New Testament Studies

The Gospel of St. Mark

By Robert C. Crowder

Lesson Ten

Mark 1:40-45  And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away; And saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.

We now come to the third miracle in chapter one.  And if you have been following the study from the beginning, Mark didn’t talk about the birth and childhood of either John the Baptist or Jesus.  Mark began with describing John the Baptist’s ministry.  Then we saw the baptism of Jesus, His tempting and the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.  Mark continued with describing three miracles connected with Jesus’ early ministry.

By now, the report of the miracles, exorcisms and healings was reaching all around the smaller villages and towns in Galilee.  The final six verses of chapter one describes a man with leprosy coming to Jesus.  Leprosy was considered coming from God and was a sign of inward sin that was exposed outwardly.  Leprosy was referred to as the “finger of God” as it was considered as a direct providential infliction.   

The description of the disease, as how it was to be treated are found in Leviticus 13:1-59; 14:1-57; Numbers 12:10-15.  Lepers could reside in open towns or villages but could not live in a walled in city (Numbers 5:1-4).   This disease "begins with specks on the eyelids and on the palms, gradually spreading over the body, bleaching the hair white wherever they appear, crusting the affected parts with white scales, and causing terrible sores and swellings. From the skin the disease eats inward to the bones, rotting the whole body piecemeal.  But wherever he was he was required to have his outer garment rent as a sign of deep grief, to go bareheaded, and to cover his beard with his mantle, as if in lamentation at his own virtual death. He had further to warn passers-by to keep away from him, by calling out, 'Unclean! Unclean!' nor could he speak to any one, or receive or return a salutation, since in the East this involves an embrace."[1]

 Notice that this leper obviously had heard about Jesus and all that he was doing and searched Jesus out.  As he approaches Jesus, we see two important traits of the leper.  First, he beseeched him.  The word used for beseech is defined as to exhort and entreat.  Second, he kneeled before Jesus.   He kneeled, and inclined his face to the ground, in token of deep humiliation, and earnest entreaty.

His request is very revealing, “If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.”  He does not doubt that Jesus can heal him; his only concern is that if Jesus was willing to heal him.

Jesus knew that this man had leprosy by his dress and the marks on his body.  Jesus was moved with compassion to help him.  The Greek word literally means, “to have the bowels yearn.”  

“And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him,”

Jesus knew the law.  He knew that the law considered it as unclean to touch a leprous man.   So why did Jesus do it?  Why did He touch him?  We know that Jesus touched him, and then told him, “I will; be thou clean.” Couldn’t He just have said, “You are healed?”  That way he would not have touched him and broken the law?  

This is really exciting!  When Jesus decided to heal the man by touching him, it was evidence that the healing had already been accomplished before He put forth his hand to heal him; Jesus already regarded him as clean.  Whoa, is that exciting or what?  Remember Jesus’ words in Matthew?   “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”[2]  Jesus did not break the law by touching a leper the man was healed already!

“immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.”

There was no waiting as when Miriam was struck with leprosy and had to wait outside the camp for seven days.[3] The man was immediately healed.

“And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away; And saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man:”

The man was “charged” and sent away.  The Greek word for charge is embrimaomai that literally means to have indignation on, to sternly enjoin, or charge.  How could this same Jesus who was moved with such compassion to heal now react so hard?  Jesus was finding it more and more difficult to freely move around the area and preach the “good news” about the kingdom of God, as well as his fame was growing and people were searching him out.

Some have said that Jesus could foresee that this healed man was going to disobey him and was therefore angered.  By this man’s disobedience, Jesus was going to have difficulty with spreading the gospel unhindered.

“shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.”

Jesus not only told the man to keep it quite, but also to go and show himself to his priest and make an offering according to the Law of Moses.  According to the law, the only person that could pronounce a person free of the disease was a priest and that only after the ceremony was completed.[4] The importance in this case is that the person healed was a leper.  It appears to have been the first case of the kind which had occurred and hence the great excitement which it occasioned.

“But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.”

You really can’t blame the man.  He had just been released from a deadly disease and he wanted to tell everyone that he knew and that he passed by.  Remember his appearance would still give cause to fear him.  But he was showing everyone.  The news carried so fast that Jesus could no longer enter into Capernaum.

Conclusion

We have read and studied in the first chapter of Mark about John the Baptist and Jesus’ ministry.  We saw John baptize Jesus and Jesus sent into the desert to be tempted and did not sin.  We were then introduced to the first four disciples and a little about their backgrounds.  We have seen Simon begin as the leader of the group and Jesus has shown us the importance of getting time alone to pray.  We have seen Jesus heal, cast out unclean spirits, and we end the chapter with Him cleansing a leper.

I told you that Mark was going to get us started very quickly!  Chapter two is next.

ã 2002 bobsbiblestudies