2 Kings 5:7

7 As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life?

This has interesting implications for v. 40!

Do you see that we have here a vivid picture of the spiritual condition of humanity?  We excuse, deny, and minimize the reality of our sin, but in God’s sight it is ugly.  How ugly? 

Isa 64:6—rags to wipe the oozing sores of the leper.

The result of our condition is that we were:

Ephesians 2:12

12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

We should all bow our heads before God and man and cry, “Unclean.”  And there is nothing that we can do to change our condition. 

What a vivid picture of our soul do we encounter in this pitiful leper.

B.        The result of our condition

So understanding the nature of this condition:

1.         It instills a sense of desperation.

Do not read too hastily:  “came to him.”  In desperation he through caution to the wind and did that which the law forbade:  he approached Jesus.  In all probability, there was crowd around Jesus.  You can almost see the crowd parting in shock and disbelief at the approach of this outcast. 

Desperate times require desperate measures, so the leper came. 

2.         It drives us to plead for divine mercy.

He knew that his only hope was divine intervention. 

He did not doubt Jesus’ ability to do what only God can do.  His only concern was Jesus’ willingness.  In his words we sense faith mingled with doubt that stems from a recognition of unworthiness. 

Your great need is to see the reality of your spiritual condition—peer into the mirror of the word to see the ugliness there.  Only then will you be driven by desperation to fall at the feet of the only One who can clean you and make you whole.

II.        Jesus’ compassion is deeper than you imagine.  41-42

He came with meager hope, but nothing could have prepared him for what happened next.

A.        He is willing to touch the untouchable.

Not only did Jesus declare his willingness to cleanse this leper, but he did the unimaginable; he reached out and touched him.  Picture the leper before Jesus—repulsive (Luke—covered with leprosy), deformed.  Undoubtedly he had been imprisoned in loneliness by this disease for many years.  Think of it:  years without a human touch!  But Jesus, maker of the Law, set Law aside and touched this pitiful man. 

There is no more vivid picture of the Lord’s compassion than the scene before us. 

Listen to what the Bible declares about God’s love for you:

Romans 5:6-8

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

“How could God forgive me”—God loves the unlovely.  God loves me.  God loves you.

B.        He is able to accomplish the unimaginable.

“Be cleansed,” Jesus said.  Do you remember the words of the King of Israel?  “Am I God?”  Jesus did what only God could do.  Here he sets us up for the next section which drives home the point with greater clarity:

Mark 2:5-6

5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves,

Jesus alone can meet our greatest need by doing the unimaginable.

III.       Jesus’ mission is greater than you realize.  43-45

Briefly, we encounter a strange set of verses in the rest of the story.  Yet, if we sift through these carefully, we find important truths that must not be overlooked.  These help us think clearly about why Jesus came and the implications of his mission for the lives of everyone here.  First, we learn that:

A.        His chief concern lies in a message that produces spiritual cleansing, not physical healing.

The words of v. 43 are unusual and surprising.  Our EVs all tone them down:

-“warn, warn sternly”

Lit., snort.  It is a word that envisions anger.  Why?  Probably because he knew what would happen (v. 45).  Here we encounter again a truth that we considered last week.  You see, the irony is that Jesus’ fame in some ways was actually counterproductive.  As his fame spread, people thronged him for the wrong reasons and made it difficult to fulfill the purpose for which he came—proclaim a message, a message that touches our greatest need, forgiveness of sin.

If you think that Jesus is there to make life comfortable (“things go better with Jesus”), then you have missed the point.  He came to give life, spiritual life, by cleansing you from your spiritual leprosy.  That is why the theme of the book:

Mark 10:45

45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

B.        He holds people accountable for what they do with his message.

Now don’t miss the subtleties of the passage.

1.         He requires those whom he has touched to help his mission, not hinder it.

He was angry with the man because he knew that he would disobey and in that way hinder the mission. 

Has Christ touched your life?  He expects you help the mission; further the message.  Are you so preoccupied with your own life, blessings, interests that you fail to contribute to his mission?  Or do you dedicate yourself as a productive participant in Christ’s mission to cleanse the spiritually needy?

When you consider the depth of his mercy and compassion, how can you do less?

2.         He requires those who hear his message to believe it, not oppose it.

Explain the Law of cleansing

Jesus said this miracle was a testimony to the priests.  Those who claimed to represent God should have recognized the work of God in this miracle.  The miracle spoke to them. 

Lit. “testimony against”  I.e., if they failed to respond to the testimony, what they saw and heard would speak against them on judgment day. 

So it is with all who hear the message of Christ.  He holds all accountable.  So what will you do with what you have heard?  I have told you of your condition and I have declared to you that Jesus is the answer.  If you fail to respond, these words will condemn you when you stand before your Maker. 

What will you do with Jesus?