Jesus was able to heal by a touch

JESUS WAS ABLE TO HEAL BY A TOUCH
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Mark 1:40-4240A man with leprosycame to him and
begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can
make me clean."41Jesus was indignant. He reached
out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he
said. "Be clean!" 42Immediatelythe leprosy left him
and he was cleansed.
The Lord And The Leper BY SPURGEON
“And there came a leper to Him, beseeching Him and kneeling down to
Him and saying unto Him, if You will, You can make me clean. And
Jesus, movedwith compassion, put forth His hand and touched him and
said unto him, I will, Be you clean. And as soonas He had spoken,
immediately the leprosy departed from him and he was cleansed.”
Mark 1:40-42
BELOVED, we saw in the reading that our Lord had been engagedin special
prayer. He had gone alone on the mountainside to have communion with God.
Simon and the rest searchfor Him and He comes awayin the early morning
with the burrs from the hillside upon His garments, the smell of the field upon
Him, even of a field that the Lord God had blessed. He comes forth among the
people, chargedwith power which He had receivedin communion with His
Father. And now we may expect to see wonders. And we do see them. For
devils fear and fly when He speaks the Word.

And by-and-by, one comes to Him–an extraordinary being, condemned to live
apart from the rest of men–lesthe should spread defilement all around. A
leper comes to Him and kneels before Him and expresses confidentfaith in
Him that He can make him whole. Now is the Sonof Man glorious in His
powerto save.
The Lord Jesus Christ at this day has all power in Heaven and in earth. He is
chargedwith a Divine energy to bless all who come to Him for healing. Oh,
that we may see today some greatwonder of His powerand grace!Oh, for one
of the days of the Sonof Man here and now! To that end it is absolutely
needful that we should find a case forHis spiritual powerto work upon. Is
there not one here in whom His grace may prove its omnipotence? Not you,
you good, you selfrighteous!You yield Him no space to work in. You that are
whole have no need of a physician–in you there is no opportunity for Him to
display His miraculous force.
But yonder are the men we seek for. Forlorn and lost, full of evil and self-
condemned, you are the characters we seek. Youthat feel as if you were
possessedwith evil spirits and you that are leprous with sin–you are the
persons in whom Jesus will find ample room and space enoughfor the display
of His holy skill. Of you I might say, as He once said of the man born blind–
you are here that the works ofGod may be manifest in you. You, with your
guilt and your depravity–you furnish the empty vessels into which His grace
may be poured–the sick souls upon whom He may display His matchless
powerto bless and save. Be hopeful, then, you sinful ones!Look up this
morning for the Lord’s approachand expect that even in you, He will work
greatmarvels.
This leper shall be a picture–yes, I hope a mirror–in whom you will see
yourselves. I do pray that as I go over the details of this miracle many here
may put themselves in the leper’s place and do just as the leper did and
receive, just as the leper received, cleansing from the hand of Christ. O Spirit
of the living God, the thousands of our Israelnow entreat You to work, that
Jesus, the Son of God, may be glorified here and now!
1. I will begin my rehearsalof the Gospelnarrative by remarking, first,
that THIS LEPER’S FAITH MADE HIM EAGER TO BE HEALED.
He was a leper. I will not stop just now to describe what horrors are
compactedinto that single word. But he believed that Jesus could
cleanse him and his belief stirred him to an anxious desire to be healed
at once.

Alas, We have to deal with spiritual lepers eatenup with the foul disease of
sin. But some of them do not believe that they ever canbe healedand the
consequence is that despair makes them sin most greedily. “I may as well be
hanged for a sheep as for a lamb,” is the inward impression of many a sinner
when he fears that there is no mercy and no help for him. Becausethere is no
hope they plunge deeperand yet deeperinto the slough of iniquity. Oh, that
you might be delivered from that false idea! Mercystill rules the hour. There
is hope while Jesus sends His Gospelto you and bids you repent.
“I believe in the forgiveness ofsins”–this is a sweetsentence ofa true creed. I
believe also in the renewalof men’s hearts. For the Lord can give new hearts
and right spirits to the evil and unthankful. I would that you believed it. For if
you did, I trust it would quicken you into seeking that your sins might be
forgiven and your minds might be renewed. Do you believe it? Then come to
Jesus and receive the blessings of free grace.
We have a number of lepers who come in among us whose disease is white
upon their brows and visible to all beholders and yet they are indifferent–they
do not mourn their wickedness, norwish to be cleansedfrom it. They sit
among God’s people and they listen to the doctrine of a new birth and the
news of pardon and they hear the teaching as though it had nothing to do with
them. If now and then they half wish that salvationwould come to them, it is
too languid a wish to last. They have not yet so perceivedtheir disease and
their danger as to pray to be delivered from them.
They sleepon upon the bed of sloth and care neither for Heaven nor Hell.
Indifference to spiritual things is the sin of the age. Menare stolid of heart
about eternal realities. An awful apathy is upon the multitude. The leper in
our text was not so foolish as this. He eagerlydesiredto be delivered from his
dreadful malady–with heart and soulhe pined to be cleansedfrom its terrible
defilement. Oh that it were so with you! May the Lord make you feelhow
depraved your heart is and how diseasedwith sin are all the faculties of your
soul! Alas, dear Friends–there are some that even love their leprosy! Is it not a
sad thing to have to speak thus? Surely, madness is in men’s hearts. Men do
not wish to be savedfrom doing evil. They love the ways and wagesof
iniquity.
They would like to go to Heaven but they must have their drunken frolics on
the road. They would very well like to be savedfrom Hell but not from the sin
which is the cause of it. Their notion of salvation is not to be savedfrom the
love of evil and to be made pure and clean. But that is God’s meaning when
He speaks ofsalvation. How can they hope to be the slaves of sin and yet at the
same time be free? Our first necessityis to be savedfrom sinning. The very

name of Jesus tells us that–He is calledJesus, because“He shall save His
people from their sins.” These persons do not care for a salvationwhich would
mean self-denial and the giving up of ungodly lusts.
O wretched lepers, that count their leprosyto be a beauty and take pleasure in
sin which in the sight of God is far more loathsome than the worstdisease of
the body! Oh, that Christ Jesus would come and change their views of things
until they were of the same mind as God towards sin. And you know He calls
it, “that abominable thing which I hate.” Oh, if men could see their love to
wrong things to be a disease more sickening than leprosy they would gladly be
savedand savedat once!Holy Spirit, convict of sin, that sinners may be eager
to be cleansed!
Lepers were obligedto consorttogether–lepers associatedwith lepers and
they must have made up a dreadful confraternity. How glad they would have
been to escape from it! But I know spiritual lepers who love the company of
their fellow lepers. Yes, and the more leprous a man becomes, the more do
they admire him. A bold sinner is often the idol of his comrades. Thoughfoul
is his life, others cling to him for that very reason. Suchpersons like to learn
some new bit of wickedness–theyare eagerto be initiated into a yet darker
form of impure pleasure. Oh how they long to hear that last lascivious song–to
read that lastimpure novel!
It seems to be the desire of many to know as much evil as they can. They flock
togetherand take a dreadful pleasure in talk and actionwhich is the horror of
all pure minds. Strange lepers that heap up leprosy as a treasure!Even those
who do not go into gross opensin are pleasedwith infidel notions and
skepticalopinions–whichare a wretchedform of mental leprosy. O horrible
malady, which makes men doubt the Word of the living God! Lepers were not
allowedto associate withhealthy persons exceptunder severe restrictions.
Thus were they separatedfrom their nearestand dearestfriends.
What a sorrow!Alas, I know persons thus separatedwho do not wish to
associate withthe godly–to them holy company is dull and wearisome. They
do not feel free and easyin such societyand therefore they avoid it as much as
decencyallows. How can they hope to live with saints forever when they shun
them now as dull and moping acquaintances?
O my Hearers, I have come here this morning in the hope that God would
bless the Word to some poor sinner who feels he is a sinner and would rather
be cleansed–suchis the leper I am seeking with my whole heart. I pray God to
bless the Word to those who wish to escape from evil company–who would no
longersit in the assemblyof the mockers–norrun in the paths of the unholy.

To those who have grownwearyof their sinful companions and would escape
from them, lestthey should be bound up in bundles with them to burn at the
last greatday–to such I speak this time with a loving desire for their salvation.
I hope my word will come with Divine application to some poor heart here
that is crying, “I wish I might be numbered conqueredso that I could have
fellowship with the godly and be myself one of them!” I hope my Lord has
brought to this place just such lost ones, that He may find them. I am looking
out for them with tearful eyes. But my feeble eyes cannotread inward
character. And it is well that the loving Saviorwho discerns the secrets ofall
hearts and reads all inward desire is looking from the watchtowersofHeaven,
that He may discoverthose who are coming to Him–even though as yet they
are a greatway off.
Oh that sinners may now beg and pray to be rescuedfrom their sins! May
those who have become habituated to evil long to break off their evil habits!
Happy will the preacherbe if he finds himself surrounded with penitents who
hate their sins and guilty ones who cry to be forgiven and to be so changed
that they shall go and sin no more.
II. In the secondplace, let us remark that THIS LEPER’S FAITH WAS
STRONG ENOUGHTO MAKE HIM BELIEVE THAT HE COULD BE
HEALED OF HIS HIDEOUS DISEASE.
Leprosy was an unutterably loathsome disease. As it exists, even now, it is
describedby those who have seenit in such a way that I will not harrow your
feelings by repeating all the sickening details. The following quotation may be
more than sufficient. Dr. Thomson in his famous work, “The Land and the
Book,” speaksoflepers in the Eastand says, “The hair falls from the head
and eye-brows. The nails loosen, decayand drop off. Joint after joint of the
fingers and toes shrink up and slowlyfall away. The gums are absorbedand
the teeth disappear. The nose, the eyes, the tongue and the palate are slowly
consumed.”
This disease turns a man into a mass of loathsomeness–a walking pile of pests.
Leprosy is nothing better than a horrible and lingering death. The leper in the
narrative before us had sad personalexperience of this and yet he believed
that Jesus couldcleanse him. Splendid faith! Oh that you who are afflicted
with moral and spiritual leprosy could believe in this fashion! Jesus Christ of
Nazarethcan heal even you. Over the horror of leprosyfaith triumphed. Oh,
that in your case, it would overcome the terribleness of sin!
Leprosy was knownto be incurable. There was no case ofa man being cured
of real leprosy by any medical or surgicaltreatment. This made the cure of

Naamanin former ages so noteworthy. Observe, moreover, that our Savior
Himself, so far as I cansee, had never healed a leper up to the moment when
this poor wretchappeared upon the scene. He had cured fever and had cast
out devils but the cure of leprosy was, in the Savior’s life, as yet an
unexampled thing. Yet this man, putting this and that togetherand
understanding something of the nature and characterofthe Lord Jesus
Christ, believed that He could cure him of his incurable disease.He felt that
even if the greatLord had not yet healedleprosy, He was assuredlycapable of
doing so greata deed and he determined to apply to Him.
Was not this grand faith? Oh, that such faith could be found among my
hearers at this hour! Here me, O trembling Sinner–if you are as full of sin this
morning as an egg is full of meat–Jesus canremove it all. If your propensities
to sin are as untamable as the wild boar of the wood, yet Jesus Christ, the
Lord of All, cansubdue your iniquities and make you the obedient servant of
His love. Jesus canturn the lion into a lamb and He cando it NOW!He can
transform you where you are sitting, saving you in yonder pew while I am
speaking the Word. All things are possible to the Savior God. And all things
are possible to him that believes. I wish you had such a faith as this leper had,
although if it were even less it might serve your turn, since you have not all his
difficulties to contend with.
Since Jesus has already savedmany sinners like yourself and changedmany
hearts as hard as yours, if He shall regenerate you, He will be doing for you no
strange thing but only one of the daily miracles of His Divine Grace. He has
now healedthousands of your fellow lepers–canyou not believe that He can
heal the leprosy in you?
This man had a marvelous faith–to believe while he was personally the victim
of the mortal malady. It is one thing to trust a doctor when you are well, but
quite another to confide in him when your body is rotting away. For a real,
conscious sinnerto trust the Savioris no mean thing. When you hope that
there is some goodthing in you it is easyto be confident. But to be conscious
of total ruin and yet to believe in the Divine remedy–this is real faith. To see in
the sunshine is mere natural vision. But to see in the dark needs the eye of
faith! To believe that Jesus has savedyou when you see the signs of it is the
result of reason. But to trust Him to cleanse youwhile you are still defiled
with sin–this is the essence ofsaving faith.
The leprosy was firmly seatedand fully developed in this man. Luke says that
he was “full of leprosy”–he had as much of the poisonin him as one poor body
could contain. It had come to its worst stagesin him. And yet he believed that
Jesus ofNazareth could make him clean. Glorious confidence!O my Hearer,

if you are full of sin, if your propensities and habits have become as bad as
bad canbe, I pray the Holy spirit to give you Divine Grace and renew you and
do it at once. With one Word of His mouth Jesus canturn your death into life,
your corruption into comeliness.Changeswhich we cannot work in others,
much less in ourselves, Jesus,by His invincible Spirit can work in the hearts
of the ungodly.
Of these stones he can raise up children unto Abraham. His moral and
spiritual miracles are often workedupon caseswhichseem beyond all hope–
caseswhich pity itself endeavors to forget because herefforts have been so
long in vain. I like best about this man’s faith the fact that he did not merely
believe that Jesus Christ could cleanse a leper but that He could cleanse him!
He said, “Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.” It is very easyto believe
for other people. There is really no faith in such impersonal, proxy confidence.
The true faith believes for itself first, and then for others.
Oh, I know some of you are saying, “I believe that Jesus cansave my brother.
I believe that He can save the vilest of the vile. If I heard that He had saved
the biggestdrunkard in Southward I should not wonder.” Can you believe all
this, and yet fearthat He cannotsave you? This is strange inconsistency. If He
heals another man’s leprosy, can He not heal your leprosy? If one drunkard is
saved, why not another? If in one man a passionate temperis subdued, why
not in another? If lust and covetousness, and lying and pride have been cured
in many men, why not in you? Even if you are a blasphemer, blasphemy has
been cured–why should it not be so in your case?
Jesus Christ canheal you of that particular form of sin which possesses you,
howeverhigh a degree its powermay have reached. Nothing is too hard for
the Lord. Jesus canchange and cleanse youNOW. In a moment He can
impart a new life and commence a new character. Canyou believe this? This
is the faith which glorified Jesus and brought healing to this leper. And it is
the faith which will save you at once if you now exercise it. O Spirit of the
living God, work this faith in the minds of my dear hearers that they may thus
win their suit with the Lord Jesus and go their wayhealed of the plague of sin!
III. Now, notice, thirdly, that this man’s faith WAS FIXED ON JESUS
CHRIST ALONE. Let me read the man’s words again. He said unto Jesus, “If
You will, You can make me clean.” Throw the emphasis upon the pronouns.
See him kneeling before the Lord Jesus and hear him say, “If You will, You
can make me clean.” He has no idea of looking to the disciples–no, notto one
of them or to all of them. He had no notion of trusting in a measure to the
medicine which physicians would prescribe for him. All that is gone. No
dream of other hope remains. But with his eye fully fixed on the blessed

Miracle-workerofNazareth, he cries, “If YOU will, YOU canmake me
clean.”
In himself he had no shade of confidence. Every delusion of that kind had
been banished by a fierce experience of his disease. He knew that none on
earth could deliver him and that by no innate powerof constitution could he
throw out the poison. But he confidently believed that the Son of God could,
by Himself, effectthe cure. This was God-given faith–the faith of God’s elect
and Jesus was its sole Object.
How came this man to have such faith? I cannot tell you the outward means
but I think we may guess without presumption. Had he not heard our Lord
preach? Matthew puts this story immediately after the Sermon on the Mount
and says, “WhenHe was come down from the mountain, greatmultitudes
followedHim. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped Him, saying,
Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.” Had this man managed to stand at
the edge of the crowd and hear Jesus speak–anddid those wondrous words
convince him that the great Teacherwas something more than man?
As he noted the style and manner and matter of that marvelous sermon, did
he say within himself, “never man spoke like this man. Truly He is the Son of
God. I believe in Him. I trust Him. He can cleanse me”? MayGod bless the
preaching of Christ crucified to you who hear me this day! Is not this used of
the Lord and made to be the powerof Godunto salvation to everyone that
believes?
Perhaps this man had seenour Lord’s miracles. I feel sure he had. He had
seenthe devils castout and had heard of Peter’s mother-in-law, who had lain
sick of a fever and had been instantaneouslyrecovered. The leper might very
properly argue–“Todo this requires omnipotence.” And once granted that
omnipotence is at work, then omnipotence canas well dealwith leprosy as
with fever. Did he not reasonwell if he argued thus–“Whatthe Lord has done,
He can do again–ifin one case He has displayed almighty power, He can
display that same powerin another case”?Thus would the acts of the Lord
corroborate His Words and furnish a sure foundation for the leper’s hope.
My Hearer, have you not seenJesus save others? Have you not at leastread of
His miracles of Divine Grace? BelieveHim, then, for His works'sake, andsay
to Him, “Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.”
Besides, Ithink this man may have heard something of the story of Christ and
may have been familiar with the Old Testamentprophecies concerning the
Messiah. We cannottell, but some disciple may have informed him of John’s
witness concerning the Christ and of the signs and tokens which supported

John’s testimony. He may thus have discerned in the Son of Man, the Messiah
of God–the Incarnate Deity. At any rate, as knowledge mustcome before
faith, he had receivedknowledge enoughto feelthat he could trust this
glorious Personageandto believe that, if He willed it, Jesus could make him
clean.
O my dear Hearers, cannotyou trust the Lord Jesus Christ in this way? Do
you not believe–I hope you do–that He is the Son of God? And if so, why not
trust Him? He that was born of Mary at Bethlehem was God over all, blessed
forever! Do you not believe this? Why, then, do you not rely upon Godin your
trouble? You believe in His consecratedlife, His suffering death, His
resurrection, His ascension, His sitting in powerat the right hand of the
Father–whydo you not trust Him? God has highly exalted Him and causedall
fullness to dwell in Him–He is able to save unto the uttermost–why do you not
come to Him?
Believe that He is able and then with all your sins before you, red like scarlet–
and with all your sinful habits and your evil propensities before you,
ingrained like the leopard’s spots–believe thatthe Savior of men canat once
make you whiter than snow as to past guilt and free from the present and
future tyranny of evil. A Divine Saviormust be able to cleanse youfrom all
sin. Only Jesus cando it–and He cando it–do it Himself alone, do it now, do it
in you, do it with a Word.
If Jesus wills to do it, it is all that is needed–forHis will is the will of the
Almighty Lord. Say, “Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.” Faith must
be fixed alone on Jesus. No other name is given among men whereby we must
be saved. I do pray the Lord to give that faith to all my dear friends present
this morning who as yet have not receivedcleansing at the Lord’s hands.
Jesus is God’s ultimatum of salvation–the unique hope of guilty men both as
to pardon and renewal. AcceptHim now.
IV. Now let me go a step further–THIS MAN’S FAITH HAD RESPECT TO
A REAL MATTER-OF-FACT CURE. He did not think of the Lord Jesus
Christ as a priest who would perform certain ceremonies overhim and
formally say, “You are clean.” Forthat would not have been true. He wanted
really to be delivered from the leprosy. To have those dry scalesinto which his
skin kept turning, taken all away. That his flesh might become as the flesh of a
little child. He wanted that the rottenness, which was eating up his body,
should be stopped–andthat health should be actually restored.
Friends, it is easyenoughto believe in a mere priestly absolution if you have
enough credulity. But we need more than this. It is very easyto believe in

Baptismal regenerationbut what is the goodof it? What practical result does
it produce? A child remains the same after it has been baptismally
regeneratedas it was before and it grows up to prove it. It is easyto believe in
Sacramentarianismif you are foolishenough. But there is nothing in it when
you believe in it. No sanctifying powercomes with outward ceremonials in and
of themselves. To believe that the Lord Jesus Christ can make us love the good
things which once we despisedand shun those evil things in which we once
took pleasure–this is to believe in Him, indeed. Jesus cantotally change the
nature and make a sinner into a saint. This is faith of a practicalkind. This is
a faith worth having.
None of us would imagine that this leper meant that the Lord Jesus could
make him feel comfortable in remaining a leper. Some seemto fancy that
Jesus came to let us go on in our sins with a quiet conscience. ButHe did
nothing of the kind. His salvationis cleansing from sin and if we love sin we
are not savedfrom it. We cannot have justification without sanctification.
There is no use in quibbling about it. There must be a change–a radical
change, a change of heart–orelse we are not saved. I put it now to you, Do you
desire a moral and a spiritual change, a change of life, thought and motive?
This is what Jesus gives. Justas this leper needed a thorough physical change
so do you need an entire renewalof your spiritual nature so as to become a
new creature in Jesus Christ. Oh that many here would desire this, for it
would be a cheering sign. The man who desires to be pure is beginning to be
pure. The man who sincerely longs to conquer sin has already struck the first
blow. The powerof sin is shakenin that man who looks to Jesus for
deliverance from it. The man who frets under the yoke of sin will not long be a
slave to it. If he canbelieve that Jesus Christis able to sethim free, he shall
soonquit his bondage. Some sins which have hardened down into habits will
yet disappearin a moment when Jesus Christlooks upon a man in love.
I have known many instances ofpersons who, for many years, had never
spokenwithout an oath, or a filthy expression, who, being converted, have
never been known to use such language again–andhave scarcelyeverbeen
tempted in that direction. This is one of the sins which seemto die at the first
shot and it is a very wonderful thing it should be so. Others I have known so
altered at once that the very propensity which was strongestin them has been
the lastto annoy them afterwards–theyhave had such a reversion of the
mind’s action. While other sins have worried them for years and they have
had to seta strict watchagainstthem–yet their favorite and dominant sin has
never again had the slightestinfluence over them–exceptto excite an outburst
of horror and deep repentance.

