Anchor My Faith

A Disobedient Cleansed Leper

Scripture: Mark 1:41-45; Luke 5:12, 15-16

In our previous lesson we met a centurion who demonstrated extraordinary faith in Jesus, resulting in his sick and dying servant being healed. In this lesson we find Jesus traveling to another city where he meets a man full of leprosy. ^{Lk 5:12} “While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”’

There were specific guidelines in the Old testament for the examination and treatment of those with a variety of skin diseases, generally referred to as leprosy. Many of these diseases were highly contagious and thus the required isolation from healthy people. A man, described as being full of leprosy, managed to find his way to Jesus and falling on his face he begged Jesus to make him clean.

The man called him “Lord”, a title commonly used when people came to Jesus for aid of some sort. In the context of Old Testament background, this reference to Lord can be an affirmation of the deity of Jesus.

Leprosy was a disease, which made the leper and anyone who touched such a person ceremonially unclean; 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” (Leviticus 5:45 – 46 ESV).

As the leper prostrates himself before Jesus, how does Jesus respond? ^{Mk 1:41} “Moved with pity, [Jesus] 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.” The love, mercy and power of Jesus are such that his touch, instead of making Jesus unclean, actually makes the leper clean.

Having made the leper clean, ^{Mk 1:43} “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.”’ Sending the cleansed man away at once and charging him to tell no one about Jesus cleansing him, suggest that Jesus, at this point in his ministry, was being careful to not stir up a misunderstanding of his messianic identity. Jesus did not want his miracles to draw crowds who came simply for the sake of miracles. He wants them to learn who he really was and why his Father sent him on mission to earth.

Besides telling the man what not to do, Jesus tells him to follow the procedure of a leper being cleansed. That was to go and show himself to the priest and offer proof of cleansing as commanded by Moses. ^{Mk 1:45} “But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, ^{Lk 5:15} and great crowds gathered to hear [Jesus] and to be healed of their infirmities, ^{Mk 1:45} 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. ^{Lk 5:16} But [Jesus] would [frequently] withdraw to desolate places and pray.”

The man disobeyed and told everyone how he was made clean and as a result the crowds grew so large that they hampered Jesus from going into small towns, forcing him to minister to the people out in desolate places. People were seeking him to meet their physical needs and in the process they hindered Jesus from teaching about their spiritual needs and how he could meet them.

Prayer

Father, as I listen to prayer request today they seem to reflect the same desires the people had at the time of Jesus. Father, when we request prayer for meeting some need, or even want, why are we not willing to pray that the trial would be used to help transform us into the likeness of Jesus? We need to put spiritual growth, our sanctification, before or above our desire for greater comfort and ease of living.