1.
Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation
of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our
Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word this morning is
taken from Mark 1:40-45 and is entitled, “All
Things are Made New in Christ.” Let
he who has ears to hear, let him hear.
2.
Today’s Old Testament lesson from 2 Kings
5:1–14, is a familiar story. Elisha heals Naaman the leper. But, what’s so striking
about this healing? Naaman is not one of God’s chosen people. He’s an Aramean,
an enemy of Israel. We would consider him an unlikely candidate for receiving
help from the Lord. But through a young Israelite girl, the Lord leads Naaman
to Elisha and through Elisha to himself, the only true God. So too in our
Gospel lesson from Mark 1:40–45, Jesus touches and heals a leper. His
compassion compelled him to do so. During
this Epiphany season we’ve seen that our Savior Jesus isn’t the personal
property of a select few. He’s for all people! Jesus reveals himself as the
incarnate Son of God through his miracles, displays of power and
compassion. Lepers, enemies, and sinful
people like Paul are the “unlikely” recipients of God’s grace. And might not
blacks, foreigners, total strangers, the mentally handicapped, a hostile
neighbor, a playground bully, an inactive member of church, and such be added
to update the list? But, we who are here today in worship must also include
ourselves in this list with the reminder that Jesus died for ALL people so that
WE along with THEM who believe in Him as our Savior might live with Him in
heaven.
3.
Ryan White was born Dec. 6, 1971, and died
April 8, 1990, one month before his high school graduation. Ryan was an
American teenager from Indiana, who became a poster child for those diagnosed
with HIV/AIDS after being expelled from middle school because of his infection. Ryan White was a hemophiliac and in 1984
became infected with HIV from a contaminated blood treatment. White was, at
first, given only 6 months to live.
Though doctors stressed that Ryan White posed no risk to others,
students in his school, parents, and even teachers in Kokomo, IN rallied
against his return to the classroom.
Ryan surprised his doctors and lived 5 years longer than first expected.
In our text for today, Mk 1:40–45, we read of a man with leprosy. It may be
difficult for us to relate to someone with leprosy today, but, like Ryan White,
this man was an outcast in his society. But,
in contrast to the judgment of the society around him, however, Jesus had
compassion on this man with leprosy. Jesus looked on the man with compassion,
reached out his hand, and healed him. In our day too, Jesus Reaches into the
Stench of Our Human Condition, beyond the Judgment of Those Who Will Not, and
Brings Comfort and Healing to Those in Need.
4.
Mark
1:40 begins saying, “40And
a leper came to [Jesus], imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will,
you can make me clean.” In the
ancient world a skin disease known as leprosy was a most tragic disease for
anyone to have. The Old Testament book
of Leviticus (13 & 14) describes in detail the sad status of lepers and the
law concerning leprosy. If you were a
Jew in the ancient world and you woke up one morning with a strange appearance
on your skin, it would strike terror into your heart. First, you were required to go to the priest,
who, using the guidance of God’s Word, determined whether this outbreak in your
flesh was a harmless skin affliction or whether it was leprosy. If it was leprosy, that not only meant that
you had a terrible physical illness that would be with you for the rest of your
life, it was the worst possible announcement you could hear with respect to your
fellowship in your home, community, and church.
If you were found to have leprosy, you were deemed to be not just sick
but unclean. Leprosy couldn’t be healed
in the ancient world, so lepers were cast out of the Jewish community. You weren’t allowed near the temple and
couldn’t enter the gates of Jerusalem.
You had to live alone, without the fellowship of family members and
friends. You wore tattered clothes and
had unkempt hair. You weren’t allowed to
come within 50 paces of another human being.
If you saw anyone else approaching, you had to cry out, “Unclean, unclean,” lest you spread your disease. To be a leper was to be the ultimate outcast
in the household of Israel.
5.
This man in Mark’s gospel had been
examined by the priest. The sore had
turned white, and the diagnosis was leprosy.
So he had left his family, his wife, his children, and his home, and he
lived as a homeless person isolated from human contact. But, somehow he heard that Jesus was in the
neighborhood, and he ran up to Him, breaking the law of Moses. He cried out to Jesus in faith, begging for
mercy, “If you are willing, You can make
me clean.”
6.
Mark 1:41-45 continues the story telling
us that Jesus, “41Moved
with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will;
be clean.” 42And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. 43And
Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, 44and 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.” 45But 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.” Our Lord Jesus Christ, the sinless one, whose aim in life
was to do the will of the Father to fulfill all righteousness (John 4:34)
violated the ceremonial law of God. Not
only was the leper not allowed to touch a non leper, the non leper wasn’t
allowed to touch a leper. But Jesus
touched him, what a scandal this must have been! Mark shows us that Jesus was the Lord of the
Law of God, Who had the authority to set it aside for His own redemptive
purposes.
7.
This is where we see that healing the
leper was more than an act of kindness on Jesus’ part. It was an act of extraordinary kindness
because of the social stigma attached to this disease. Jesus did more than help a person in need--He
helped a despised person in need. Our
Savior’s love had teeth to it. Mark 1:41
tells us that Jesus was “moved with
compassion.” But love went further. Jesus actually touched the leper--at a risk
to his own physical health if we refer to his own human nature.
8.
The healing of the leper is a great
miracle and a hard fact of history. But
it’s also symbolic too. Jesus’ words, “I will be thou clean,” says it
all. 1 Timothy 2:4 says, “God will have all people to be saved,” and
John 15:3 says, “He makes us clean
through His Word.” Jesus cleanses us
of what an ancient prayer calls the, “leprosy
of sin.” His touching the leper is
symbolic, symbolic of the innocent Jesus literally taking the leprosy of our
sin upon Himself. And in this instance
He caught the deadly virus of our sin.
In the eyes of God His Father, Jesus was made the leprosy of sin (2 Cor.
5:21). And so unclean in His Heavenly Father’s
eyes, Jesus was ostracized by Him. God
forsook Him in your place (Matt. 27:46).
9.
Jesus directed the healed leper to keep
the Law of Moses. And Jesus directs us
to follow the Law of God too. He not
only cleanses us of the leprosy of sin, but He also empowers us to keep His
Law. The Gospel justifies, but it also
sanctifies us and makes us holy and clean.
And look at how powerful this good news is. Even though Jesus directed the healed leper
not to tell anyone the good news of this miracle the man spreads the word
anyway. Talk about reverse psychology at
work. And what happens? They came to Him from every quarter to see
Him and be healed. For they saw that all
things are made new in Christ.
10.
Please pray with me. Dearest
Jesus, how we marvel at your compassion toward the suffering of mankind! No one is so unclean but that the touch of
your almighty hand and the sound of Your gracious voice can bring healing and
health to soul and body. We thank You
for Your saving grace, which found us in the filth of our sins and brought us
happiness and healing when there was no other help. We give glory to You alone. And may we learn to be obedient to Your every
word that we may learn to know and do Your will. Amen.
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