Oh, that you had faith in Jesus that He could thus castdown and castout your
reigning sins! Believe in the conquering arm of the Lord Jesus and He will do
it. Conversionis the standing miracle of the Church. Where it is genuine, it is
as cleara proof of Divine power going with the Gospelas was the casting out
of devils, or eventhe raising of the dead in our Lord’s day. We see these
conversions still. And we have proof that Jesus is able to work greatmoral
marvels still. O my Hearer, where are you? Canyou not believe that Jesus is
able to make a new man of you? O Brothers and Sisters who have been saved,
I entreat you to breathe a prayer at this time for those who are not yet
cleansedfrom the foul disease ofsin. Pray that they may have grace to believe
in the Lord Jesus for purification of heart, pardon of sin and the implantation
of eternal life. Then when faith is given the Lord Jesus will work their
sanctificationand none shall effectually hinder. In silence let us pray for a
moment. (Here there was a pause and silent prayer went up to Heaven).
1. And now we will go another step–THIS MAN’S FAITH WAS
ATTENDED WITHWHAT APPEARS TO BE A HESITANCY. But
after thinking it over a gooddeal, I am hardly inclined to think it such a
hesitancyas many have judged it to be. He said, “If You will, You can
make me clean.” There was an“if” in this speechand that “if” has
arousedthe suspicions ofmany preachers. Some think it supposes that
he doubted our Lord’s willingness. I hardly think that the language
justly bears so harsh a construction.
What he meant may have been this–“Lord, I do not know yet that You are
sent to heal lepers. I have not seenthat You have ever done so. But, still, if it is
within the compass ofYour commission, I believe You will do it and assuredly
You can if You will. You canheal not only some lepers but me in particular–
You can make me clean.” Now, I think this was a legitimate thing for him to
say, as he had not seena leper healed–“Ifit is within the compass of Your
commission, I believe You can make me whole.”
Moreover, I admire in this text the deference which the leper pays to the
sovereigntyof Christ’s will as to the bestowalofHis gifts. “If You will, You
can make me clean”–asmuch as to say, “I know You have a right to distribute
these greatfavors exactlyas You please. I have no claim upon You. I cannot
say that You are bound to make me clean. I appeal to Your pity and free
favor. The matter remains with Your will.” The man had never read the text
which says, “It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs but of God that
shows mercy,” for it was not yet written. But he had in his mind the humble
spirit suggestedby that grand Truth. He ownedthat Divine Grace must come
as a free gift of God’s goodpleasure when he said, “Lord, if You will.”

Beloved, we need never raise a question as to the Lord’s will to give grace
when we have the will to receive it. But still, I would have every sinner feel
that he has no claim upon God for anything. O Sinner, if the Lord should give
you up, as He did the heathen describedin the first chapter of the Epistle to
the Romans, you deserve it. If He should never look upon you with an eye of
love, what could you sayagainstHis righteous sentence? Youhave willfully
sinned and you deserve to be left in your sin. Confessing allthis, we still cling
to our firm belief in the powerof Divine Grace and cry, “Lord, if You will,
You can.” We appeal to our Savior’s pitying love, relying upon His boundless
power.
See, also, how the leper, to my mind, really speaks withoutany hesitancy, if
you understand him. He does not say, “Lord, if You put out Your hand, You
can make me clean.” Nor, “Lord, if You speak, you can make me clean.” But
only, “Lord, if You will, You can make me clean”–Yourmere will cando it.
Oh, splendid faith! If you are inclined to spy a little halting in it, I would have
you admire it for running so well with a lame foot. If there was a weakness
anywhere in his faith–still it was so strong that the weaknessonly manifests its
strength.
Sinner, it is so. And I pray God that your heart may graspit–if the Lord wills
it He canmake you clean. Do you believe this? If so, carry out practically
what your faith will suggestto you–namely, that you come to Jesus and plead
with Him and getfrom Him the cleansing which you need. To that end I am
hoping to lead you, as the Holy Spirit shall enable me.
VI. In the sixth place, notice that THIS MAN’S FAITH HAD EARNEST
ACTION FLOWING OUT OF IT. Believing that, if Jesus willed, He could
make him clean, what did the leper do? At once he came to Jesus. I know not
from what distance, but he came as near to Jesus as he could. Then we read
that he besoughtHim. That is to say, he pleaded and pleaded and pleaded
again. He cried, “Lord, cleanse me! Lord heal my leprosy!” Norwas this all.
He fell on his knees and worshipped. Forwe read, “Kneeling down to Him.”
He not only knelt but knelt to Jesus. He had no difficulty as to paying Him
Divine honor. He worshipped the Lord Christ, paying Him reverent homage.
He then went on to honor Him by an open acknowledgmentofHis power, His
marvelous power, His infinite power, by saying, “Lord, if You will, You can
make me clean.” I should not wonder if some that stoodby beganto smile at
what they thought was the poor man’s fanaticalcredulity. They murmured,
“What a poor foolthis leper is, to think that Jesus of Nazarethcan cure him of
his leprosy!” Such a confessionoffaith had seldombeen heard. But whatever

critics and skeptics might think, this brave man boldly declared, “Lord, this is
my confessionoffaith–I believe that if You will, You canmake me clean.”
Now, poor Soul, you that are full of guilt and hardened in sin and yet anxious
to be healed–lookstraightawayto the Lord Jesus Christ. He is here now. In
the preaching of the GospelHe is with us always. With the eyes of your mind,
behold Him, for He beholds you. You know that He lives even though you see
Him not. Believe in this living Jesus. Believe forperfect cleansing. Cry to Him,
worship Him, adore Him, trust Him. He is very God of very God. Bow before
Him and castyourselfupon His mercy. Go home and on your knees say,
“Lord, I believe that You can make me clean.” He will hear your cry and will
save you. There will be no interval betweenyour prayer and the gracious
reward of faith, of which I now speak.
III. Lastly, HIS FAITH HAD ITS REWARD. Have patience with me just a
minute. The reward of this man’s faith was, first, that his very words were
treasuredup. Matthew, Mark, Luke–allthree of them record the precise
words which this man used–“Lord, if You will, You canmake me clean.”
They evidently did not see so much to find fault with in them as some have
done–onthe contrary, they thought them gems to be placed in the setting of
their Gospels. Three times over are they recorded, because theyare such a
splendid confessionoffaith for a poor diseasedleperto have made. I believe
that God is as much glorified by that one sentence of the leper as by the song
of Cherubim and Seraphim, when they continually cry, “Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God of Sabaoth.”
A sinner’s lips declaring his confident faith in God’s own Soncan breathe
sonnets unto God more sweetthan those of the angelic choirs. This man’s first
words of faith are folded up in the fair linen of three Evangels and laid up in
the treasury of the House of the Lord. Godvalues the language of humble
confidence.
His next rewardwas that Jesus echoedhis words. He said, “Lord, if You will,
You can make me clean.” And Jesus said, “I will, be you clean.” As an echo
answers to the voice, so did Jesus to His supplicant. The Lord Jesus was so
pleasedwith this man’s words that He caughtthem as they leapedout of his
mouth and used them Himself, saying, “I will, be you clean.”
If you can only get, then, as far as this leper’s confession, I believe that our
Lord Jesus from His Throne above, will answeryour prayer. So potent were
the words of this leper that they moved our Lord very wonderfully. Readthe
forty-first verse–“And Jesus, movedwith compassion.”The Greek wordhere
used, if I were to pronounce it in your hearing, would half suggestits own

meaning. It expresses a stirring of the entire manhood, a commotion in all the
inward parts. The heart and all the vitals of the man are in active movement.
The Saviorwas greatly moved.
You have seena man moved, have you not? When a strong man is unable any
longerto restrain himself and is forced to give way to his feelings, you have
seenhim tremble all over and at last burst out into an evident break-down. It
was just so with the Savior–His pity moved Him–His delight in the leper’s
faith masteredHim. When He heard the man speak with such confidence in
Him, the Savior was moved with a sacredpassion, which, as it was in
sympathy with the leper, is called“compassion.” Oh, to think that a poor
leper should have such powerover the Divine Son of God! Yet, my Hearer, in
all your sin and misery–if you canbelieve in Jesus–youcanmove the heart of
your blessedSavior. Yes, even now His heart yearns towards you.
No soonerwas our Lord Jesus thus moved than out went His hand and He
touched the man and healed him immediately. It did not require a long time
for the working of the cure. But the leper’s blood was cooledand cleansedin a
single second. Our Lord could work this miracle and make all things new in
the man. For “all things were made by Him. And without Him was not
anything made that was made.” He restoredthe poor, decaying, putrefying
body of this man and he was cleansedatonce. To make him quite sure that he
was cleansedthe Lord Jesus bade him go to the priest and seek a certificate of
health. He was so cleanthat he might be examined by the appointed sanitary
authority and come off without suspicion.
The cure which he had receivedwas a real and radicalone and therefore he
might go awayat once and getthe certificate of it. If our converts will not bear
practicaltests, they are worth nothing. Let even our enemies judge whether
they are not better men and women when Jesus has renewedthem. If Jesus
saves a sinner, he does not mind all men testing the change. Our converts will
bear the test. Come here, angels!Come here, pure intelligences, able to
observe men in secret!Here is a wretchof a sinner who came here this
morning. He seemedfirst cousinto the devil. But the Lord Jesus Christ has
convertedhim and changedhim. Now look at him, angels. Look at him at
home in his chamber!
Watch him in private life. We can read your verdict. “There is joy in the
presence ofthe angels of God overone sinner that repents.” And this proves
what you think. It is such a wonderful change and angels are so sure of it, that
they give their certificates atonce. How do they give their certificates?Why,
eachone manifests his joy as he sees the sinner turning from his sinful ways.
Oh, that the angels might have work of this kind to do this morning! Dear

Hearer, may you be one over whom they rejoice!If you believe on Jesus
Christ and if you will trust Him as the sentOne of God–fully and entirely with
your soul–He will make you clean.
Behold Him on the Cross and see sin put away. Behold Him risen from the
dead and see new life bestowed. BeholdHim enthroned in power and see evil
conquered. I am ready to be bound for my Lord, to be His surety, that if you,
my Hearer, will come to Him, He will make you clean. Believe your Savior
and your cure is final. Godhelp you, for Jesus Christ’s sake!Amen. Portion
Of Scripture ReadBefore Sermon–Mark 1:16-45.HYMNS FROM“OUR
OWN HYMN BOOK”–428, 602, 546.
MARK 1:41 BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Leper's Petition
Mark 1:40-45
A.F. Muir
I. THE GENERALWORK OF CHRIST, WHEN IT IS KNOWN,
ENCOURAGES THE MOST FORLORN AND DESPERATE. (Cf. ver. 39.)
The nature of leprosyand the law concerning it.
II. SINCERE FAITH, EVEN WHEN IMPERFECT, EVER MEETS WITH
THE SYMPATHY AND HELP OF CHRIST. "If thou wilt, thou canst." He
believed in his power, but was uncertain as to his willingness. The spirit of the
Saviour was therefore concealedfrom him. Yet Christ answeredhis prayer.
(There is no evidence that the leper identified the will with the power.)
III. CHRIST'S METHOD OF RESTORATIONIS ADAPTED TO THE
SPECIAL MORAL CONDITION OF THE SUBJECT OF HIS MERCY. It
was his sympathy and willingness that had to be demonstratedto the poor
leper. This is done by the assurance,"Iwill;" and the touch (braving
ceremonialdefilement and physical repugnance). So, in saving men from their
sins, their defects of characterand experience are met by specialrevelations
and mercies. A complete and perfect faith in Christ is the evidence and
guarantee of perfectsalvation.
IV. SPECIAL EXPERIENCES OF DIVINE GRACE DO NOT FREE FROM
LESSER DUTIES, BUT RATHER INCREASE THEIR OBLIGATION. The

Law was to be honored. Civil and religious obligations were enjoined. There
was a public use in the rules that were imposed, and it was well they should be
observed.
V. MERCYMAY BE RECEIVED WITHOUT ITS OBLIGATIONS BEING
FULLY REALIZED OR OBSERVED.The leper was cured, but not perfectly.
He had not learned the obedience of faith. His inattention to Christ's request
createda serious inconvenience and hindrance in prosecuting the work of
salvationamongstothers. Those who have receivedbenefits from Christ
should attend implicitly to all that he enjoins. "Ye are my friends, if ye do the
things Which I command you" (John 15:14). The spiritual blessings ofChrist
are dependent on perfectsubjection to his will. - M.
Biblical Illustrator
And there came a leper to Him, beseeching Him.
Mark 1:40-45
The cured leper still rebellious
D. Davies, M. A.
I. HIS DISEASE.
II. HIS APPLICATION.
1. We have here an intelligent appreciation of Christ as the Healer.
2. We have an instance of genuine earnestness.
3. We see here the marks of true humility.
4. A sample of prayer for a specialgift.

5. But here is illustrated a very unworthy conceptionof Christ's love.
III. HIS CURE — "Jesus spakeand it was done."
1. His method bears proof of Divinity — "I will, be thou clean."
2. The cure was instantaneous.
3. It was complete.
4. The cure must have been welcome.
IV. HIS OBLIGATION.
1. That obligationcoveredthe whole area of his life.
2. The healer always becomes the sovereign. He who commanded the disease,
commanded the patient also.
3. The requirement of Christ was founded in solid reason.
4. The obligation involved public acknowledgmentand substantial gift.
V. HIS CONTUMACY.
1. Complete redemption is not obtained until the will is subdued.
2. This man's contumacy was thoughtless.
3. This contumacywas fraught with disastrous effects.
(D. Davies, M. A.)
The approachof a needy life to Christ
J. S. Exell, M. A.
I. THE DEEP NEED OF THIS MAN'S LIFE — "And there came a leper
unto Him."
1. It was a need that filled the life of this man with intense misery.
2. It was a need from which no human remedy could give relief.
3. It was a need that brought him into immediate contactwith Christ.
II. THE MANNER IN WHICH THIS NEEDYLIFE APPROACHED THE
SAVIOUR.
1. His appeal to Christ was characterizedby a truthful apprehension of his
need.
2. His appeal to Christ was characterizedby an acknowledgmentof the Divine
sovereignty.
3. His appeal to Christ was characterizedby great earnestness.

4. His appeal to Christ was characterizedby deep humility.
5. His appeal to Christ was characterizedby simple faith.
III. THE RESPONSE WHICH THE APPEAL OF THIS NEEDYLIFE
AWAKENED IN THE BENEFICENT HEART OF CHRIST.
1. It awakenedtender compassion.
2. It receivedthe touch of Divine power.
3. It attained a welcome and effective cure.Lessons:
1. That it is well for a needy life to approach Christ.
2. That a needy life should approach Christ with humility and faith.
3. The marvellous way in which Christ can supply the need of man.
(J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Christ's touch
A. McLaren, D. D.
I. WhateverDiviner and sacrederaspectthere may be in these incidents, the
first thing, and, in some senses, the most precious thing in them is that THEY
ARE THE NATURAL EXPRESSION OF A TRULY HUMAN
TENDERNESS AND COMPASSION. Itis the love of Christ Himself —
spontaneous, instinctive — without the thought of anything but the suffering
it sees — which gushes out and leads Him to put forth His hand to the outcast
beggars and lepers. True pity instinctively leads us to seek to come near those
who are its objects. Christ's pity is shown by His touch to have this true
characteristic oftrue pity, that it overcomes disgust;He is not turned away by
the shining whiteness of the leprosy. Christ loves us, and will not be turned
from His compassionby our most loathsome foulness.
II. We may regard the touch AS THE MEDIUM OF HIS MIRACULOUS
POWER. There is a royal variety in the method of our Lord's miracles; some
are wrought at a distance, some by a word or touch. The true cause in every
case is His own bare will. But this use of Christ's touch, as apparent means for
conveying His miraculous power, illustrates a principle which is exemplified
in all His revelation, namely, the employment, in condescensionto men's
weakness,ofoutward means as the apparent vehicles of His spiritual power.
Sacraments, outwardceremonies, forms of worship, are vehicles which the
Divine Spirit uses in order to bring His gifts to the hearts and the minds of
men. They are like the touch of Christ which heals, not by any virtue in itself,

apart from His will which choosesto make it the apparent medium of healing.
All these externals are nothing, as the pipes of an organare nothing, until His
breath is breathed through them, and then the flood of sweetsound pours out.
Do not despise the material vehicles and the outward helps which Christ uses
for the communication of His healing and His life, but remember that the help
that is done upon earth, He does it all Himself.
III. ConsiderChrist's touch AS A SHADOW AND SYMBOL OF THE VERY
HEART OF HIS WORK. Christ's touch was a Priest's touch. He lays His
hand on corruption and is not tainted. It becomes purity. This was His work
in the world — laying hold of the outcast — His sympathy leading to His
identification of Himself with us in our misery. That sympathetic life-long
touch is put forth once for all in His incarnation and death. Let our touch
answerto His; let the hand of faith graspHim.
IV. We may look upon these incidents as being A PATTERN FOR US. We
must be content to take lepers by the hand, to let the outcastfeelthe warmth
of our loving grasp if we would draw them into the Father's house.
(A. McLaren, D. D.)
Christ touches corruption without taint
A. McLaren, D. D.
Just as He touches the leper and is unpolluted, or the fever patient and
receives no contagion, or the dead and draws no chill of mortality into His
warm hand, so He becomes like His brethren in all things, yet without sin.
Being found in the likeness ofsinful flesh, He knows no sin, but wears His
manhood unpolluted, and dwells among men blameless and harmless, the Son
of God, without rebuke. Like a sunbeam passing through foul water
untarnished and unstained; or like some sweetSpring rising in the midst of
the saltsea, which yet retains its freshness and pours it over the surrounding
bitterness, so Christ takes upon Himself our nature and lays hold of our
stained hands with the hand that continues pure while it grasps us, and will
make us purer if we grasp it.
(A. McLaren, D. D.)
The cleansing ofthe leper
W. G. Barrett.
I. Let us put togetherthe FACTS of the case.

II. The principal LESSONS suggestedby this narrative.
1. Here is an illustration of the goodeffects of speaking aboutreligious truth
in connectionwith Christ. The fame of Christ was spreadabroad throughout
Syria, and found its way to the leper.
2. That doubts are no reasonwhy we should not go to Christ — "Lord, if thou
wilt," etc.
3. That no possible circumstances oughtto prevent our going to Christ for
salvation.
4. Christ's love and willingness to save is the greatidea of the gospel.
(W. G. Barrett.)
Cleansedby Christ
Sunday SchoolTimes.
A nun in an Italian convent once dreamed that an angelopenedher spiritual
eyes, and she saw all men as they were. They seemedso full of uncleanness
that she shrank back from them in horror. But just then Jesus Christ
appearedamong them with bleeding wounds, and the nun saw that whoever
pressedforward and touched the blood of Jesus, atonce became white as
snow. It is so in everyday life. It was Jesus who cleansedthat reformed
drunkard from the stain of his sin. Years ago he was poorand raggedand
unclean. Todayhe is cleanand healthy and well dressed;the grace ofChrist
has been manifestedin the cleansing of the outer as well as of the inner man.
(Sunday SchoolTimes.)
Cleansing of the leper
Expository Outlines.
I. THE PITIABLE OBJECTTHAT IS WERE PRESENTED.The malady
was one of the most distressing that ever seizeda human being. It was usually
regardedas produced by the immediate agencyofthe MostHigh. The rules
prescribed for its treatment were very minute and stringent. Among the many
immunities with which we are favoured in this happy land, may be reckoned
the entire absence ofleprosy. But if bodily leprosy is unknown among us,
spiritual leprosy is not.
1. It was hereditary.
2. A representationof sin in the consequenceswith which it was attended.

II. THE APPLICATION WHICH HE MADE.
1. It was earnest.
2. It was humble.
3. It expressedgreatconfidence in the Saviour's ability.
4. It indicated some doubt of His willingness to exert the power He possessed.
III. THE RESPONSE HE MET WITH.
1. The emotion which the Saviour felt — "Movedwith compassion."
2. The act He performed — "Put forth His hand, and touched him."
3. The words He uttered — "I will; be thou clean."
4. The effect produced — "The leprosydeparted from him."
IV. THE DIRECTIONS HE RECEIVED.
1. These instructions were necessary. The law enjoined that the priest should
pronounce the leper clean before he could enjoy the privileges — whether
social, civil, or religious — of which he had been deprived.
2. Howeverneedful these instructions may have been, the restoredleper, in
the fulness of his joy and gratitude, was unable to comply with them. See the
ability of Christ to save. A personalapplication to Him is necessary.
(Expository Outlines.)
Christ's relation to human suffering
A. G. Churchill.
Christ presentedto us in three aspects.
I. AS A WORKER — "He stretched forth His hand and touched him." This
act was —
1. Natural. The means employed were in harmony with His nature as a human
being. Christ felt His oneness with the race.
2. Profound. A common thing apparently, yet who can tell what power was in
that "touch." Doubtless there was the communication of a powerinvisible to
human eyes.
3. Beneficent. Here we have the cure of an incurable.
4. Prompt. The earnestappealobtained an immediate response. This was
characteristic ofChrist.
II. AS A SPEAKER. "And saith," etc. This shows —

1. His Divine authority — "I will." Such a fiat could have come only from the
lips of a Divine person — "Neverman spake," etc., "Withauthority He
commandeth," etc. (ver. 28).
2. His consciousnessofpower. Christ fully knew what power He possessed.
Not so with man; consequently how much latent energy lies dormant in the
Church of Christ.
3. His possessionofpower — "Be thou made clean." At the unfaltering tones
of Christ's voice all diseasesfled.
III. AS A HEALER — "And straightwaythe leprosydeparted," etc. This
healing was —
1. Instantaneous.
2. Perfect.
(A. G. Churchill.)
The Saviour and the leper
Andrew A. Bonar.
No one afflicted with this loathsome diseasewas allowedto enter the gates of
any city. In this case, however, the man's misery and earnestnessledhim to
make a dangerous experiment. Persuadedofthe Lord's powerto heal; longing
to put it to the test; almostsure of His willingness;he will rush into the city,
and ere ever the angry people have had time to recoverfrom their
astonishment at his boldness, he hopes to find himself cured and whole at the
feet of Jesus. There was both daring and doubting in his action. The man's
earnestnessis seenfurther in his manner.
1. He KNELT before the Lord, and next fell on his face — his attitude giving
emphasis to his words.
2. He BESOUGHT Jesus — in fear, in doubt, in secretdread lest the Lord
should see some reasonforwithholding the boon he craved, but yet in faith.
And his faith was great. He did not, like Martha, considerChrist's poweras
needing to be soughtfrom God; he believed it to be lodged already in Christ's
person; and he also believed His power to be great enoughto reacheven his
case, althoughas yet no leper had receivedhealing from Christ.
3. His faith was REWARDED. Jesus touchedhim — no pollution passing
from the leper to Him, but healing going from Him to the leper.

4. Instantly the leprosydeparted. Nothing is a barrier to the Lord's will and
power.
(Andrew A. Bonar.)
Leprosy
R. Glover.
As to this disease observe:heat, dryness, and dust, predispose to diseasesof
the skineverywhere, and all these causes are especiallyoperative in Syria.
Insufficient food assists theiraction; and boils and sores are apt to festerand
poison the system. Leprosy is a disease found over a large tract of the world's
surface;it is found all round the shores of the Mediterranean, from Syria to
Spain, in a virulent form, and in North and South Africa. It was carriedto
various countries in Europe by those who returned from the crusades, and
became prevalent even in England, in the times when our forefathers had no
butcher meat in winter but what was salted, and little vegetable diet with it. In
a form less virulent than in Palestine, it exists in Norway, where the
government supports severalhospitals for lepers, and seeksto prevent the
spread of the disease by requiring all afflicted with it to live — unmarried —
in one or other of these. Probably, salt fish in Norwayforms the too exclusive
food of the poor, as it also probably did in Palestine in the time of Christ. Mrs.
Brasseyfound it in the islands of the Pacific. It is so common in India that
when Lord Lawrence took formal possessionofOude, he made the people
promise not to burn their widows nor slay their children (the girls), nor bury
alive their lepers. It was a loathsome disease,eating awaythe joints,
enfeebling the strength, producing diseasesofthe lungs, almost always fatal,
though taking years to kill. It was the one disease whichthe Mosaic law
treated as unclean; perhaps, as being the chief disease, Godwishedto indicate
that all outward misery had originally its rootin sin. He that was afflicted
with it had to live apart from his fellows, and to cry out "unclean" when any
came near him; often, therefore, could do no work, but had to live on charity.
He was not permitted to enter a synagogue unless a part were speciallyrailed
off for him, and then he must be the first to enter and the last to quit the
place. It was as fatal as consumption is with us; much more painful;
loathsome as well, infecting the spirits with melancholy, and cutting the
sufferer off from tender sympathies and ministries when he most needed
them.
(R. Glover.)

The leper's prayer
R. Glover.
This prayer is very remarkable. Forobserve —
I. THE CASE WOULD SEEM ABSOLUTELYHOPELESS. Many could feel
that for a Lordly spirit like Christ's to have control over evil spirits was
natural, but would have held the cure of a leper an impossibility; for the
disease, being one of the blood, infected the whole system! If onlookers might
so think, how much more the leper himself! Every organof his body infected
deeply, how wonderful that he could have any hope. But he believes this great
miracle a possibility. Yet note —
II. HIS PRAYER IS WONDERFULLY CALM. In deepestearnesthe kneels.
But there is no wildness nor excitement. Mark also —
III. HOW A GREAT LAW OF COMPENSATIONRUNS THROUGH OUR
LIVES, and somehow those most grievouslyafflicted are often those most
helped to pray and trust. I once saw a leper at Genadenthal in South Africa —
an old woman. "Tell him," said she to the doctor, who took me to see her, "I
am very thankful for my disease;it is the way the Lord took to bring me to
Himself." This man had had the same sort of compensation, and while the
outward man was perishing the inward man was being renewed day by day.
Copy his prayer, and ask for mercies though they seemto be sheer
impossibilities.
(R. Glover.)
"Can" and "will"
H. Smith., Quesnel.
It is an old answer, that from canto will, no argument followeth. The leper
did not say unto Christ, "If Thou canst, Thou wilt;" but, "If Thou wilt, Thou
canst."
(H. Smith.)
I. The cure of our souls is the pure effectof the goodness andfree mercy of
God.
II. Jesus Christ performs it by a sovereignauthority.
III. His sacredhumanity is the instrument of the Divine operationin our
hearts.

IV. It is by His will that His merits are applied to us. Fear, for He does not put
forth His healing hand and touch all; hope, for He very frequently puts it
forth, and touches the most miserable.
(Quesnel.)
The world's treatment of lepers, and Christ's
J. G. Greenhough, M. A.
You remember the story of the leper which the poet Swinburne has woven
into one of his most beautiful, most painfully realistic, poems. He tells about a
lady at the FrenchCourt in the Middle Ages, who was strickenwith leprosy.
She had been courted, flattered, idolized, and almost worshipped for her wit
and beauty by the king, princes, and all the royal train, until she was smitten
with leprosy. Then her very lovers hunted her forth as a banned and God-
forsakenthing; every door in the greatcity of Paris was slammed in her face;
no one would give her a drop of water or piece of bread; the very children
spat in her face, and fled from her as a pestilential thing, until a poor clerk,
who had loved the great lady a long way off, and had never spokento her until
then, took her to his house for pity's sake, andnursed her until she died, and
he was castout and cursed himself by all the religious world for doing it. That
was what the leper had become in the Middle Ages, and something like that he
was among the Jews ofour Saviour's time, hated by men because believedto
be hated by God, carrying in his flesh and skin the very marks of God's anger,
contempt, and scorn, the foulest thing on God's fair earth, whose presence
meant defilement, and whom to touch was sin. That was the thing that lay at
Christ's feet, and on which that pure, gentle hand was laid. He stretchedforth
His hand and touched him, and said, "I will, be thou clean;" and straightway
his leprosywas cleansed.
(J. G. Greenhough, M. A.)
Christ's saving touch
I. THE WONDERFULWAY IS WHICH CHRIST KINDLED HOPE IN
THESE DESPERATEWRETCHES.He helped men to believe in themselves
as well as in Himself. We cannotsee how it was done. Nothing had been said
or done to give this confidence in his recoverability, yet he has it. You can
show a man in a score of ways, without telling him in so many words, that you

do not despair of him. A glance ofthe eye is enoughfor that. The first step in
saving the lost is to persuade them that they are not God-abandoned.
II. CHRIST'S TOUCH. Christ savedmen by touching them. He was always
touching men, their hands, eyes, ears, lips. He did not send His salvation;He
brought it. Gifts demoralize men unless we give part of ourselves with them.
The use of personalcontact
Our gifts only demoralize men unless we give part of ourselves along with
them. Even a dog is demoralized it you always throw bones to it instead of
giving them out of your hand. You breathe a bit of humanity into the dog by
letting it lick your hand, and it would almost rather do that than eatyour
bone. What have we done to save men when we have sent them our charities?
Almost nothing. We have filled their stomachs, indeed, and lightened their
material wants, but have sent their souls still empty away.
J. Richardson, M. A.
There are in this case elements whichought to be found in any man who is
suffering from soul disease and defilement.
I. A PAINFUL CONSCIOUSNESSOF HIS TRUE POSITION. He lookedat
his leprosy;felt its pain; knew its disabling uncleanness. The sinner sees his
sin as disgrace, a danger, and a disgust.
II. A PROPER SENSE OF HIS PRESENT OPPORTUNITY. GreatHealer
was approaching;Lord of love and pity was here; representative of heaven
passedby. He was drawn to Jesus;prostrate before Jesus;urgent upon Jesus.
A present decision;a present acceptance;a present salvation.
III. A PLAIN ACKNOWLEDGMENTOF THE LORD'S POWER. "Thou
canst;" I can't; others can't; but Thou canst, I know it, because Thou hast
cleansedothers;hast powerto cleanse;hast come forth to cleanse.
IV. A PRESSING URGENCYCONCERNINGTHE LORD'S PLEASURE.
"If Thou wilt." Perhaps I am too vile. It may be my sorrow may plead. In any
case I will take my refusal only from Thee. Observe —

1. The leper makes no prayer. Readiness to receive is in itself a prayer.
Uttered prayer may be no deeper than the mouth; unuttered prayer may be
evidence of the opened heart.
2. The leper raises no difficulty. He comes — worships — confesses his faith
— puts himself in the Lord's hands.
3. The leper has no hesitationas to what he needs — "Slake me clean." As to
whom he trusts — "Thou canst." As to how he comes — "A leper." Miseryin
the presence ofmercy — humility pleading with grace — faith appealing to
faithfulness — helplessness worshipping at the feetof power. Such is a leper
before the Lord. Such is a sinner before the Saviour. Such should we be to this
day of grace.
(J. Richardson, M. A.)
The method of spiritual salvationillustrated
J. Parker, D. D.
I. The leper put himself UNRESERVEDLYin the hands of the Healer.
II. Christ instantly gave PRACTICALEXPRESSION TO HIS OWN DEEP
PITY.
III. THE COMPLETENESS OF CHRIST'S CURE.
(J. Parker, D. D.)
Leprosy a symbol of sin
Anon.
I. FROM A SMALL BEGINNING IT SPREADS OVER THE ENTIRE MAN.
II. ITS CURE IS BEYOND THE REACH OF HUMAN SKILL OR
NATURAL REMEDIES.
III. IT IS PAINFUL, LOATHSOME, DEGRADING, AND FATAL.
IV. IT SEPARATES ITS VICTIM FROM THE PURE AND DRIVES HIM
INTO ASSOCIATION WITH THE IMPURE.
V. IT IS A FOE TO RELIGIOUS PRIVILEGES.
IV. IT CAN RE REMEDIED BYTHE INTERPOSITION OF GOD.
(Anon.)

Christ's pity shownmore in deeds than in words
R. W. Dale, LL. D.
I doubt whether Christ ever said anything about the Divine compassionmore
pathetic or more perfectly beautiful than had been said by the writer of the
103rdPsalm. It is not in the words of Christ that we find a fuller and deeper
revelation of the Divine compassion, but in His deeds. "And Jesus, moved with
compassion, put forth His hand and touched him," touched the man from
whom his very kindred had shrunk. It was the first time that the leper had felt
the warmth and pressure of a human hand since his loathsome disease came
upon him. And said, "I will, be thou clean."
(R. W. Dale, LL. D.)
The leper cleansed
Dr. Parker.
I.Sorrow turns instinctively to the supernatural.
II.Christ is never deaf to sorrow's cry.
III.Christ is superior alike to material contaminationand legalrestriction.
(Dr. Parker.)
Christ's mission a protest againstdeath
Dr. Parker.
Every healed man was Christ's living protest againstdeath. The mere fact of
the miracle was but a syllable in Christ's magnificent doctrine of life. Christ's
mission may be summed up in the word — Life; the devil's, in the word —
Death; so that every recoveredlimb, every opened eye, every purified leper,
was a confirmation of His statement, "I have come that they might have life."
(Dr. Parker.)
T. Whitelaw, M. A.
I. A melancholy PICTURE to be studied.
II. An excellent EXAMPLE to be copied.
1. He made his application in the proper quarter. He "came to Jesus."

2. He made his application in the right way.
3. He made his application in the proper spirit, "kneeling."
III. A sweetENCOURAGEMENT to be taken.
IV. A necessaryDUTY to be performed. Silence and the offering of sacrifice.
Gratitude; penitence;consecration.
V. An uncommon MISTAKE to be avoided. "He began to blaze abroad the
matter."
(T. Whitelaw, M. A.)
Reasonsfor silence respecting Christ's miracles
G. Petter., R. Glover.
Our Lord did not mean that the man should keepit only to himself, and that
he should not at all make it knownto any; for He knew that it was fit His
miracles should be known, that by them His Divine powerand the truth of His
doctrine might be manifested to the world; and therefore we read that at
another time He was willing a miracle of His should be made known(Mark
5:19). But Christ's purpose here is to restrain him —
I. From publishing this miracle rashly or unadvisedly, and in an indiscreet
manner.
II. From revealing it to such persons as were likely to cavil or take exceptions
at it.
III. From publishing it at that time, which was unfit and unseasonable —(1)
BecauseChristwas yet in the state of His abasement, and was so to continue
till the time of His resurrection, and His Divine glory was to be manifested by
degrees till then, and not all at once;(2) Becausethe people were too much
addicted to the miracles of Christ, without due regard to His teaching.
(G. Petter.)With the charge to tell it to the priest the Saviourgave the charge
to tell it to no one else.
I. Christ did not want a crowd of wonder seekersto clamour for a sign, but
penitents to listen to the tidings of salvation.
II. The man would be spiritually the better of thinking calmly and silently
over His wondrous mercy, until at all events he had been to the Temple in
Jerusalemand back. Do not tattle about your religious experience;nor, if you
are a beginner, speak so much about God's mercy to you that you have not
time to study it and learn its lesson. This man, had he but gone into some

retired spot and mastered the meaning of His mercy, might have become an
apostle. As it is, he becomes a sort of showman of himself.
(R. Glover.)
Unostentatious philanthropy
J. S. Exell, M. A.
I. THIS UNOSTENTATIOUS PHILANTHROPYWAS CONSEQUENT
UPON A REAL CURE.
II. WAS ANIMATED BY A TRUE SPIRIT. Some people enjoin silence in
reference to their philanthropy —
1. When they do not mean it. Mock humility.
2. Lest they should have too many applicants for it. Selfishness orlimited
generosity.
3. Others in order that they may modestly and wisely do good. So with our
Lord. Much philanthropy marred by its talkativeness.
III. WAS NOT ATTENDED WITH SUCCESS.Hence we learn —
1. That the most modest philanthropy is not always shielded from public
observation.
2. That there are men who will violate the most stringent commands and the
deepestobligations.Lessons:
1. To do goodwhen we have the opportunity.
2. Modestlyand wisely.
3. Content with the smile of Godrather than the approval of men.
The judicious reserve which should characterize the speechofthe newly
converted
J. S. Exell, M. A.
Observe:
I. THAT A WISE RESERVE SHOULD BE EXERCISED BYTHE NEWLY
CONVERTEDIN REFERENCE TO THE INNER EXPERIENCES OF THE
SOUL. Because unwise talk is likely —
1. To injure the initial culture of the soul.

2. To awakenthe scepticismofthe worldly.
3. To be regarded as boastful.
4. To impede the welfare of Divine truth.
II. THAT THIS WISE RESERVE MUST NOT INTERFERE WITHTHE
IMPERATIVE OBLIGATIONS OF THE SANCTUARY.
1. To recognize its ordinances.
2. To perform its duties.
3. To manifest in its offerings a grateful and adoring receptionof beneficent
ministry. With this no reserve of temperament or words must be allowedto
interfere.
III. THAT THIS WISE RESERVE IS SOMETIMESVIOLATED IN A
MOST FLAGRANT MANNER. How many young converts act as the
cleansedleper. We must be careful to speak atthe right time, in the right
manner, under the right circumstances.
Show thyself to the priest
DeanPlumptre.
The reasons forthe command are not far to seek.
1. The offering of the gift was an act of obedience to the law (Leviticus 14:10,
21, 22), and was therefore the right thing for the man to do. In this way also
our Lord showedthat He had not come, as far as His immediate work was
concerned, to destroyeven the ceremoniallaw, but to fulfil.
2. It was the appointed testof the reality and completeness ofthe cleansing
work.
3. It was better for the man's own spiritual life to cherish his gratitude than to
waste it in many words.
(DeanPlumptre.)
COMMENTARIES
MacLaren's Expositions

Mark
A PARABLE IN A MIRACLE
CHRIST’S TOUCH
Mark 1:41.
Behold the servant of the Lord’ might be the motto of this Gospel, and ‘He
went about doing goodand healing’ the summing up of its facts. We have in it
comparatively few of our Lord’s discourses, none of His longer, and not very
many of His briefer ones. It contains but four parables. This Evangelistgives
no miraculous birth as in Matthew, no angels adoring there as in Luke, no
gazing into the secrets ofEternity, where the Word who afterwards became
flesh dwelt in the bosom of the Father, as in John. He begins with a brief
reference to the Forerunner, and then plunges into the story of Christ’s life of
service to man and service for God.
In carrying out his conceptionthe Evangelistomits many things found in the
other Gospels, whichinvolve the idea of dignity and dominion, while he adds
to the incidents which he has in common with them not a few fine and subtle
touches to heighten the impression of our Lord’s toil and eagernessin His
patient, loving service. Perhaps it may be an instance of this that we find more
prominence given to our Lord’s touch as connectedwith His miracles than in
the other Gospels, orperhaps it may merely be an instance of the vivid
portraiture, the result of a keeneye for externals, which is so markeda
characteristic ofthis gospel. Whateverthe reason, the factis plain, that Mark
delights to dwell on Christ’s touch. The instances are these-first, He puts out
His hand, and ‘lifts up’ Peter’s wife’s mother, and immediately the fever

leaves her {Mark 1:31}; then, unrepelled by the foul disease, He lays His pure
hand upon the leper, and the living mass of corruption is healed{Mark 1:41};
again, He lays His hand on the clammy marble of the dead child’s forehead,
and she lives {Mark 5:41}. Further, we have the incidental statement that He
was so hindered in His mighty works by unbelief that He could only lay His
hands on a few sick folk and heal them {Mark 6:5}. We find next two
remarkable incidents, peculiar to Mark, both like eachother and unlike our
Lord’s other miracles. One is the gradual healing of that deaf and dumb man
whom Christ took apart from the crowd, laid His hands on him, thrust His
fingers into his ears as if He would clearsome impediment, touched his tongue
with saliva, said to him, ‘Be opened’; and the man could hear {Mark 8:34}.
The other is, the gradual healing of a blind man whom our Lord againleads
apart from the crowd, takes by the hand, lays His own kind hands upon the
poor, sightless eyeballs, andwith singular slowness ofprogress effectsa cure,
not by a leap and a bound as He generallydoes, but by steps and stages;tries
it once and finds partial success,has to apply the curative process again, and
then the man can see {Mark 8:23}. In addition to these instances there are two
other incidents which may also be adduced. It is Mark alone who records for
us the fact that He took little children in His arms, and blessedthem. And it is
Mark alone who records for us the factthat when He came down from the
Mount of TransfigurationHe laid His hand upon the demoniac boy, writhing
in the grip of his tormentor, and lifted him up.
There is much taught us, if we will patiently considerit, by that touch of
Christ’s, and I wish to try to bring out its meaning and power.
I. Whateverdiviner and sacrederaspectthere may be in these incidents, the
first thing, and in some senses the most precious thing, in them is that they are
the natural expressionof a truly human tenderness and compassion.

Now we are so accustomed, and as I believe quite rightly, to look at all
Christ’s life down to its minutest events as intended to be a revelation of God,
that we are sometimes apt to think about it as if His motive and purpose in
everything was didactic. So an unreality creeps over our conceptions of
Christ’s life, and we need to be reminded that He was not always acting and
speaking in order to convey instruction, but that words and deeds were drawn
from Him by the play of simple human feelings. He pitied not only in order to
teachus the heart of God, but because His own man’s heart was touched with
a feeling of men’s infirmities. We are too apt to think of Him as posing before
men with the intent of giving the greatrevelation of the Love of God. It is the
love of Christ Himself, spontaneous, instinctive, without the thought of
anything but the suffering that it sees,whichgushes out and leads Him to put
forth His hand to the outcastbeggars,the blind, the deaf, the lepers. That is
the first great lesson we have to learn from this and other stories-the swift
human sympathy and heart of grace and tenderness which Jesus Christhad
for all human suffering, and has to-day as truly as ever.
There is more than this instinctive sympathy taught by Christ’s touch, but it is
distinctly taught. How beautifully that comes out in the story of the leper!
That wretchedman had long dwelt in his isolation. The touch of a friend’s
hand or the kiss of loving lips had been long denied him. Christ looks on him,
and before He reflects, the spontaneous impulse of pity breaks through the
barriers of legalprohibitions and of natural repugnance, and leads Him to lay
His holy and healing hand on his foulness.
True pity always instinctively leads us to seek to come near those who are its
objects. A man tells his friend some sad story of his sufferings, and while he
speaks, unconsciouslyhis listenerlays his hand on his arm, and, by a silent
pressure, speaks his sympathy. So Christ did with these men-not only in order
that He might revealGod to us, but because He was a man, and therefore felt
ere He thought. Out flashed from His heart the swift sympathy, followedby
the tender pressure of the loving hand-a hand that tried through flesh to reach

spirit, and come near the sufferer that it might succourand remove the
sorrow.
Christ’s pity is shownby His touch to have this true characteristic oftrue pity,
that it overcomes disgust. All real sympathy does that. Christ is not turned
awayby the shining whiteness of the leprosy, nor by the eating pestilence
beneath it; He is not turned awayby the clammy marble hand of the poor
dead maiden, nor by the fevered skin of the old woman gasping on her pallet.
He lays hold on each, the flushed patient, the loathsome leper, the sacred
dead, with the all-equalising touch of a universal love and pity, which
disregards all that is repellent, and overflows everybarrier and pours itself
over every sufferer. We have the same pity of the same Christ to trust to and
to lay hold of to-day. He is high above us and yet bending over us; stretching
His hand from the throne as truly as He put it out when here on earth; and
ready to take us all to His heart in spite of our weaknessand wickedness,our
failings and our shortcomings, the fever of our flesh and hearts’desires, the
leprosy of our many corruptions, and the death of our sins,-and to hold us
ever in the strong, gentle claspof His divine, omnipotent, and tender hand.
This Christ lays hold on us because He loves us, and will not be turned from
His compassionby the most loathsome foulness of ours.
II. And now take another point of view from which we may regardthis touch
of Christ: namely, as the medium of His miraculous power.
There is nothing to me more remarkable about the miracles of our Lord than
the royal variety of His methods of healing. Sometimes He works at a distance,
sometimes He requires, as it would appearfor goodreasons, the proximity of
the personto be blessed. Sometimes He works by a simple word: ‘Lazarus,
come forth!’ ‘Peace be still!’ ‘Come out of him!’ sometimes by a word and a
touch, as in the instances before us; sometimes by a touch without a word;
sometimes by a word and a touch and a vehicle, as in the saliva that was put

on the tongue and in the ears of the deaf, and on the eyes of the blind;
sometimes by a vehicle without a word, without a touch, without His presence,
as when He said, ‘Go washin the pool of Siloam, and he washedand was
clean.’So the divine workervaries infinitely and at pleasure, yet not
arbitrarily but for profound, even if not always discoverable, reasons, the
methods of His miracle-working power, in order that we may learn by these
varieties of ways that He is tied to no way; and that His hand, strong and
almighty, uses methods and tossesaside methods according to His pleasure,
the methods being vitalised when they are used by His will, and being nothing
at all in themselves.
The very variety of His methods, then, teaches us that the true cause in every
case is His own bare will. A simple word is the highest and most adequate
expressionof that will. His word is all-powerful: and that is the very signature
of divinity. Of whom has it been true from of old that ‘He spake and it was
done, He commanded and it stoodfast’? Do you believe in a Christ whose
bare will, thrown among material things, makes them all plastic, as clay in the
potter’s hands, whose mouth rebukes the demons and they flee, rebukes death
and it looses its grasp, rebukes the tempest and there is a calm, rebukes
disease andthere comes health? But this use of Christ’s touch as apparent
means for conveying His miraculous power also serves as anillustration of a
principle which is exemplified in all His revelation, namely, the employment in
condescensionto men’s weakness, ofoutward means as the apparent vehicles
of His spiritual power. Just as by the material vehicle sometimes employed for
cure, He gave these poor sense-boundnatures a ladder by which their faith in
His healing power might climb, so in the manner of His revelation and
communication of His spiritual gifts, there is provision for the wants of us
men, who ever need some body for spirit to make itself manifest by, some
form for the etherealreality, some ‘tabernacle’ for the ‘sun.’ ‘Sacraments,’
outward ceremonies, forms of worship, are vehicles which the Divine Spirit
uses in order to bring His gifts to the hearts and the minds of men. They are
like the touch of the Christ which heals, not by any virtue in itself, apart from
His will which choosesto make it the apparent medium of healing. All these

externals are nothing, as the pipes of an organare nothing, until His breath is
breathed through them, and then the flood of sweetsoundpours out.
Do not despise the material vehicles and the outward helps which Christ uses
for the communication of His healing and His life, but remember that the help
that is done upon earth, He does it all Himself. Even Christ’s touch is nothing,
if it were not for His own will which flows through it.
III. ConsiderChrist’s touch as a shadow and symbol of the very heart of His
work.
Go back to the past history of this man. Ever since his disease declareditself
no human being had touched him. If he had a wife he had been separated
from her; if he had children their lips had never kissedhis, nor their little
hands found their way into his hard palm. Alone he had been walking with the
plague-clothover his face, and the cry ‘Unclean!’ on his lips, lest any man
should come near him. Skulking in his isolation, how he must have hungered
for the touch of a hand! Every Jew was forbidden to approachhim but the
priest, who, if he were cured, might pass his hand over the place and
pronounce him clean. And here comes a Man who breaks downall the
restrictions, stretches a frank hand out across the walls of separation, and
touches him. What a reviving assuranceoflove not yet dead must have come
to the man as Christ graspedhis hand, even if he saw in Him only a stranger
who was not afraid of him and did not turn from him! But beside this thrill of
human sympathy, which came hope-bringing to the leper, Christ’s touch had
much significance, if we remember that, according to the Mosaic legislation,
the priest and the priest alone was to lay his hands on the tainted skin and
pronounce the leper whole. So Christ’s touch was a priest’s touch. He lays His
hand on corruption and is not tainted. The corruption with which He comes in
contactbecomes purity. Are not these really the profoundest truths as to His
whole work in the world? What is it all but laying hold of the leper and the

outcastand the dead-His sympathy leading to His identification of Himself
with us in our weaknessandmisery? That sympathetic life-bringing touch is
put forth once for all in His Incarnation and Death. ‘He taketh hold of the
seedof Abraham,’ says the Epistle to the Hebrews, looking at our Lord’s
work under this same metaphor, and explaining that His laying hold of men
was His being ‘made in all points like unto His brethren.’ Just as he took hold
of the fevered womanand lifted her from her bed; or, as He thrust His fingers
into the deaf ears of that poor man stopped by some impediment, so, in
analogous fashion, He becomes one of those whom He would save and help. In
His assumption of humanity and in His bowing of His head to death, we
behold Him laying hold of our weakness andentering into the fellowship of
our pains and of the fruit of sin.
Just as He touches the leper and in unpolluted, or the fever patient and
receives no contagion, or the dead and draws no chill of mortality into His
warm hand, so He becomes like His brethren in all things, yet without sin.
Being found in ‘the likeness ofsinful flesh,’ He knows no sin, but wears His
manhood unpolluted and dwells among men ‘blameless and harmless, the Son
of God, without rebuke.’Like a sunbeam passing through foul water
untarnished and unstained; or like some sweetspring rising in the midst of the
salt sea, whichyet retains its freshness and pours it over the surrounding
bitterness, so Christ takes upon Himself our nature and lays hold of our
stained hands with the hand that continues pure while it grasps us, and will
make us purer if we grasp it.
Brethren, let your touch answerto His; and as He lays hold of us, in His
incarnation and His death, let the hand of our faith clasp His outstretched
hand, and though our hold be as faltering and feeble as that of the trembling,
wastedfingers which one timid womanonce laid on His garment’s hem, the
blessing which we need will flow into our veins from the contact. There will be
cleansing for our leprosy, sight for our blindness, life driving out death from
its throne in our hearts, and we shall be able to recount our joyful experience

in the old Psalmist’s triumphant strains-’He sent me from above, He laid hold
upon me, He drew me out of many waters.’
IV. Finally, we may look upon these incidents as being in a very important
sense a pattern for us.
No good is to be done by any man to his fellows exceptat the costof true
sympathy which leads to identification and contact. The literal touch of your
hand would do more goodto some poor outcasts than much solemn advice, or
even much material help flung to them as from a height above them. A shake
of the hand might be more of a means of grace than a sermon, and more
comforting than ever so many free breakfasts andblankets given
superciliously.
And, symbolically, we may say that we must be willing to take those by the
hand whom we wish to help; that is to say, we must come down to their level,
try to see with their eyes, and to think their thoughts, and let them feel that we
do not think our purity too fine to come beside their filth, nor shrink from
them With repugnance, howeverwe may show disapproval and pity for their
sin. Much work done by Christian people has no effect, nor ever will have,
because it has peeping through it a poorly concealed‘I am holier than thou.’
An instinctive movement of repugnance has ruined many a well-meanteffort.
Christ has come down to us, and has taken all our nature upon Himself. If
there is an outcastand abandoned soul on earth which may not feel that Jesus
has laid a loving and healing touch on him, Jesus is not the Saviour for the
world. He shrinks from none, He unites Himself with all, therefore ‘He is able
to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him.’ His conduct is the
pattern and the law for us. A Church is a poor affair if it is not a body of
people whose experience ofChrist’s pity and gratitude for the life which has

become theirs through His wondrous making Himself one with them, compels
them to do the like in their degree for the sinful and the outcast. Thank God,
there are many in every communion who know that constraintof the love of
Christ. But the world will not be healedof its sicknesstill the greatbody of
Christian people awakesto feel that the task and honour of eachof them is to
go forth bearing Christ’s pity certified by their own.
The sins of professing Christian countries are largelyto be laid at the door of
the Church. We are idle when we ought to be at work. We ‘pass by on the
other side’ when bleeding brethren lie with wounds gaping to be bound up by
us. And even when we are moved to service by Christ’s love, and try to do
something for our fellows, our work is often tainted by a sense of our own
superiority, and we patronise when we should sympathise, and lecture when
we should beseech.
We must be content to take lepers by the hand, if we would help them to
purity, and to let every outcastfeelthe warmth of our pitying, loving grasp, if
we would draw them into the forsakenFather’s House. Lay your hands on the
sinful as Christ did, and they will recover. All your holiness and hope come
from Christ’s laying hold of you. Keep hold of Him, and make His greatpity
and loving identification of Himself with the world of sinners and sufferers,
your pattern as well as your hope, and your touch, too, will have virtue.
Keeping hold of Him who has takenhold of us, you too may be able to say,
‘Ephphatha, be opened,’ or to lay your hand on the leper, and he will be
cleansed.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
1:40-45 We have here Christ's cleansing of a leper. It teaches us to apply to
the Saviourwith great humility, and with full submission to his will, saying,
Lord, if thou wilt, without any doubt of Christ's readiness to help the
distressed. See also whatto expectfrom Christ; that according to our faith it
shall be to us. The poor leper said, If thou wilt. Christ readily wills favours to

those who readily refer themselves to his will. Christ would have nothing done
that lookedlike seeking praise of the people. But no reasons now existwhy we
should hesitate to spreadthe praises of Christ.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
And there came a leper ... - See the notes at Matthew 8:1-4.
Kneeling down to him - He kneeledand inclined his face to the ground, in
tokenof deep humiliation and earnestentreaty. Compare Luke 5:12.
If thou wilt - This was an acknowledgmentof the almighty power of Jesus,
and an appeal to his benevolence.
Make me clean- You (Jesus)canheal me of this loathsome and offensive
disease, in the eye of the law justly regardedas "unclean," and render me
"legally" clean, and restore me to the privileges of the congregation.
And Jesus ...touchedhim - It was by the law consideredas unclean to touch a
leprous man. See Numbers 5:2. The fact that Jesus touchedhim was evidence
that the requisite powerhad been already put forth to heal him; that Jesus
regardedhim as already clean.
I will - Here was a most manifest proof of his divine power. None but God can
work a miracle; yet Jesus does it by his "ownwill" - by an exertion of his own
power. Therefore, Jesus is divine.
See thou saynothing to any man - The law of Mosesrequired that a man who
was healedof the leprosy should be pronounced cleanby the priest before he
could be admitted againto the privileges of the congregation, Leviticus 14.
Christ, though he had cleansedhim, yet required him to be obedient to the
law of the land - to go at once to the priest, and not to make delay by stopping
to converse about his being healed. It was also possible that, if he did not go at
once, evil-minded men would go before him and prejudice the priest, and
prevent his declaring the healing to be thorough because it was done by Jesus.
It was of further importance that "the priest" should pronounce it to be a
genuine cure, that there might be no cavils among the Jews againstits being a
real miracle.

Offer for thy cleansing those things ... - Two birds, and cedar-wood, and
scarlet, and hyssop; and after eight days, two he-lambs, without blemish, and
one ewe-lamb, and fine flour, and oil, Leviticus 14:4, Leviticus 14:10.
For a testimony unto them - Not to the priest, but to the people, that they may
have evidence that it is a real cure. The testimony of the priest on the subject
would be decisive.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
Mr 1:40-45. Healing of a Leper. ( = Mt 8:1-4; Lu 5:12-16).
See on [1405]Mt8:1-4.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
See Poole on"Mark 1:40"
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
And Jesus, movedwith compassion,.... At the sadand deplorable case the poor
man was in, being a merciful high priest, and not with a desire of popular
applause, and vain glory:
put forth his hand and touched him; though the leprosywas spread all over
him, and there was no place clean, and touching him was forbidden by the
law:
and saith unto him, I will be thou clean; See Gill on Matthew 8:3.
Geneva Study Bible
And Jesus, movedwith compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and
saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Expositor's Greek Testament
Mark 1:41. σπλαγχνισθεὶς, having compassion. Watchcarefullythe
portraiture of Christ’s personality in this Gospel, Mk.’s speciality.

Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
41. and touched him] though this act was strictly forbidden by the Mosaic
Law as causing ceremonialdefilement. But “He, Himself remaining undefiled,
cleansedhim whom He touched; for in Him life overcame death, and health
sickness, andpurity defilement.”
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 41. - Observe in this verse that Jesus stretchedforth his hand and
touched the leper. Thus he showedthat he was superior to the Law, which
forbade contactwith a leper. He touched him, knowing that he could not be
defiled with the touch. He touched him that he might heal him, and that his
Divine powerof healing might be made manifest. "Thus," says Bode, "God
stretchedout his hand and touched the human nature in his incarnation, and
restoredto the Church those who had been castout, that they might be able to
offer their bodies a living sacrifice to him of whom it is said, 'Thou art a priest
for everafter the order of Molchisedec.'"I will; be thou clean; literally, be
thou made clean(καθαρίσθητι). It is well observedhere by St. Jerome that
our Lord aptly answers both the petitions of the leper. "If thou wilt;" "I will."
"Thou canstmake me clean;" "Be thou made clean." Indeed, Christ gives
him more than he asks for. He makes him whole, not only in body, but in
spirit. Thus Christ, in his loving-kindness, exceeds the wishes of his
supplicants, that we may learn from him to do the same, and to enlarge our
hearts, both towards God and towards our brethren.
Vincent's Word Studies
Moved with compassion
Only Mark.
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES

BRUCEHURT MD
Mark 1:41 Moved with compassion, Jesus stretchedoutHis hand and
touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed."
NET Movedwith compassion, Jesus stretchedout his hand and touched him,
saying, "I am willing. Be clean!"
GNT καὶ σπλαγχνισθεὶς ἐκτείνας τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ ἥψατο καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ,
Θέλω, καθαρίσθητι·
NLT Movedwith compassion, Jesus reachedout and touched him. "I am
willing," he said. "Be healed!"
KJV And Jesus, movedwith compassion, put forth his hand, and touched
him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.
ESV Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to
him, "I will; be clean."
NIV Filled with compassion, Jesus reachedouthis hand and touched the
man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!"
Moved with compassion:Mk 6:34 Mt 9:36 Lu 7:12,13 Heb 2:17 4:15
I am willing; be cleansedMk 4:39 5:41 Ge 1:3 Ps 33:9 Heb 1:3
Mark 1 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
JESUS OUR
COMPASSIONATEHEALER
ParallelPassages:
Luke 5:13+ And He stretchedout His hand and touched him, saying, “I am
willing; be cleansed.” And immediately the leprosy left him.

Matthew 8:3+ Jesus stretchedout His hand and touched him, saying, “I am
willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Moved with compassion- This description of Jesus "visceralreaction" is
found only in Mark when compared with the parallel passages onthe leper in
Luke and Matthew. ESV = "Movedwith pity." NIV = "Filled with
compassion."(Filled usually conveys the sense of"controlledby" as in Eph
5:18+, which was Jesus'continualstate = "Filled with Spirit.") In Jesus'day
while sick people may have arousedcompassion, a person with leprosyDID
NOT arouse compassion! That is unless your Name was Jesus!Matthew
records "Seeing the people, He felt compassionforthem, because they were
distressedand dispirited like sheep without a shepherd." (Mt. 9:36) And again
"When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassionfor them
and healedtheir sick." (Mt 14:14) So Jesus was not like the Jews but had
compassiononthis leper.
Moved with compassion(4697)is one Greek word splanchnizomai (from
splagchnon= viscera - see splagchnonbelow)means to experience a deep
visceralfeeling for someone, to feel it in your stomachto feel compassionfor
(but it really goes beyond pity and sympathy), to feel sympathy, to take pity
on someone. Compassionis the sympathetic consciousnessofothers’ distress
togetherwith a desire to alleviate it. This verb expresses anoutward flow of
one's life in contrastto our natural tendency toward selfcenteredness. Itis
notable that 8/12 NT uses describe this deep seatedemotionin Jesus. It follows
that if we desire to imitate Jesus, we needto be men and women of deep
compassion, relying on the Holy Spirit to energize that inner emotion, which is
not our natural response!All NT uses of splanchnizomai - Matt. 9:36; Matt.
14:14;Matt. 15:32; Matt. 18:27; Matt. 20:34;Mk. 1:41; Mk. 6:34; Mk. 8:2;
Mk. 9:22; Lk. 7:13; Lk. 10:33;Lk. 15:20
THOUGHT - What super-exalted revelationof the Son's and the Father's
hearts we see here! Take this to your heart and hold it there with all you have.
The Servant-Saviorhas compassionfor your leprosy heart for heart, gut for
gut. He does more than understand. He felt the full weightof your sins on the
Cross. Takeheart! There is Someone who compassionatelyfeels with you for
the effects ofsin in your life. (Kent Hughes)

Spurgeon- This is a wonderful expression:“moved with compassion.” The
face of Jesus and his whole person showedthat his very soulwas stirred by an
intense fellow-feeling for this poor leper. If you or I were to touch a leper, his
uncleanliness would at once be communicatedto us, but when Christ touches
a leper, His cleanliness is communicated to the leper. Oh, how high our
blessedLord stands above us! When we have to deal with certain peculiarly
sad cases, we oughtto go to the work with much earnestprayer that we
ourselves may not be contaminated by contactwith gross sinners, but Christ
has such virtue in himself that he can even touch the fevered and the leprous,
and yet sustain no injury.
Jesus stretchedout His hand and touched him - Jesus touched an
untouchable, a man who probably had not felt the touch of another human
being for years!Jesus the pure and holy One, touched the unclean one. What
a picture of compassionand grace (undeservedfavor). What a reminder to all
of us "lepers" who have been cleansedby His touch. Should we not be the
most grateful of people ALL THE TIME, in light of the fact that He has
touched our heart and given us new life, new purpose, new hope, not only in
this life but the one to come when our hope becomes sight? "He loves, He
looks, He touches us, WE LIVE." (Spurgeon)
Stretched(1614)(ekteino fromek = out + teino = to stretch) means stretchout
literally, as a gesture with one's hand stretchedout. Jesus'stretchedHis hands
out "towardHis disciples" (Mt 12:49), to Peterdrowning (Mt 14:31), to the
leper (Mk 1:41, Mt 8:3, Lk 5:13, cf healing in Acts 4:30). Ekteino is used of the
stretching out of Paul's hand as he prepared to offer his verbal defense (Acts
26:1). Ekteino refers to Jesus telling the lame man to stretchout his hand (Mt
12:13, Mk 3:5, Lk 6:10). Ekteino can mean stretching out one's hands with a
hostile intent to lay hands on or arrest(Lk 22.53). As a euphemistic figure of
speechreferring to one's hands stretchedout in crucifixion (Jn 21.18). In Mt
26:51 when they came to arrestJesus Peter"extending his hand, drew out his
sword, and struck." In Acts 27:30 ekteino refers to the sailors pretending to
"to lay out (stretch out the) anchors from the bow, (Act 27:30). In the
Septuagint in Exodus 7:5 ekteino is used of Godstretching out His hand over

Egypt and deliver Israel(cf Ps 138:7) frequently of Moses telling Aaron to
stretch out his hand and staff (Ex. 7:19; 8:5-6,16-17), andof Moses stretching
out his hand to bring plagues (Ex 9:22-23;10:12,21-22)Paulalludes to the
Lord stretching out His hand to the nation of Israel - But as for Israel He says,
"ALL THE DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHEDOUT MY HANDS TO A
DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE."(Ro 10:21-note)
Touched(681)(hapto/haptomaiwhere haptomai is the middle voice which
constitutes the majority of uses)means to grasp, to lay hold of with the basic
meaning of touching for the purpose of manipulating. Hapto conveys the sense
handling of an objectas to exert a modifying influence upon it or upon
oneself. The majority of the 39 uses are in the Gospels andare associatedwith
Jesus touching someone (or someone touching Him) usually with a beneficial
effect.
THOUGHT - Jesus did not have to touch the leper. He could have healed any
way He wanted. But Jesus delighted in touching the downcast, distressedand
diseased. We should imitate His patter.
THOUGHT - "When Jesus touchedthe leper, He contractedthe leper's
defilement; but He also conveyedHis health! Is this not what He did for us on
the cross whenHe was made sin for us? (2 Cor. 5:21+) (Wiersbe)
Kent Hughes - I once counseleda lonely man who was not a Christian. He had
no family that cared. He belongedto no church. In describing his loneliness,
he said that he had his hair cut once a week, just to have someone touchhim
with no misunderstanding. Imagine that leper's longing for a touch or a
caress.Time stoodstill as Christ touched him. As Bishop Westcottsays, the
word "expressesmore than superficial contact." It is often translated, "to
take hold of." Jesus, atthe very least, placedhis hand firmly on the leper. We
cannot attempt to adequately describe the ecstacythat coursedthrough the
leper's body. The onlookers were shocked. The disciples were shocked. Jesus
was now ceremoniallyunclean—and besides he might catchthe disease, they
thought....We will never affectothers as Christ did unless there is contactand
identification. We have to be willing to take the hand of those whom we would
help. Sometimes a touch, caring involvement, will do a thousand times more

than our theology. This is what all churches need to do. We are greatin
theory. We are careful about our doctrine. But we need to lay our hand on
some rotting flesh in our neighborhood, in the executive towers where we
work, in the city slums. We cannot expectthis to be only the job of
missionaries becausea church which does not regularly place its hand on the
rotting humanity around it will not be sending missionaries to do so either.
(Ibid)
And said to him, "I am willing - Jesus is always willing to heal and cleanse the
sinful soul who seeks salvationfrom Him! He turns no broken and contrite
spirit awayempty handed! Someone should make a T-shirt with the logo
"JESUS IS WILLING!" It would prompt spectators to ask "Willing to do
what?" And then "cleansedlepers" wouldhave an opportunity to give a
witness even as Jesus commandedthis cleansedleperto do!
Be cleansedwas command in the aoristimperative to the leper to be cleansed
and do it now! Now ponder that a moment. Could the leper even obey this in
his ownpower? Of course not. He did not have the power. This command was
evidence of Jesus'supernatural power, which the leper gladly received. Jesus'
command was actuallygiven (in a sense)to the leper's leprosywhich reminds
us of His commands to other natural phenomena such as the greatstorm of
wind (Mk 4:37KJV) which immediately ceasedwhenHe commanded "Hush,
be still" (Mk 4:39+) or when "He rebuked the fever and it left" Peter's
mother-in-law (Lk 4:39+).
I am willing (2309)thelo in present tense = continually. Indeed Jesus is ever
willing and able to healany humble soul who has been crippled by Adam's
fall.
Be cleansed(2511)katharizo in the aorist imperative (Do this now!) and
passive voice indicating the cleansing came from an outside source (Jesus'
omnipotence to heal). Katharizo is frequent in the Gospels - Matt. 8:2-3; 10:8;
11:5; 23:25-26;Mk. 1:40-42;7:19; Lk. 4:27; 5:12-13;7:22; 11:39; 17:14,17.
Luke also uses katharizo in Acts (Acts 10:15;11:9; 15:9). Katharizo is used 4
times in the story of Naaman(2 Ki 5:10, 12, 13, 14).

Bill Gaither wrote the words of the famous song He touched Me in 1963 being
inspired by Jesus'touch healing the leper in Mark's Gospel.
He touched Me
Shackledby a heavy burden
'Neath a load of guilt and shame
Then the hand of Jesus touchedme
And now I am no longerthe same.
He touched, oh, he touchedme
And oh the joy that floods my soul!
Something happened, and now I know
He touched me, and made me whole.
Since i've met this blessedsavior
Since he's cleansedand made me whole
I will never ceaseto praise him
I'll shout it while eternity rolls.
Oh! he touched me! Oh! he touched me!
He touched me! And Oh the joy that floods my soul!
Something happened, and now I know
He touched me, and made me whole.
Spurgeonon Jesus'wonderful words "Be cleansed" - Primeval darkness
heard the Almighty fiat, "light be," (Genesis 1:3) and straightwaylight was,
and the word of the Lord Jesus is equal in majesty to that ancient word of
power. Redemption like Creationhas its word of might. Jesus speaksandit is
done. Leprosy yielded to no human remedies, but it fled at once at the Lord's
"I will." The disease exhibited no hopeful signs or tokens ofrecovery, nature

contributed nothing to its ownhealing, but the unaided word effectedthe
entire work on the spot and forever. The sinner is in a plight more miserable
than the leper; let him imitate his example and go to Jesus, "beseeching him
and kneeling down to him." Let him exercise whatlittle faith he has, even
though it should go no further than "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canstmake me
clean";and there need be no doubt as to the result of the application. Jesus
heals all who come, and casts out none. In reading the narrative in which our
morning's text occurs, it is worthy of devout notice that Jesus touchedthe
leper. This unclean personhad broken through the regulations of the
ceremoniallaw and pressedinto the house, but Jesus so far from chiding him
broke through the law Himself in order to meet him. He made an interchange
with the leper, for while He cleansedhim, he contractedby that touch a
Levitical defilement. Even so Jesus Christ was made sin for us, although in
himself he knew no sin , that we might be made the righteousness ofGod in
Him (2 Cor 5:21+, Heb 4:15+). O that poor sinners would go to Jesus,
believing in the power of His blessedsubstitutionary work, and they would
soonlearn the powerof His gracious touch. That HAND which multiplied the
loaves, which savedsinking Peter, which upholds afflicted saints, which
crowns believers, that same hand will touch every seeking sinner, and in a
moment make him clean. The love of Jesus is the source ofsalvation. He loves,
He looks, He touches us, WE LIVE.
Kent Hughes - it is very clearfrom Mark's Gospelthat the Lord delighted in
touching needy people. There are no less than eight touches recordedin the
Gospelof Mark.
1. When Christ healedPeter's mother-in-law, he took her by the hand and
raisedher up (Mark 1:31).
2. He laid his hand on the leper (Mark 1:41).
3. When he healed Jarius's little daughter, he took her by the hand and said,
"Talitha koum!" (which means, 'Little girl, I sayto you, getup!')" (Mark
5:41).

4. Next He "lay his hands on a few sick people and healed them" (Mark 6:5).
5. When he encountered the deaf and dumb man, the Apostle Mark says,
"After he took him aside, awayfrom the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the
man's ears. Then he spit and touched the man's tongue. He lookedup to
heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, 'Ephphatha!' (which means, 'Be
opened'!)" (Mark 7:33).
6. Later he did almostthe same thing for the blind man at Bethsaida (Mark
8:23).
7. In the midst of his busy ministry, he repeatedly took little children in his
arms (Mark 9:36 and Mark 10:16).
8. Finally we see him raising up the formerly demonized boy (Mark 9:27).
(Preaching the Word – Mark, Volume I: Jesus, Servantand Savior)
Global PrayerDigest - The Dalits of India are the modern day equivalent of
this untouchable leper (another article on the Dalits). Snippets related to the
Dalits
To be untouchable, according to Indian-Hindu tradition, is to be undesirable,
or unworthy of any sort of considerationor provision by society. This
translates into frequent joblessness,lack ofeducation and lifelong poverty.
The Hindu caste systemis very rigid, and there is no hope of everescaping the
caste into which one is born.
In India, the dalits are approximately 300 million people who are deemed
“untouchable” and comprise the lowestrung of the Hindu caste system. Since
the origin of this system 3,000 years ago, the Dalits have lived in bondage to
the code of caste. Theyhave been unable to escapetheir fate and are deprived
of even the most basic liberties and privileges, including the freedom to decide
where to live, work and worship.
Omika finished her street sweeping earlyso she could begin her date with
destiny. She joined three other scheduledcaste womenin a protest. As

“untouchable” Dalits, the Haddi people are banned from Hindu temples. How
can they worship their gods? How can they “gainfavor” to reincarnate to a
higher status? If they cannot appease the gods, their spirits are doomed to
remain untouchable forever. So these four untouchable women trooped into a
Hindu temple in a village of Orissa. When the upper caste villagers saw their
offense, they joined with Hindu priests to beat the women. The priests shouted
filthy language at them. The temple council demanded 1,000 rupees to purify
the temple. That money, about $20 US, equals a full month’s income for these
Haddi families.
Christianity has been and still is seenby most Indians as the religionof the
poor, and the “untouchable” Dalits. That’s because whenmissionaries from
William Carey’s day came in contactwith the outcastes, andthey felt the love
and the care of the missionaries, they were the first people to respond.
Evangelists and church planters working in all parts of the world have
discovereda common factorin reaching the unreached people in their target
areas:usually those most receptive to the gospelare those who are the
poorest. In all provinces in India the dalits (the “untouchable” communities)
have been the most responsive people group when they hear the goodnews.
For those who have nothing to lose, it’s easyto see that change is probably
going to be a goodthing. They know that they are needy.
The Untouchables
Jesus, movedwith compassion, stretchedout His hand and touched him. —
Mark 1:41
Today's Scripture:Mark 1:40-45
Of all diseases, leprosyis the only one singled out by the law of Mosesand
linked with sin. It’s not that having leprosy was sinful, nor was it the result of
sin. Rather, the disease was seenas a graphic symbol of sin. If we could see
sin, it would look something like leprosy.

In Mark 1 we read about a leper who fell on his knees before Jesus and made
his request: “If You are willing, You canmake me clean” (v.40). It’s the first
instance in the Gospels ofa plain request for healing—touching and profound
in its simplicity.
Jesus was “movedwith compassion” (v.41). People normally felt sympathy for
the sick and troubled, but not for lepers. Becausethey were consideredin
those days as “unclean” both ceremoniallyand physically (Leviticus 13:45;
22:4), they were repulsive in every way to most people, who stayedas far away
from them as possible. Nevertheless,Jesus was“willing” to reachout to this
desperate, disease-riddenman and actually touch him! At that very moment
the leprosyleft him and he was cleansed.
Why did Jesus touchthis man? He could have healed him just by saying, “Be
cleansed.”But His touch illustrated His greatcompassion.
Jesus loves sinners. Do we? By: David H. Roper (Our Daily Bread,
Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission.
All rights reserved)
Reflect& Pray
Jesus taught when He lived on this earth
How to show love to the lost;
So don't be afraid to give a kind touch,
No matter how much it may cost. —Carbaugh
To love sinners is to be like Jesus.
Powerof Touch
Moved with compassion, Jesus reachedout and touched him.Mark 1:41 nlt
Today's Scripture & Insight: Mark 1:40–45

Dr. Paul Brand, twentieth-century pioneer medical missionary to India, saw
firsthand the stigma associatedwith leprosy. During an appointment, he
touched a patient to reassure him treatment was possible. Tears beganto
stream down the man’s face. An attendant explained the tears to Dr. Brand,
saying, “You touched him and no one has done that for years. They are tears
of joy.”
Early in His ministry, Jesus was approachedby a man with leprosy, an
ancient label for all types of infectious skindiseases.Becauseofhis disease the
man was required by the Old Testamentlaw to live outside his community. If
the sick man accidentallyfound himself in close proximity to healthy people,
he had to call out, “Unclean! Unclean!” so they could avoid him (Leviticus
13:45–46).As a result, the man may have gone months or years without
human contact.
Filled with compassion, Jesus reachedout His hand and touched the man.
Jesus had the powerand authority to heal people with just a word (Mark
2:11–12). But as Jesus encountereda man whose physical illness left him
feeling isolatedand rejected, His touch assuredthe man that he was not alone
but accepted.
As God gives us opportunities, we can extend grace and show compassionwith
a gentle touch that conveys dignity and value. The simple, healing powerof
human touch goes a long way to remind hurting people of our care and
concern. By: Lisa M. Samra (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries,
Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
Reflect& Pray
Lord Jesus, thank You for the personal wayYou reachedout to care for
hurting people. Help me to follow Your example and extend compassionin my
actions.
Caring for others may include a compassionate touch.
Someone to Touch

Read:Luke 5:12–16
Jesus reachedout his hand and touched the man. Luke 5:13
Commuters on a Canadian Metro train witnesseda heart-moving conclusion
to a tense moment. They watchedas a 70-yearold woman gently reachedout
and offeredher hand to a young man whose loud voice and disturbing words
were scaring other passengers. The lady’s kindness calmed the man who sank
to the floor of the train with tears in his eyes. He said, “Thanks, Grandma,”
stoodup, and walkedaway. The woman later admitted to being afraid. But
she said, “I’m a mother and he needed someone to touch.” While better
judgment might ha e given her reasonto keepher distance, she took a risk of
love.
Jesus understands such compassion. He didn’t side with the fears of unnerved
onlookers whena desperate man, full of leprosy, showedup begging to be
healed. Neither was He helpless as other religious leaders were—menwho
could only have condemned the man for bringing his leprosy into the village
(Lev. 13:45–46). Instead, Jesus reachedout to someone who probably hadn’t
been touched by anyone for years, and healed him.
Please helpus to see ourselves in the merciful eyes of Your Son.
Thankfully, for that man and for us, Jesus came to offer what no law could
ever offer—the touch of His hand and heart.
Father in heaven, please help us to see ourselves and one another in that
desperate man—and in the merciful eyes of Your Son who reachedout and
touched him. By Mart DeHaan(Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries,
Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
No one is too troubled or unclean to be touched by Jesus.
INSIGHT: The healing of this leper would have had greatsignificance to the
people. Leprosy was a major problem in first-century Israel, with clear
processes outlinedfor diagnosis and response to the disease (Lev. 13:38–39). It
would be reasonable to ask:Why did the person go to the priest instead of
going to a doctor? To the people of Israel, leprosy was not simply a fatal

physical illness. Leprosy was seenas divine judgment for sin—a physical
disease with spiritual roots. Since the cause of the disease was considered
spiritual, the priest diagnosedthe illness and, if the person was strickenwith
leprosy, prescribed the appropriate verdict: Isolationfrom family, home,
community, and the corporate religious life of the nation. Not only did the
Rabbi from Nazarethcleanse the man of his disease,but also by touching him
He welcomedhim back into the community.
Jesus still welcomes outcasts today. Whom can you welcome in today?
Seeing Upside Down
Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. —
Matthew 9:12
Today's Scripture & Insight: Matthew 8:1-4; 9:9-12
In India I worshiped among leprosy patients. Mostof the medical advances in
the treatment of leprosy came about as a result of missionary doctors, who
were willing to live among patients and risk exposure to the dreaded disease.
As a result, churches thrive in most major leprosy centers. In Myanmar I
visited homes for AIDS orphans, where Christian volunteers try to replace
parental affectionthe disease has stolenaway. The most rousing church
services I have attended took place in Chile and Peru, in the bowels of a
federal prison. Among the lowly, the wretched, the downtrodden—the
rejectedof this world—God’s kingdom takes root.
Taking God’s assignmentseriouslymeans that we must learn to look at the
world upside down, as Jesus did. Insteadof seeking outpeople with resources
who can do us favors, we look for people with few resources. Insteadof the
strong, we find the weak;instead of the healthy, the sick. Insteadof the
spiritual, the sinful. Is not this how God reconcilesthe world to Himself? “It is
not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. . . . I have not come to callthe
righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:12-13 niv). By: Philip Yancey (Our Daily
Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)

To gain a new perspective, look at the world upside down as Jesus did.
Reflect& Pray
We know, Jesus, thatYou sought the lowly ones nwho were rejectedby
others. We want to be like You. Open our eyes and show us how. We long to
be used by You to bless others.
Do you see a needy world through the eyes of Jesus?
Okello’s Story, Our Story
Read:Luke 5:12-16
[Jesus]put out His hand and touched[the leper]. —Luke 5:13
My friend Roxanne has had some impressive jobs in her life. She has covered
the Olympics as a reporter. She has workedin Washington, DC, for noted
people and companies. Foryears, she has written articles about top Christian
athletes. But none of those jobs cancompare with what she is doing now:
giving the love of Jesus to children in Uganda.
What are her days like? Considerthe rainy Thursday when she walkedthe
muddy pathway to a cancerward. Once inside, she scoopedup little Okello,
whose arms bore sores from poor IV care and whose body raged with a high
fever. She carried him to the office of the only cancerdoctorin the building
and stayedwith him until he got help and his condition stabilized.
Jesus, our example, spent His entire ministry among the suffering, healing
them and bringing them the goodnews of God’s love (Luke 7:21-22).
How significant are the jobs we do? Sure, it’s vital to make a living to support
ourselves and our families. But is there something we can do to help relieve
the suffering in our world of pain? We may not be able to move to Uganda
like Roxanne, but we canall find ways to assistsomeone.In whose life will you
make a difference? By Dave Branon (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC
Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights
reserved)

God uses us to show His love
To people caught in life’s despair;
Our deeds of kindness open doors
To talk of God and His greatcare. —Sper
One measure of our likeness to Christ is our sensitivity to the suffering of
others.
F B Meyer - He stretched forth his hand,and touched him, saying, I will; be
thou clean.
This leper, as the physician-evangelistremarks, was full of leprosy. It was a
very aggravatedcase. He lay in the dust before Jesus. Whata contrast!
Loathsomenessand Divine beauty; disease and health; humanity at its worst
and best; sinner and Savior; one of Satan’s most miserable victims, and the
Almighty Deliverer. So, my reader, if thou art conscious ofa heart and life
which are full of sin, I would have thee meet thy Savior now. There is no if
about his power— even the leper recognizedthat. The only doubt was about
the Savior’s will: there is, however, no doubt on this score now, since He has
healed myriads, and promises healing to all who come. Throw thyself, then, at
his feet, and ask for cleansing. “He stretchedforth his hand, and touched
him.” No one else would have dared to do as much. To touch that flesh,
according to the Levitical code, would induce uncleanness. But Jesus shrank
not. On the one hand, He knew that the ceremonialrestrictions were
abolishedin Himself: on the other, He desired to teachthat sin cannotdefile
the Divine holiness of the Savior. Whatever be the stories ofsin that are
breathed into his ear;whatever the open bruises and putrefying sores which
are openedto his touch; whateverthe sights and sceneswith which He has to
cope — none of these canleave a taint of evil in his sinless heart. It would be
as impossible for sin to soil Christ as for a plague to contaminate flame. And
He will heal thee. Dare to claim it.
Break up the heavens, O Lord, and far

Through all yon starlight keen
Draw me, thy bride — a glittering star
In raiment white and clean.
Mark 1:42 Immediately the leprosyleft him and he was cleansed.
NET The leprosyleft him at once, and he was clean.
GNT καὶ εὐθὺς ἀπῆλθεν ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἡ λέπρα, καὶ ἐκαθαρίσθη.
NLT Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed.
KJV And as soonas he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from
him, and he was cleansed.
ESV And immediately the leprosyleft him, and he was made clean.
NIV Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.
immediately: Mk 1:31 5:29 Ps 33:9 Mt 15:28 Joh 4:50-53 15:3
Mark 1 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
MARK'S FAVORITE WORD
BECAME THE LEPER'S REALITY
Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed - No delay! It was
another miracle by Jesus. Was cleansedis the same verb used above - see
katharizo. Spurgeon comments that "This was another very wonderful
miracle. All that dryness of the skin, that scurf, that peeling, that inward
foulness that eats into the bones, and pollutes the very current of the blood —
all this was quite gone, the Lord Jesus Christ made this foul, unclean leper
perfectly cleanand whole in a single moment." Notice the two descriptions
"leprosyleft" and "was cleansed,"the former describing the physical aspects
of his scalyskin rash and the latter describing that factthat with the clearing
of the skin rash, he was now ceremonially clean. He would be able to go into
the Temple for the first time in likely many years.

Immediately (2117)see preceding discussionon euthus - used 11x in chapter 1
- Mk. 1:10; Mk. 1:12; Mk. 1:18; Mk. 1:20; Mk. 1:21; Mk. 1:23; Mk. 1:28; Mk.
1:29; Mk. 1:30; Mk. 1:42; Mk. 1:43 (One other use in Mk 1:3 means
"straight").
Kent Hughes - The healing was sudden and complete. His feet—toeless,
ulceratedstubs—were suddenly whole, bursting his shrunken sandals. The
knobs on his hands grew fingers before his very eyes. Back came his hair,
eyebrows, eyelashes.Under his hair were ears and before him a nose!His skin
was supple and soft. Can you hear a thundering roar from the multitude? Can
you hear the man crying not, "Unclean! Unclean!," but, "I'm clean! I'm
clean!" That is what Jesus Christ cando for you, for anyone in an instant, in a
split secondof belief. The healing of Christ in salvation from sin is instanteous
and complete ("the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from every sin)."
(Preaching the Word – Mark, Volume I: Jesus, Servantand Savior)
Leprosy (3014)(lepra from lepis = a scale)is used only 4x in the NT (Matt. 8:3;
Mk. 1:42; Lk. 5:12; Lk. 5:13) and always means leprosy. Bock adds that
"lepra appears to be a broad term for a whole series of skin diseases, rather
than referring just to Hansen's Disease (Mycobacteriumleprae pix), as it
came to be knownin the nineteenth century."
Play Ray Boltz's Here Comes a Miracle...
Here Comes A Miracle
Words and Music by Ray Boltz and Steve Millikan
They followedHim on dusty roads
Wherever He would lead
Multitudes would gather
As He healedeachdisease
With eyes of wonder they would watch

As He would stop to pray
And when He spoke the word of faith
You could hear them say
CHORUS:
Here comes a miracle
Can't you feel it in the air?
That look is on His face
His glory is in this place
And I know a miracle is near
The lame could walk
The deaf could hear
Blinded eyes could see
And those who had been
Bound for years
Were suddenly setfree
They came in desperation
The hurting and the poor
But when they saw Him
Through the crowd
They knew what was in store

CHORUS
And still today we follow Him
We claim His Word is true
And nothing is impossible
What He says He will do
And though this world may doubt us
And though they laugh and stare
Somedayall men will see the Truth
When we see Him in the air
CHORUS
Arnold Fruchtenbaum has an interesting note on leprosy in his article entitled
"The Three MessianicMiracles"....
Some time prior to the coming of Yeshua (Jesus), the ancient rabbis separated
miracles into two categories. Firstwere those miracles anyone would be able
to perform if they were empoweredby the Spirit of God to do so. The second
categoryofmiracles were called "messianic miracles,"whichwere miracles
only the Messiahwould be able to perform. Yeshua did miracles in both
categories:generalmiracles and also messianic miracles. So because ofthe
rabbinic teaching that certain miracles would be reservedonly for the
Messiahto do, whenever He performed a messianic miracle it createda
different type of reactionthan when He performed other types of miracles.
The first messianic miracle was the healing of a leper....Fromthe time the
Mosaic Law was completed, there was no record of any Jew who had been
healed of leprosy. While Miriam was healed of leprosy, this was before the

completion of the Law. Naamanwas healed of leprosy, but he was a Syrian
Gentile, not a Jew. From the time the Mosaic Law was completed, there was
never a case ofany Jew being healed of leprosy.
Leprosy was the one disease that was left out of rabbinic cures;there was no
cure for leprosy whatsoever. YetLeviticus 13-14 gave the Levitical Priesthood
detailed instructions as to what they were to do in case a leper was healed. On
the day that a leper approachedthe priesthood and said, "I was a leper but
now I have been healed," the priesthood was to give an initial offering of two
birds. For the next sevendays, they were to investigate intensively the
situation to determine three things. First, was the person really a leper?
Second, if he was a realleper, was he really cured of his leprosy? Third, if he
was truly cured of his leprosy, what were the circumstances ofthe healing? If
after sevendays of investigation they were firmly convinced that the man had
been a leper, had been healedof his leprosy, and the circumstances were
proper, then, on the eighth day there would be a lengthy series ofofferings.
All together, there were four different offerings. First, there was a trespass-
offering; second, a sin-offering; third, a burnt-offering; and fourth, a meal-
offering. Then came the application of the blood of the trespass-offering upon
the healedleper followedby the application of the blood of the sin-offering
upon the healedleper. The ceremonywould then end with the anointing of oil
upon the healedleper.
Although the priesthood had all these detailed instructions as to how they
were to respond in the case ofa healed leper, they never had the opportunity
to put these instructions into effect, because from the time the Mosaic Law
was given, no Jew was everhealed of leprosy. As a result, it was taught by the
rabbis that only the Messiahwouldbe able to heal a Jewishleper.... (From
fascinating article entitled The Three Messianic Miracles - read the entire
article)
Charles Ryrie on Leprosy and the Law of Moses -“Those things which Moses
commanded” are recordedin Leviticus 14. Briefly, the ritual of cleansing was
as follows:two cleanliving birds, a cedarrod, scarlet, and hyssopwere taken;

one bird was then killed in an earthen vesseloverrunning water; the hyssop
was then tied to the rod with the scarletband and it and the living bird were
dipped in the blood of the dead bird; next the blood on the rod was sprinkled
over the leper seventimes, and the living bird was loosed. At this point the
leper was pronounced clean, but more was still required of him. He had to
washhis clothes, shave, bathe, stay awayfrom his house for seven days, repeat
the ablutions and shaving, and finally on the eighth day offer at the temple a
sin offering, a trespass offering, a meal offering, and a burnt offering. It is
evident that the law was very detailedabout this procedure, and doubtless,
because it had seldomif everbeen used, there would have been a lot of
scratching of priestly heads had the leper obeyedthe Lord and gone to them.
Instead, he chose to disobey and publish his miracle abroad so that it actually
hindered his benefactor’s ministry.
The powerof the law. Certain important doctrinal facts about the relation of
the Savior, the sinner, and the Mosaic law are illustrated in this miracle. The
first is that the Mosaic law was powerlessto cleanse. It could after a length of
time pronounce as true the fact that a man was cleansed, but it could not
perform the cleansing itself. The nature of the law has not changed;it still
cannot cleanse the sinner no matter how admirably he may try to keepits
commands. “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justffied
in his sight” (Rom 3:20). It was never given as a means of spiritual salvation,
and greatis the error of those who so use it today.
The purpose of the law. The Lord’s reasonfor commanding this leper to go to
the priests was that the Mosaic law might be used as a testimony to them. In
the process ofperforming the ritual of the law they might have been led to the
Savior. Such is a legitimate purpose of the preaching of the law today. It may
be used to leada man to Christ. It is for the unrighteous (1 Ti1:9), to shut him
up to faith in Christ (Gal 3:23–24). Our Lord used it this way (Luke 10:25–37)
and so may we.
Although the law may be used to show a sinner his hopeless condition, only
Christ cansave. What then is the place of the law in the life of the redeemed?
Being saved does not exempt one from lawful living, but the law involved is no
longerthe law of Moses but the law of Christ. So it was for the cleansedleper

(Mark 1:44), and so it is for the cleansedsinnerin this age (1 Cor 9:21). He is
no longer under any part of the Mosaic law (including the Ten
Commandments, 2 Cor 3:7–11), but he is to live by the commandments of
Christ under grace. But, someone will say, Are not many of the requirements
of the law (and especiallythe principles of the Ten Commandments) repeated
substantially in the teachings of grace? The answeris obviously yes. Then, one
will say, Why insist that the Christian is not under the Mosaic law (including
the TenCommandments)? We insist on it for the evident reasonthat the
Scripture says so (2 Cor 3:7–11;Rom 10:4; Heb 7:11–12), and for the very
practicalreasonthat even though some of the standards may be similar under
law and grace, no one will ever possibly reachany of those standards in his
life if he tries to do so by keeping the law. The law canonly motivate to sin
(Rom 7) and never to sanctification. Legalismis the greatestenemyof
sanctification;thus to connectthe believer’s sanctificationwith the law is to
defeathim before he starts. Love is the only workable motive for
sanctification, but love does not mean license. No doubt, the leper was so
overpoweredwith love for his deliverance and his deliverer that he thought he
was doing right by telling everyone else of Jesus. But that was not real love,
for if he had had genuine. thoughtful love he would have obeyed. The law of
Christ is tailor-made and perfect in every detail. The love of Christ brings
perfect obedience to eachand all of those details. May, the lessons ofthis
miracle be practicedin a life of obedience motivated by the love of the one
who loved us and gave Himself for us. (Dr Ryrie's Articles)
A Life Changing Touch Mark 1: 40-45
Today we read of one of the greatestmiracles Jesusperformed while here on
earth. Leprosy was a dreaded disease withouta known cure. Apart from a
divine touch of God, those who contractedthe disease faceda slow and painful
death. There is only one other accountin the Gospels where a leper was
healed, and there Jesus healedten lepers, Luke 17:12-19. The healing of

leprosy was so miraculous, it was one of the signs Jesus usedto proclaim His
deity as the Christ. Matthew 11:5 – The blind receive their sight, and the lame
walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and
the poor have the gospelpreachedto them.
The physical suffering of leprosy was beyond imagination, but the
psychologicalsuffering was intense as well. Lepers were not allowedto come
into contactwith others, living a lonely, isolatedlife. They were required by
law to weara cloth over their mouths, teartheir clothing so their infirmity
was easilyrecognized, and cry “unclean” in the presence of others. The life of
a leper was difficult to say the least, with little compassionfrom those around
them.
While we are not dealing with leprosy in a literal sense, it always pictures sin.
We too were once much like the man in our text. We stoodin need of a touch
from the Lord, living a life of loneliness and isolationdue to the sin in our
lives. Let’s look in on the details of the miraculous moment as we consider:A
Life Changing Touch.
I. The Condition of the Leper (40) – And there came a leper to him,
beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt,
thou canstmake me clean. Keep in mind the loneliness and pain this man
must have felt from day to day. Eachday he woke to more of the same. His
condition continued to deteriorate, and he likely wondered if he would be
healed. This day would be different however. There was a commotion among
the people. Jesus was in their midst. Notice:

A. His Eagerness – And there came a leper to him, beseeching him. This has
the idea of “calling to one’s side, a summons for help.” He was in a desperate
situation and he was determined to get to Jesus. He had no hope apart from a
touch from the Lord. Maybe there were those who scoffedand scoldedhim to
get in his place, but their words fell on deaf ears. He was determined to get to
Jesus.
 The world and Satanwould have you believe there is no hope for you; that
your life isn’t worth the effort and that you are beyond help, condemned to
remain in your condition. This world wants to keepyou bound in despair. We
are not worthy to come before the Lord, but He is the
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only One who canhelp. Let me encourage youto be as the leper and come
unto the Lord calling Him to your side for deliverance!
B. His Expression(40) – And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and
kneeling down to him. He somehow knew Jesus washis only hope. He came in
an attitude of worship, giving honor unto the Lord. This leper had broken the
law by being in a crowdof cleanpeople, coming to within arm’s length of the
Lord and bowing in His presence, but he was determined.

 A life changing touch will include an expressionof worship of the Lord. We
must get to the place that we see Jesus as Lord. He is the One who paid the
ransom for our sin. He suffered in our place, becoming our sacrifice. We must
see Him as the Savior of our souls and the Healer of our infirmities. Many
today never getto the place that they are willing to admit they need the Lord,
much less coming humbly before Him. Jesus is right for whateveris wrong in
your life, but you must come before Him in an attitude of worship and
submission.
C. His Expectation (40) – 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. This poor leper knew his condition. He knew his leprosy would bring
about death, but he also knew that he was in the presence ofone who could
heal him. He knew Jesus had the powerto meet his need if only He would
extend His powerful hand.
 Our healing – physical and spiritual, centers on faith. We must recognize
Jesus has the power to provide for our needs. He is able to do all things at His
will. This type of faith moves the Lord into action. He stands waiting for those
who come by faith. Are you willing to come in faith unto the Lord, believing
He is able to supply your need? Many times we fail to see our prayers
answeredbecause we haven’t gotfaith to believe! Mark 9:23 – Jesus said unto
him, If thou canstbelieve, all things are possible to him that believeth. The
leper’s condition was very desperate, and yet he believed. We too must have
faith in the Lord!

II. The Compassionofthe Lord (41-42)– Here we discoverthe gracious
compassionofour Lord. Jesus touchedthe man and met his need. We find it
was:
A. A CompassionateTouch(41a) – And Jesus, movedwith compassion, put
forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.
Jesus didn’t see a dreadful leper or an outcastto turn away;He saw one who
had come in faith, seeking His touch. Jesus saw the man in a way
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no one else did. It had probably been a long time since he had even heard an
encouraging word; but today was different, today he met the Lord.
 I am thankful for a compassionate Lord. I’m glad as He lookedupon me, He
didn’t view me as nothing more than an unworthy sinner deserving of hell. He
saw me as a precious soul He died to save!Jesus looks upon this world today
with a heart of compassion. He paid men’s debt of sin and wants them to be
free of the bondage of sin. There are none so wickedthat Jesus doesn’tlove or
none so desperate that He can’t help. We serve a compassionate Lord.

B. An Intimate Touch (41b) – And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth
his hand, and touched him. Leprosy was very contagious and lepers were to
have no contactwith others. In this verse, Jesus does the unthinkable. He put
forth His hand and touched him. Likely it had been years since the man had
felt a tender touch. He had not been able to hold his wife or children. He
hadn’t felt the warm embrace of a friend. He had lived a life of loneliness and
separation, but the Sonof God touchedhim! The one thing he longedto feel,
Jesus supplied.
 Jesus could’ve easilyspokenthe word and the man would’ve been healed,
but He tenderly touched him. Aren’t you glad for the tender touch of Jesus? I
remember the day He touched me. It was a touch unlike any other. It was the
warmestembrace I have ever felt. Many times since, I have felt the touch of
Jesus. He wants to touch your life today.
C. An Ultimate Touch(41c-42)– and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. [42]
And as soonas he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him,
and he was cleansed. Jesusmet the need of the leper. He had the powerto
cleanse him and Jesus was willing to provide healing. At that moment, the
leper was miraculously healed. He didn’t have to try a prescription and call
back in the morning; Jesus healedhim! He was completelywhole from that
moment.
 Jesus has the powerto effectively and eternally heal. At the moment of
salvationwe are cleansedfrom sin. The guilt of our past is thrown into the sea
of God’s forgetfulness, neverto be remembered again. Our sins are removed
as far as the eastis from the west. Just like the leper, I didn’t deserve what the
Lord did for me, but He healedme. My sin is gone and I am kept in the power
of the Lord for all eternity. Satan may bring accusationsand remind us of our
sin, but the children of God are made whole in Christ. We have been setfree

from the bondage of sin, delivered from condemnation, and completely
forgiven! I am no longer dead in trespassesandsin, but alive in the Lord
Jesus Christ! I am no longeran outcast, separatedfrom God, but acceptedas
His child.
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III. The Command of the Lord (43-45)– Finally Mark reveals an unusual
command form our Lord, but it had purpose. Consider:
A. The Charge (43-44)– And he straitly chargedhim, and forthwith sent him
away;[44] 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. Jesus immediately sentthe
man away, charging him to show himself to the priest. This was done for a
variety of reasons. Jesus knew the people were amazed at His miracles. They
did serve to prove He was the Christ, but Jesus was more concernedwith
them seeing Him and hearing His messagethan being consumed with a desire
to see more miracles.

 Jesus was also concernedwith fulfilling the Word of God, while ensuring the
man understood what had just happened. Considerthe thoughts of Dr. Alan
Carr: Jesus didn't just send him away. He sent him to the priest at the temple.
This man was told to go and fulfill the requirements of the Law for his
cleansing. This leper was to go and to present himself to the priest and geta
certificate of cleansing onthe basis of a ceremony in Lev. 14. The leper was to
come to the priest and the priest was to go outside the camp where the leper
was. That's exactly what Jesus did for us. When we couldn't go to heaven
where Jesus was Jesus came downhere where we are. When we couldn't get
to God, God came to us! The Bible says in Heb. 13:12 that Jesus suffered
without the gate, Jesus has come down here where we are, and on a hill
outside the city of JerusalemJesus suffered. Then, the priest was to take an
earthen vessel, two birds, some cedarand hyssop. He was to kill one of those
birds and let the blood of that bird pour into the earthenvessel. Then the
priest took the blood of the dead bird and applied it to the wings of the living
bird. He then took that living bird, with the blood dripping from its wings, out
into an open field and he let that bird loose and that bird would go flying up
into the air. The leper would see that blood dripping from the wings of the
bird and he would understand the price of his cleansing and the message
would come to that leper, “I am cleanbecause of the blood.” i
 Jesus also desiredthe leper to go before the priest as a testimony to him and
those within the temple. This would serve to prove His power and deity unto
the priest, as well as the common people.
B. The Conduct (45) – But he went out, and beganto publish it much, and to
blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus couldno more openly enter into
the city, but was without in desert places:and they came to him from every
quarter. I understand the man’s great excitement, but we can never
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condone disobedience to the Lord. Instead of doing as he was instructed, the
man told everyone he met about what the Lord had done. As believers, we are
expectedto proclaim the Lord, but this man told everyone except the one he
was commanded to tell. Had he told the priest, the religious elite within the
temple would have witnessedgenuine evidence that Messiahhad come. The
leper missed the Lord’s will, as wellas a wonderful opportunity to be a
witness for Him. Rather than being a witness to the priest, the man’s conduct
createdan environment where Jesus was forcedto minister in desertplaces,
instead of being able to enter the city. This limited the number of people who
were able to hear the gracious teachingsofChrist.
 This passagedoes not teachthat we should refrain from proclaiming the
Gospeland making much of our Lord. It does reveal that obedience is
essentialfor service unto the Lord. A life of obedience is more desirable than
sacrifices orgreatdeeds within ourselves!
Conclusion:Surely we all canrelate to the passage before us. We were all
born in sin, needing a touch from the Lord to provide cleansing. If you have
been saved, rejoice for your salvation. If you are yet unsaved, come to Christ
today. Maybe the Lord has revealed His will for your life, but you have yet to
respond in obedience to Him. If so, you need to confess thatand commit to
following Him in obedience.

Mark 1:40-45
Touching the Untouchable
He knew something was wrong...verywrong. But he hoped if he waited long
enough, it would just go away. But it didn’t. In fact, it only gotworse. Soon,
others started to notice that he lookedpale and sickly; and he realized that he
would have to take a journey to a far-awaycity to figure out what exactly was
going on.
After severaldays, he reachedJerusalemand was shownto a room. After
what seemedlike severalhours, the door opened and an officiallooking man
entered and examined the stranger, “It’s here,” as he rolled up his sleeve to
revealan open, runny sore. Again he said, “It’s here,” as he slipped his collar
to the side, exposing another oozing puss-filled pimple. “It’s here too,” as he
removed his sandal, where there was yet another nasty nodule on the top of
his foot.
And with that, the official jumped back with a wild look in his eyes and said to
the man, “I declare unto you that you are unclean.” And then he quoted
Leviticus 13:45-46:“The leprous personwho has the disease shallweartorn
clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall coverhis upper lip
and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’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.”
He then said one last sentence:“MayGod have mercy on your soul!” And at
once, the door slammed shut and the priest was gone.
The man’s worst nightmare had just come true. Leprosy was the most
dreaded disease atthat time, much like AIDS or Ebola today. As he slowly
picked himself up, he stoodin that dark room for severalminutes in a state of
shock. Then, with determination, he startedripping his favorite robe that his

wife had made for him. Then he bent down and gathered some dust and
rubbed it all over his face and hair until he lookedlike someone from a horror
movie. When he stepped outside, he slowly coveredhis mouth and chokedout
the dreaded words, “UNCLEAN!I’M UNCLEAN!!!”
And for the first time in his life, people wretched and recoiledwhen they saw
him. A mother quickly grabbed her children and yelled, “Don’ttouch that
man! Stayawayfrom him!” A vendor of vegetables threw something at him
and shouted, “GET OUT OF HERE!”
Quickly the leper made his way outside the city into the open countryside and
headed for the 80-mile walk home. But the worstwas yet to come, because he
knew he could no longer have contactwith his wife or children! When his wife
saw him coming from a distance, she and their children ran to him with joy
and excitement, only to hear him growl, “KEEP AWAY FROM ME!I AM
NO LONGER YOUR FATHER! I AM A LEPER!”
A funeral was held for him by the localRabbi because he was considereddead
the moment he was diagnosed. The man’s health went downhill quickly. His
body started decomposing and the odor of death poured out of every pore. He
lost all feeling in his extremities and could no longersense pain. His fingers
eventually fell off. The word “leprosy” is from lepros, meaning scaly. In the
Old Testament“leprosy” means “to rot” and that’s exactly what was
happening. His skin was like a pool of slime. He was a dead man walking...or
trying to walk.
When people saw him they would throw stones at him...as he nearedthe end
of his life, his face resembled a lion’s more than a man’s. He hardly looked
human anymore. He was isolatedand unwanted. One of the laws added by the
rabbis saidthat it was unlawful for a leper to get within 50 feetof a clean
person. On a windy day the rule changed to 200 feet.
Leprosy was a physical disease but it also made this man spiritually dirty and
sociallydistant. He was decaying and dying in slow motion as he progressively
self-destructed. His eyesightwas failing and he knew complete blindness was
approaching. The leper had become utterly repulsive to others...andto
himself!

These five words describe his condition [Hold up cardboard sign].
Unclean! Unwanted! Unworthy! Unloved! Isolated!
In Mark 1:40-45, we’re going to learn that Jesus loves the unlovely and
touches the untouchable. As we walk through this passagewe’llsee the man’s
misery, Jesus’mercy and finally, the mission he was given.
1. Misery.
This man was in misery. Men like him were told to “standat a distance” like
the 10 lepers did in Luke 17:12. But according to Mark 1:40 this outcast
“came to him, imploring him, and kneeling, said to him...” It’s really amazing
that he “came to Christ” because lepers were forcedto live in isolationand to
have no personal contactwith any person.
Becausehe was in such misery, he came to Christ. This mass of rotting flesh
had faith that Jesus couldheal what no one else could. Dr. Luke mentions in
Luke 5:12 that he was “full of leprosy” or “covered” withit and that he “fell
on his face.” Matthew 8:2 tells us that the leper addressedJesus as “Lord.”
The word “imploring” means, “to beseechstronglyor to beg.” This reminds
me of how passionatelyMoses askedGodto heal his sisterMiriam’s leprosyin
Numbers 12:13: “And Moses criedto the LORD, ‘O God, please healher—
please.’”
As he stumbled through the crowdon what remained of his feet, the crowd
would have gaspedin horror, coveredtheir mouths and noses, and scattered.
It took courage to come to Christ in the presence ofall these people. It also
took greathumility. With his vocalchords damaged by numerous nodules, his
voice would have been raspy, his breath wheezyin sound and putrid in smell:
“If you will, you can make me clean.”
Brothers and sisters, this is the right wayto ask Jesus forhelp. The man knew
that Jesus couldmake him clean - he had greatconfidence in His power; he
just wasn’tsure if He would. He came on his knees and beggedand yet he was
submissive to the Sovereigntyof the Savior.

Would you notice that he didn’t “claim” what he thought was his or demand
it with a certain formula? One prosperity preacher, who previously raised
funds for a $65 million personaljet, recently tweeted:“Jesus bled and died for
us so that we can lay claim to the promise of financial prosperity.” I’m sorry
but I thought He bled and died to forgive us for our sins!
And so the first thing we see is this man’s misery. Second, we see the mercy of
Jesus.
2. Mercy.
While everyone else was repulsedby the leper and couldn’t even look at him,
verse 41 says that Jesus was “movedwith pity.” This means He was so “filled
with compassion” thatit gripped him deeply in his gut, or literally, in his
bowels. Jesus feltthe agonyof the leper’s isolation. It was common for Christ
to be filled with compassionas we see in Mark 6:34: “He had compassionon
them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.”
So, here’s a question. When you see someone in misery are you moved with
mercy?
Jesus did more than just feelsome mercy. He was touched in his heart and
therefore “He stretchedout his hand and touched him.” This was not a
tentative touch. The Greek refers to Jesus “extending” his hand and
“fastening or adhering” to the leper. Rather than pulling back, He reached
out and gripped the leper. He was not repelled or repulsed [Go and touch
someone]. This guy had probably not been touched in years.
Jesus lovedto give the touch of tenderness. I count 8 times in the Gospelof
Mark where we read of Him touching someone. PastorKent Hughes once
counseleda man who was not a Christian. He had no family and no church.
He was so lonely that he got his hair cut once a week justso someone could
touch him.
Don’t miss the significance ofJesus touching a leper. No one was allowedto
even getclose to a leper because uncleannesswouldbe transferred to the one
who touched him. In addition, the leprosy itself could be passedon. But deity
cannot be defiled.

And then Jesus declared, “Iwill...” Everything has to do with His will, doesn’t
it? He can do anything but it must line up with His will and His timing in
order for it to happen. Jesus then says:“Be clean!” When His will is ready all
He needs to do is saythe word and it will happen. Verse 42: “And
immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.” “Immediately” is
Mark’s favorite word, used over40 times in his manuscript.
In that split second, this man’s fingers were back. The leprosy had come on in
stages but it left suddenly. His toes were attachedagain. His skin became soft
and supple. His eyesightwas back to normal. He was instantly cured and
cleansed.
What happens next is a bit surprising and even startling.
3. Mission.
Jesus is not done. He sees misery and extends mercy so that this man will live
on mission. Jesus doesn’tgive a suggestionbut actually is about to give an
extremely strong command. Check out Mark 1:40-43:“And Jesus sternly
chargedhim and senthim awayat once...”
• It was authoritative – “Jesussternly chargedhim...” This word was used of a
horse snorting.
• It was forceful – “and sent him away...” This literally means that “he thrust
him out of the crowd” because he had a mission to accomplish.
• It was urgent – “atonce.”
In Mark 1:44 the command of Christ is quite clear:“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.” There are actuallytwo parts to
this command, one negative:“saynothing to anyone,” and one positive: “show
yourself to the priest.” This man, who is in Galilee, is told to make the journey
to Jerusalem, which would take severaldays, and to meet with the priest
[maybe the same one who had diagnosedhim] and follow what the Law
dictated.

But the man disobeys in Mark 1:45: “But he went out and beganto talk freely
about it, and to spread the news...” I like how the King James renders this
verse:“But he went out, and beganto publish it much, and to blaze abroad
the matter...”
Interestingly, he’s told to not tell anybody, and he tells everybody; we’re told
to tell everybody and we don’t tell anybody. He was touched and so he went
out and testified, but he ended up harming, more than helping the cause of
Christ: “...so thatJesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in
desolate places,and people were coming to Him from every quarter.”
I can think of five reasons why this man’s actions were detrimental.
• It was disobedient. 1 Samuel 15:22 says, “To obeyis better than sacrifice.”
Here’s a question. Have you been delivered like the leper but still have an area
of disobedience in your life? It’s common for people to getwhat they want
from Jesus and then turn around and do what they want. Do you find yourself
saying, “I know what the Bible says...but?”
Some of us won’t obey if we don’t understand. Listen. Just getover it. You
won’t understand everything Jesus asks youto do. There will be some things
He says and does that won’t make sense to you. If you ever find yourself
thinking something like this, “I just can’t see God being that way...itdoesn’t
make sense to me...” you should stop and check your heart. Ponderthis
statement: “Faithmeans doing what God has told you to do, even if you don’t
fully understand the reasonwhy.”
• It hampered Jesus. It’s interesting that now the leper cango into the cities
but Jesus can’t. Disobedience, evenif it comes from goodmotives, can lead to
the hindering of the work of Jesus. Here’s a question: Do you have any
disobedience going on that is hindering the work of Jesus right now?
• It confused the mission. The people flockedto His miracles more than the
messageofthe gospel. Jesus came to preach, not to perform for others. The
miracles were intended to validate His messageand His mission.
• It short-circuited ministry to the priests. The priests missedout on
compelling proof that Jesus was who He said He was. The cleansing ofthe

leper was an undeniable messianic signaccording to Matthew 11:5. If the
priests declaredthe leper clean but rejectedthe One who cleansedhim, their
unbelief would be incriminating evidence againstthem.
• It kept him from fully entering society. Had he gone to the priest he would
have been given documentation that he was no longerto be ostracizedfrom
the community. His disobedience ended up hurting the cause of Christ and
himself. Disobedience does that.
A Miracle with a Message
Within this miracle, there is a message foreachof us today. I want to break it
down for two groups of people -- first for those who are not yet savedand then
for those of us who are followers ofChrist.
1. A MessageforUnbelievers.
This encounter betweenthe Lord and the leper is a parable about sin and
salvation.
• Sin, like leprosy, starts out small and spreads -- laziness turns to lust; alcohol
to alcoholism;petting on a date can lead to pregnancy.
• Like leprosy, sin can deaden and numb us.
• Sin can progressivelyenslave us.
• Like leprosy, sin defiles everything it touches.
• Sin spiritually disfigures us.
• Sin isolates us.
• Satan presents sin as pleasurable when, in fact, it’s putrid.
• Sin can destroyour lives. As someone has said, “Sin will take you further
than you planned to go, costyou more than you can pay, and keepyou longer
than you were planning to stay.”
• Like leprosy, sin is terminal.

• Anything a leper touched was destined for the fire (Leviticus 13:52).
Likewise, sinleads to eternaljudgment.
Fellow sinner, see yourselfas miserable for you are filled with the leprosy of
sin and fling yourself upon the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ! You have a
deadly disease thathas defiled you. Some of you have not been savedyet
preciselybecause you don’t see yourself as a sick sinner. Apart from Christ,
every one of us is a mess of rotting flesh, the stenchof our sin being repugnant
before a holy God.
What Jesus did for the leper He cando for you as well. One touch from the
Savior and you will never be the same again. Nothing is too gross orugly or
dirty or shameful for the Saviorto cleanse!
Dearfriend, do you need cleansing today? Will you come to Jesus and fall at
His feetand say, “Lord, I’m desperate and need help. I have a sin problem
and I’m miserable. I know I’m going to die from this sin unless you forgive
me. Please show me mercy. I know you can save me. Will you? I ask you right
now to touch my sinful heart and take awaymy sin and then enable me to live
on mission for you.”
After being cleansedby Christ, the leper would be able to write some new
words to describe his life. [hold up cardboard sign]
Clean! Wanted! I have worth! Loved! In community!
Our misery is worse than we think...the mercy of Jesus is deeperthan we
imagine...andour mission is greaterthan we realize.
2. A MessageforBelievers.
Fellow followers ofJesus, we’re calledto reachout with compassion, to love
the unlovable and touch the untouchable.
A week ago I was listening to JanetParshallon MoodyRadio (one of our
“Go” partners). She was interviewing Craig Groeschelabouthis new book
called, “#Struggles – Following Jesus in a Selfie-CenteredWorld.” He quoted
a groundbreaking study of 14,000people that showeda sharp decline in

compassionin our culture. Here’s a summary – “We care 40% less as a whole
than we did in the 1980s.” There are three reasons for this:
#1. In our selfie-centeredworld, we have become increasinglyobsessedwith
ourselves.
#2. We have less personalinteractionwith people, which makes it easyto not
care.
#3. The overwhelming exposure to news and needs in the world is actually
desensitizing us.
Whenever we read something on a screeneverything gets equal “realestate”
and looks equally important: “If I’m scrolling through I might see a new
recipe for guacamole, andthen a story about a footballplayer beating his
girlfriend and then a link to a funny catvideo and then a picture of someone
being beheaded by ISIS.”
Researchersargue that our brains don’t know how to distinguish between
how all these stories show up in our newsfeeds. An ISIS beheading doesn’t
grab our attention because it shows up right next to guacamole and catvideos.
Friends, we are calledto compassionatelycare for people, not just on a screen,
but face-to-face. Who do you need to reachout and touch, literally?
Two years ago my daughter Lydia and I visited my oldestdaughter Emily
who was serving as a missionary to at-risk children in the Dominican
Republic. I’ll never forgetwalking up a steephillside with a number of kids
on the way to their village. A young boy reachedout to hold my hand. I looked
at his hand and saw that it was dirty and had open sores. I pulled my hand
back. And then I lookedup the hill and saw Emily. Both of her hands held the
hands of two children. Another young girl was riding on her back. Lydia was
also holding hands with two little girls. I was convictedand reachedout for
the young boy’s hand. He lookedup at me and smiled, through rotting teeth. I
felt rotten inside and was thankful for the example of my daughters as they
followedJesus more fully than I was.
Here are some groups of people that could use a touch from us.

Those with depressionand mental illness
The elderly, especiallythose in a nursing home
Widows and widowers
Those from a different political party
Those of a different race or ethnicity
Refugees
Women who getpregnant outside of marriage (glad that we’re raising funds
for a mobile ultrasound van!)
Singles
Single parents
The preborn
The orphans
The less fortunate
Those with AIDS
The alone and forgotten
The disabled
Those with cancer
Anyone not in your clique or socialclass
Or anyone you’re holding a grudge against
Those with hurts, habits and hang-ups – I’m sure glad Celebrate Recoveryis
a place of grace!The 14th Anniversary service is next Friday night.
Philip Yancey writes: “The modern church rejects the outcasts ofsociety
where as these very outcasts were the very ones who were drawn to Jesus.”To

Jesus, no one is untouchable. Here’s a question: Are you moved with mercy
over the plight of the miserable?
If you’ve moved from being miserable to receiving mercy, you are now on
mission. It’s time to start living that way. As we learned from Mike Hillhouse
last weekend, our glorious mission is to take the gospelto the nations:
“Missions is not a commitment to keep;it’s a cross to carry.”
As a follow-up to last weekend, we’re participating in the International Dayof
Prayer for the PersecutedChurch. We want to conclude by focusing on these
faithful followers.
Interview with Chasity Holmquist
1. Tellus a bit about yourself.
2. How did you get interestedin Voice of the Martyrs and how has it impacted
you?
3. Can you share a couple real-life illustrations of how Christians are being
persecuted?
4. How canwe respond?
• Prisoners
• Giving
• Prayer
We’re going to watcha video of a frontline workerright now and when it’s
finished, we’re going to pray for the persecuted.
Persecutionis a terrible thing, but unfaithfulness is far worse. (Pritchard)
When you leave today we want you to pick up some information to help put
your faith into practice.
Mark 1:40-45
Jesus’Upside DownKingdom

[Note:Elements of this introduction come from a sermon called“From
Leprosy to Life” by John Mayes].
He knew something was wrong...verywrong. But he hoped that if he waited
long enough, it would just go away. But it didn’t. In fact, it only gotworse.
Soon, others started to notice that he lookedpale and sickly; and he realized
that he would have to take a journey to a far-awaycity to figure out what
exactly was going on.
After severaldays, he reachedthe city and made his wayto a room where he
had never been before in order to speak to someone he had not met before.
After what seemedlike severalhours, the door opened and a man wearing a
uniform entered. The man examined the stranger, “It’s here,” as he rolled up
his sleeve and revealedan open, runny sore. Again he said, “It’s here,” as he
slipped his collar to the side, exposing another oozing sore. “It’s here too,” as
he removed his sandal, where there was yet another puss-filled nodule on the
top of his foot.
And with that, the priest jumped back with a wild look in his eyes and said to
the man, “I declare unto you that you are unclean. Now hear the words of the
law: ‘A Leper must weartorn clothes, and his hair must be unkempt, and
everywhere he goes, he must cover his mouth with his hand and shout out,
‘unclean, unclean.’ He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the
camp.’ May God have mercy on your soul!” And at once, the door slammed
shut and the priest was gone.
The man’s worse nightmare had just come true. As he slowly pickedhimself
up, he stood there in that dark room for severalminutes in a state of shock.
Then, with determination, he startedripping his favorite robe that his wife
had made for him. Then he bent down and gatheredsome dust and rubbed it

all over his face and hair until he lookedlike nothing more than a wild-man.
When he stepped outside and squinted at the brightness of the light, he slowly
coveredhis mouth with his hand and chokedout the dreaded words,
“UNCLEAN! I’M UNCLEAN!!!”
And for the first time in his life, people wretched and recoiledwhen they saw
him. A mother quickly grabbed her children and yelled, “Don’ttouch that
man! Stay awayfrom him!” A vendor of vegetables onthe street cornerthrew
something at him and shouted, “GET OUT OF HERE!”
Quickly the leper made his way outside the city into the open countryside and
headed for home. But the worst was yet to come, because he knew he could no
longerhave contact with his wife or children! When his wife saw him coming
from a distance, she and their children ran to their father with joy and
excitement, only to hear him growl at them and say, “KEEP AWAY FROM
ME! I AM NO LONGER YOUR FATHER!I AM A LEPER!”
A funeral service was held for him in his village by the localRabbi because he
was considereddead the moment he was diagnosed. The man’s health went
downhill quickly. He was coveredfrom head to toe with a sicklystench that
took one’s breath away. His body started decomposing and the odor of death
poured out of every pore. The word “leprosy” is from lepros, meaning scaly.
In the Old Testament“leprosy” means “to rot” and that’s exactlywhat was
happening. His skin was like a pool of slime. Dr. Luke mentions in Luke 5:12
that he was “full of leprosy” or “covered”with it. It’s like someone having
full-blown AIDS or terminal cancer. He was a dead man walking.
When people saw him they would throw stones at him…as he neared the end
of his life, his face resembled a lion’s more than a man’s. He hardly looked
human anymore. He was isolatedand unwanted. One of the laws added by the

rabbis saidthat it was unlawful for a leper to approach within 50 feet of a
cleanperson. On a windy day the rule changedto 200 feet.
The man’s eyesightwas failing; he knew complete blindness was approaching.
He had already lost all of his fingers, five of his toes, and one of his ears. The
leper had become utterly repulsive to others…andto himself! If this man
would have joined us on Easter, and if he could have held a marker in his
hand, he would have scribbled out these five words on his sign [Hold up
cardboard sign].
Unclean!
Unwanted!
Unworthy!
Unloved!
Isolated!
PastorJeffkickedoff our new series from Mark’s gospellastweek by asking
the question, “Who is This Man?” I hope you’ve takenhis challenge to read a
chapter from Mark every day as we seek to answerthis question about Jesus.
After being baptized and then tempted for 40 days in the desert, Jesus calls
some men to be his disciples, drives out an evil spirit and heals a lot of people,
including Peter’s mother-in-law. Mark 1:28 tells us that “News abouthim
spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.” One day, as was His custom,
Jesus gotup very early and found a solitary place to pray. Peter and his pals
find Him anyway and tell Him that everyone is looking for Him.
Here’s something important to remember. While Jesus did a lot of miracles,
He did not want people to just see Him as a miracle-worker, as someone who
would only meet their physical needs. He came for another purpose, which
was to preach the gospel. Look with me at Mark 1:38: “Let us go somewhere

else - to the nearby villages - so I can preachthere also. That is why I have
come.”
That sets the context for our text today in Mark 1:40-45. We’re going to learn
that in Jesus’Upside-DownKingdom, He loves the unlovely and touches the
untouchable.
1. Misery.
Let’s go back to the leper and establishour first point today. This man was in
misery. Men like him were told to “standat a distance” like the 10 lepers did
in Luke 17:12. But according to Mark 1:40 this outcast“came to Him and
beggedHim on his knees…”Luke adds that he “fell on his face.” Matthew
tells us that he came worshipping and “kneltbefore him.” The word “begged”
means “to beseechstrongly.” As he stumbled through the crowdon what
remained of his feet, the crowd would have gaspedin horror, coveredtheir
mouths and noses, andscattered.
It took courage to come to Christ in front of the crowds. It also took great
humility. And he did so with reverence. With his vocalchords damaged by
numerous nodules his voice would have been raspy, his breath wheezyin
sound and putrid in smell: “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”
Friends, this is the right way to pray. The man knew that Jesus couldmake
him clean- he had greatconfidence in His power;he just wasn’tsure if He
would. He came on his knees and beggedand yet he was submissive to the
Sovereigntyof the Savior. Luke mentions that he calledHim “Lord.” Would
you notice that he didn’t “claim” what he thought was his or demand it with a
certain formula like some prosperity preachers have made popular?
Essentiallyhe was saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you cando anything. This

is what I want but I don’t know if it’s your will.” Let me also point out that
the leper askedto be spiritually clean, not just to be physically healed.
And so the first thing we see is this man’s misery. Second, we see the mercy of
Jesus.
2. Mercy.
While everyone else was repulsedby the leper, Jesus was moved by mercy.
Verse 41 says that he was “filled with compassion.”This means that it gripped
him deeply in his gut. He felt the agonyof his isolation, his pain and his plight.
It was common for Christ to be filled with compassionas we see in Mark 6:33
when, after seeing the huge crowds running on foot to see Him, we read this:
“He had compassiononthem, because they were like sheep without a
shepherd. So He beganteaching them many things.”
But He did more than just feelcompassion. He was touchedin his heart and
therefore reachedout and touched with His hands: “Jesus reachedout his
hand and touched the man.” This was not a tentative touch. The Greek terms
refer to Jesus “stretching” outhis hand and “fastening or adhering” to the
leper. This guy had probably not been touched in years.
The Gospelof Mark majors on the touch of Jesus. Let’s look at a few
examples.
Mark 1:31 - In healing Simon’s mother-in-law, Jesus “wentto her, took her
hand and helped her up.”
Mark 5:41 - When a little girl died, Jesus “took herby the hand and said to
her, ‘Little girl, I say to you, get up!’”

Mark 7:33 - When healing a deaf and mute man, “Jesus put his fingers into
his ears. Thenhe spit and touched the man’s tongue.”
Mark 8:23 - People beggedJesus to touch a blind man and so “He took the
blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on
the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, ‘Do you see
anything?’”
Mark 9:27 - After healing a boy that had an evil spirit, “Jesus took him by the
hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stoodup.”
Mark 10:16 - When people brought children to Jesus to have Him touch them,
He did much more than that: “And He took the children in His arms, put His
hands on them and blessedthem.”
Jesus lovedto give the touch of tenderness. Don’tmiss the significance ofthis.
No one was allowedto touch a leper because his uncleanness wouldbe
transferred to the one who touched him. In addition, the leprosy itself could
be passedon. But deity cannotbe defiled. Incidentally, according to the Old
Testament, only the High Priestcould touch a leper…afterhe was healed.
This touch would tell others that the leper was clean. Jesus, as the GreatHigh
Priest, touched the leper and made him clean. And He’s still touching lives
today.
And then Jesus declared, “Iam willing…” Everything has to do with His will,
doesn’t it? He cando anything but it must line up with His will and His timing
in order for it to happen. Jesus then says:“Be clean!” When His will is ready
all He needs to do is say the word and it will happen. Verse 42:“Immediately
the leprosyleft him and he was cured.” “Immediately” is Mark’s favorite
word, used over 40 times in his gospel. This man’s fingers were back. His toes
were attachedagain. His skin became softand supple. His eyesightwas back
to normal. He was instantly cured and cleansed. The leper had a new lease on
life.

And so we see a man in misery who meets the mercy of the Lord Jesus. In
Jesus’upside-down kingdom, the unlovable is loved and the untouchable is
touched. What happens next is a bit surprising and even startling.
3. Mission. Jesus is not done. He sees misery and extends mercy so that this
man will live on mission. Jesus doesn’tgive a suggestionbut actually is about
to give an extremely stern command. Check out verse 43: “Jesus senthim
awayat once with a strong warning…” Jesus senthim away, which literally
means that “he thrust him out of the crowd” because he had a missionto
accomplish. Notice that it was urgent - “at once.” And it was authoritative -
“with a strong warning.” This is a very powerful picture for it was used of a
horse snorting when it was impatient or irritated. Jesus lookedvery serious
and stern and what He is about to say He says with sharpness.
In verse 44 the command of Christ is quite clear:“See that you don’t tell this
to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that
Moses commandedfor your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” There are
actually two parts to this command, one negative and one positive. The
negative is this: don’t tell anyone. And the positive is to tell someone:he was
to go to the priest. This man, who is in Galilee, is told to make the journey to
Jerusalem, which would take a couple days, and to meet with the priest and
follow what the Law dictated. We don’t have time to getinto all the verses
that deal with this so let me just mention two.
• Deuteronomy 24:8 - “In cases ofleprous diseases be very carefulto do
exactly as the priests, who are Levites, instruct you. You must follow carefully
what I have commanded them.”
• Leviticus 14:2-4 - “The priest is to go outside the camp and examine him.” A
ceremonyinvolving two birds and some other items took place. Essentiallyit
workedlike this. One bird was killed and its blood was sprinkled on the live
bird and then the live bird would fly away, signifying that it’s the blood of a

sacrifice that cleansesand that our sins fly away when we put our faith in
God.
I wrote down some reasons whyJesus could have wanted this guy to go and
proclaim his healing to the priest.
• To validate the miracle. Nothing like this had happened in at least800 years.
I can only think of Miriam and Naamanfrom the Old Testamentwho had
been healed of leprosy.
• To help the man be acceptedsociallyand spiritually. Leviticus 14 says that
the priest would issue a certificate of cleansing afterverifying the healing.
• To uphold the Old Testament. Jesus saidin Matthew 5:17: “Do not think I
have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets;I have not come to abolish
them but to fulfill them.”
• To give a strong testimony to the priests. The priests and Bible scholars
knew that the Messiahwouldbe able to heallepers. That’s exactly what Jesus
told John’s disciples to tell John when he wondered if Jesus was the Messiah
in Matthew 11:5: “The blind receive sight, the lame walk and those who have
leprosy are healed.”
But the man disobeys in verse 45:“Insteadhe went out and began to talk
freely, spreading the news…” I like how the King James handles this verse:
“But he went out, and beganto publish it much, and to blaze abroad the
matter…” Interestingly, he’s told to not tell anybody, and he tells everybody;
we’re told to tell everybody and we don’t tell anybody. He was touched and so
he went out and testified, but he ended up harming, more than helping the
cause ofChrist: “…As a result, Jesus couldno longer enter a town openly but
stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from
everywhere.”
What he did was not goodfor at leastfour reasons…

• It was disobedient. 1 Samuel 15:22 says, “To obeyis better than sacrifice.”
Here’s a question. Have you been delivered like the leper but still have an area
of disobedience in your life? It’s common for people to getwhat they want
from Jesus and then turn around and do what they want. Do you find yourself
saying, “I know what the Bible says…but?” Friends, in the midst of our
cultural confusion, we must determine to follow and obey what God says. God
has spokenand He has not stuttered. Life begins at conceptionand therefore
abortion is murder. Marriage is betweenone man and one woman for life.
Children belong to their families, not to the state.
• It hampered Jesus. It’s interesting that now the leper cango into the cities
but Jesus can’t.
• It confused the mission. The people flockedto His miracles more than the
messageofthe gospel. Jesus came to preachnot to perform for others. The
miracles were intended to validate the messageand His mission, clearly
summarized by Jesus in Mark 10:45: “Eventhe Son of Man did not come to
be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
• It short-circuited ministry to the priests. They missedout on compelling
evidence that Jesus was who He said He was.
A Miracle with a Message
Within this miracle, there is a message foreachof us today. I want to break it
down for two groups of people -- first for believers and then for those of you
who have not yet committed yourself to Christ.
1. A MessageforBelievers. Fellow followers of Jesus, we’re calledto reachout
with compassion, loving the unlovable and touching the untouchable. Some of
you know what happened to Kevin Ware who plays for the NCAA champion
Louisville basketballteam. After suffering a horrific injury to his leg in the
tournament, some of his teammates saw whathappened and startedvomiting.

Others were crying inconsolably. But then his teammate Luke Hancock ran
over to him, held his hand and prayed this prayer: “Lord, watch over us and
let Kevin be OK during this tough time.” He then told his teammate: “The
Lord does everything for a reason, and he will get us through this.” He then
gently patted Ware’s chestseveraltimes as more than 34,000fans watchedin
the stadium and millions of horrified TV viewers lookedon.
Who do you need to reach out and touch, literally? I wrote down some groups
that are treated like lepers today.
• Those with depressionand mental illness (Rick Warren’s son)
• The elderly, especiallythose in a nursing home
• Those from a different political party
• Those of a different race or ethnicity
• Women who get pregnant outside of marriage (celebrate fundraiser for the
Elizabeth Home)
• The preborn
• The orphans
• The less fortunate (celebrate Caring Closet)
• Those with AIDS
• The alone and forgotten
• The disabled
• Those with cancer
• Anyone not in your clique or socialclass
• Or anyone you’re holding a grudge against

Philip Yancey writes: “The modern church rejects the outcasts ofsociety
where as these very outcasts were the very ones who were drawn to Jesus.”
Here’s a question: Are you moved with mercy over the plight of the
miserable?
An Englishcathedral was severelydamagedduring WWII. A statue of Jesus
had read, “Come unto me” but the hands had been completely demolished. If
you go there today the statue is still standing and the hands are still gone but
the inscription has been changed. It now reads, “He has no hands but ours.”
If you’ve moved from being miserable to receiving mercy, you are now on
mission. It’s time to start living that way.
2. A MessageforUnbelievers. This story is also about sin and salvation.
Leprosy in the Bible was symbolic of sin.
• Sin, like leprosy, starts out small and spreads -- laziness turns to lust; alcohol
to alcoholism;petting on a date can lead to pregnancy.
• Like leprosy, sin can deaden and numb us.
• Sin can progressivelyenslave us. John 8:34 - “Jesus answeredthem, ‘Truly,
truly, I sayto you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.’”
• Sin defiles everything it touches.
• Sin spiritually disfigures us.
• Sin isolates us.
• Satan presents sin as pleasurable when in fact, it’s putrid.
• Sin can destroyour lives. As someone has said, “Sin will take you further
than you planned to go and keepyou longerthan you were planning to stay.”
• Like leprosy, sin is terminal.

• Anything a leper touched was destined for the fire (Lev. 13:52). Likewise, sin
leads to eternal judgment.
Fellow sinner, see your misery as miserable for you are filled with the leprosy
of sin and fling yourselfupon the mercy of Christ, who is filled with
compassion. Some ofyou have not been savedyet precisely because youdon’t
see yourself as a sick sinner. But it’s not until we understand the depth of our
depravity that we will come to Christ in spite of what the crowd is doing and
fall on our face before Him. It’s time now to come to him with humility. It’s
time to drop to your knees before Him, like PastorJeffhad us do last week.
What Jesus did for the leper he cando for anyone here today. He took the
place of the leper, and was crucifiedoutside the gate of the city. Friend,
nothing is too gross orugly or dirty or shameful for the Savior to cleanse!
Nothing is beyond the scope of Jesus’compassion. The leper had a
transforming moment with the Master. This could be yours right now.
It’s Time to Be Touched
David Dykes summarizes the movie called, “The Elephant Man,” based on a
true story of a terribly disfigured man named John Merrick, who lived in
London during the 19th century. His own family had rejectedhim because of
his hideous appearance. A doctor found John working in a circus as a
sideshow freak and so he took him to a hospital and beganto treat him as a
person. He provided books for John and soondiscoveredhe was a kind,
intelligent person.
After a newspaperreported on John’s progress, a talented actress came to
visit him. She was also a committed Christian. On one visit she presented John
with a copy of Shakespeare’sRomeo andJuliet. He felt like an ugly beast
cowering before a pretty princess. He was at such a loss for words he opened
the script and beganto read. His voice was squeakyas he read from the
secondact:“See how she leans her cheek upon her hand! O that I were a
glove upon the hand that I might touch that cheek!”

As he read that line, Madge Kendall slipped quietly into the seatbeside him.
She respondedwith the words of Juliet she had memorized from her years in
the theater. John read and she recited the restof the act together. When it was
done, she leaned over and kissedhis swollen, leatherycheek. Fromthat
moment on, John Merrick was a changedman!
Sin has disfigured eachof us until even our righteousness is as filthy rags.
Compared to the perfectholiness of God, our sinful lives are hideous and
grotesque. But the Lord Jesus Christleaned over at Calvary and kissedour
sin-shriveled lives with the mercies of heaven and since that day, none of us
have ever been the same.
Dearfriend do you need cleansing today? Will you come to Jesus and fall at
His feetand say,
“Lord, I need help. I have a sin problem and I’m miserable. I know I’m going
to die from this sin unless you forgive me. Please show me mercy. I know you
can save me. Will you? I ask you right now to touch my sinful heart and take
awaymy sin and then enable me to live on mission for you.”
I receivedan email from someone who attended our Easterservice two weeks
ago. This is what he wrote:“Back to the sign thing, I think I would need a
refrigeratorbox or two to write my sins on it…But I can’t imagine how many
boxes I would need to count the ways God has blessedus in these last 18
months!”
After being cleansedby Christ, the leper would need a large sign as wellto
recount all that Christ had done for Him [hold up sign].

Clean!
Wanted!
I have worth!
Loved!
In community!
Our misery is worse than we think…the mercy of Jesus is deeper than we
imagine…and our mission is greaterthan we realize
ALAN CARR
THE TOUCH THAT TRANSFORMS
Intro: This passage records one of the most powerful and amazing miracles
ever performed by Jesus. In fact, this is one of only two recordedhealings of
lepers in the Gospels. The other is in Luke 17:12-19. Here, Jesus heals one
leper, there He heals ten lepers. The healing of the lepers was one of the signs
Jesus mentioned that proved He was the Messiah, Matt. 11:5.
In this wonderful accountof the healing of this leprous man, we are given
a glimpse into the heart of the Savior. We are allowedto see His compassion
and His power on full display.
Let’s join Jesus in His encounter with this leper. Let’s watchHim as He
changes this poor man’s life forever. Let’s also understand that what Jesus
did for this man He can do for any personin this room today.
You may not have leprosy, but if you have a problem with sin; if you
need a Savior; if you need help, there is a word here for you in this

remarkable miracle. Let’s learn how Jesus transforms lives. I want to preach
from this passageonthe thought The Touch That Transforms.
I. v. 40 A SICK MAN
A. The Nature Of His Ailment – The Bible calls this man “a leper”. This
disease is knownin our day as Hanson’s Disease. Itis a highly infectious
disease that was incurable in Bible times, but one which canbe treatedtoday.
In Bible times, no other disease was as fearedas leprosy.
· It affectedthe whole body.
· It usually began with fatigue and pain in the joints.
· Scalyspots would develop on the skin, as the disease progressed, the
body would be coveredwith puss filled nodules.
· The appearance ofthe face would be altered, so that the sufferer would
come to resemble a lion. Nodules would grow on the vocalchords so that the
leper spoke with a raspy voice.
· The body was in a state of living decomposition, thus a terrible stench
surrounded the leper constantly.
· Leprosy attackedthe nervous system, compromising the body’s ability
to feel pain. It actedas an anesthetic, numbing the body.
The leper might stepon a stone or a thorn and injure his foot and be
totally unaware that there was a problem. Infection would setin and
eventually, the injured footmight just fall off. The leper might washhis face
in scalding water and blind himself. He might reachinto a fire to pick up a
dropped potato and not realize that he had been badly burned. Rats and other
vermin would often chew on sleeping lepers. One doctorin a third world
nation would often send a cat home with his leprous patients after he had
performed surgery on them.
· It usually ran its course in about 9 years.

· The sufferer usually died a horrible death.
· One of the worstaspects ofleprosy was the socialisolationit brought.
The Levitical Law was very clearthat a leper was very clearin its commands
to lepers, Lev. 13:45-46.
· By the time of Jesus, the rabbis had added many more restrictions to
the law governing lepers. If a leper even stuck his head inside a home it was
consideredunclean. It was againstthe law to greeta leper.
· When it was determined that a man had leprosy they would banish him
from the village, he was no longer allowedto have communion with other
people. He had to leave his family; he had to leave his friends.
· It was unlawful for a leper to approach within 50 feetof a clean person.
If it was a windy day, the rule changedto 200 feet.
· He could not touch his family; he could only see them from a distance.
· Many families brought foodand clothing for a while, but after a time,
most families had a funeral service and regardedthe afflicted personas a
dead man.
· The leper had to tear his garments so people would recognize that he
was a leper.
· He was to dress as a mourner going to a funeral service:his own funeral
service!
· Over his upper lip he had to weara cloth so he wouldn't spread the
contamination and every time he saw people coming, the leper was required to
cry, “Unclean! Unclean!”.
· The leper’s cries would warn people that a leper was nearby and people
would pick up stones to throw at the leper so he wouldn’t come near.
(Ill. In the Bible, leprosy is far more than a disease. It is also a type of sin!

· The leper was consideredthe embodiment of impurity. The external
defilement of the disease was seento representthe internal defilement of the
heart.
· The leper was a living, breathing commentary on the effects ofsin!
· No one here has leprosy, but everyone here has problems with sin.
Leviticus 13, clearlylays out the regulations for diagnosing and dealing
with leprosy. Notice how leprosy pictures sin.
1. Leprosy is deeperthan the skin - Lev. 13:3 - The outward
manifestations of sin are merely a window into the heart, Matt. 15:18-19.
People aren’t sinners because they sin; people sin because they are sinners!
2. Leprosy starts out small and then it spreads - Lev. 13:7 - Justas that
leper may have seena tiny white spot on his skin one day, it wasn’tmany days
until his flesh was consumedby that loathsome disease.
What a picture of sin! Look at David, 2 Sam. 11! A little spot of laziness
and lust turned into a plague of adultery, unwanted pregnancy, lies and
murder!
That little drink may turn into alcoholism. A little petting on a date could
turn into an unwanted pregnancy.
Let down the walls a little here, allow a little sin there, and before you
know it, your whole life has been ruined and ransackedby the devil!
3. Leprosy defiles everything it touches - Lev. 13:44-46 - When a man was
strickenwith leprosy, we was totally and thoroughly defiled!
Sin has a wayof poisoning a person’s entire life. It will poisonyour
family and your relationships. It will devastate and ruin everything it touches
in your life!
Ask Achan if a little gold, silver and a garment were worth his life and
the lives of his family, Joshua 7. Ask David if a few stolenmoments with
another man’s wife were worth the devastationand calamities that came into
his family as a result.

4. Leprosy Isolates -Lev. 13:46 - The leper was isolatedfrom the camp of
the clean. He was forcedto dwell alone on the fringes of society. Sinalso
isolates. It drives a wedge betweenfamily members and it separates the sinner
from God, Isa. 59:2.
5. Leprosy destines things for the fire - Lev. 13:52 - Everything the leper
touched was burned! So it is with sin! It destines those afflicted by it to the
fires of eternal torment, Psa. 9:17!
B. The Nature Of His Approach – What brought this poor man to Jesus?
Perhaps he awakenedin the leper colonythat morning and heard the news
that Jesus ofNazareth was passing by. Perhaps he heard the goodnews that
Jesus had been healing the sick and casting out devils.
He heard the word somehow and faith was awakenedin his heart.
Maybe he said within himself, “If Jesus cando all those things for other, I am
sure that He can heal me!”
He made his wayto where Jesus was. It took greatcourage forthis man
to approach the Savior that day. He risked stoning, humiliation and death to
get to the Lord.
Can you imagine the reactionof the crowd as that leper beganto push his
way through? They must have scatteredin horror, recoiling, as the leper
approachedwith his cries of “Unclean!Unclean!”
Surely, some of his fellow lepers tried to discourage him. they might have
said, “You better stay here with us. Jesus won’thelp you. He doesn’t care
about a wretch like you.” But, faith had been awakenedin his heart and faith
was pushing him towardJesus.
(Note:That’s the wayit works. The Spirit of God arouses faith in the heart of
the lostperson. That personsees his condition and realizes that the only hope
he has is to get to Jesus. Whenthat awarenessdawns in the heart of a lost
person, they will go through whatever they have to go through to get to Him!

When a lostperson comes to Jesus, the devil says “You’re not worthy to
come to Jesus!” He is right! Your own heart says, “You’re not worthy to come
to Jesus!” Your heart is right! But, don’t let them stop you from coming!
You might not be worthy to come, but He will never turn you awaywhen
you do, John 6:37. That is the power of God’s amazing grace!When the flesh
and the devils say, “You’re not worthy to come”, they are right! But, when
they say, “He won’t have you” they are dead wrong!)
C. The Nature Of His Appeal – This man came to Jesus the right way. He
came humbly and he came in faith, Ill. Psa. 51:17. He realized that he
deservednothing, but he knew enough about Jesus to know that if the Lord
wanted to, He could heal his body. His words are filled with faith!
When this leper speaks,he acknowledgesthe Lord’s power, and the
Lord’s sovereignty. He says “If Thou wilt”. That statement acknowledges the
truth that healing rests within the will of God.
He did not know what Jesus would do; he simply placedthe matter in the
Lord’s hand and left it up to Him. What faith! Then he says “Thoucastmake
me clean”. This statementacknowledgesJesusand His power to heal. This
man approaches Jesuson the basis of faith.
This man has reachedthe place where he knows he needs a miracle of
God to deliver him from his disease. Apparently, he is in the last stages, Luke
5:12 tells us he was “full of leprosy”. He was nearly gone and he needed divine
intervention. So, he came to Jesus.
(Ill. If your life has been wreckedandruined by sin, you need divine
intervention too. You need what only Jesus cangive you. You need a miracle!
You need to do like this leper and getto the feet of Jesus!
If you will come to Him with a humble spirit and with a heart of faith, He
will not turn you away. He will turn you around. That is His promise: James
4:10; Rom. 10:9, 13.)

II. v. 41-42 A SOVEREIGN MESSIAH
A. v. 41a The Messiah’s Compassion – Jesus seesthis poor man and He sees
His condition. He does not shrink back in fearfrom the leper as the rest of the
people are doing. He is not repulsed by his appearance or by his smell. We
are told that Jesus is “movedwith compassion”.
“Compassion” is a word that refers to “a feeling of deep sympathy
and sorrow for another who is strickenby misfortune, accompaniedby a
strong desire to alleviate the suffering.” When Jesus lookedupon this poor,
wretchedman and saw his condition, His heart was stirred to action! In fact,
the thought expressedhere is “of love and compassionexpressedto those in
one’s own family.”Jesus lovedthis man like others would love a brother, or a
son! What love!
Then, Jesus did something very strange. We are told that He “put forth
His hand, and touched him”. It had been years since anyone had touched this
man. It had been years since this man had held his wife or children. He had
been isolatedand alone!
To touch a leper made one unclean and was strictly forbidden by the
Law. Touching a leper could possible cause the one touching to become
infected as well. But, what did Jesus do? He touched Him!
I don’t know what that leper expected. Probably to be run off at best and
stoned to death at worst. Imagine his surprise when Jesus reachedout and
touched him! Can you hear the crowd gaspin surprise and shock as they see
Jesus reaching out to touch this unclean man? But, oh how glorious that one
touch must have felt to this man! If there was any feeling left in his skin it
must have felt like nothing he had ever felt before!
When Jesus touchedthis man, His touch said, “I love you just like you
are and I am here to help you.” When Jesus touchedthis man, Jesus entered
His world!

Others would never have touched a leper out of fearof contracting the
disease themselves.Jesus,the cleanestmanin the entire crowd, did not fear
defilement, so He touched him without fear.
What was different about this touch? The leper could not transmit to
Jesus the corruption of his disease. Deitycannotbe defiled! When He touched
the leper, Jesus transmitted to him the cleansing of His deity!
(Note:Did you know that Jesus is still touching lives today? It makes no
difference who you are or what you may have done, you are not so bad as to
be beyond His glorious touch.
When Jesus came into this world to die for our sins, He entered our
world. He sharedour pain and our suffering. He died on the cross andtook
our sins upon Himself that He might touch us and change us by His grace and
power. He has compassionon you today and He will touch you, if you will let
Him!
Have you experiencedHis wonderful, personaltouch? Do you remember
how it felt to be lockedin sin’s dark dungeon, helpless and hopelesslylostin
your sins? Do you remember how glorious it was when the Lord reachedinto
the hell of your life and touched you?)
B. v. 41b-42 The Messiah’s Command – Jesus simply touched the leper and
gave a command for him to be clean. And, instantly, His leprosy departed.
That deformed body was made whole in an instant.
The face was normal. The shattered hands and feet were restoredto
wholeness. The ruined skin was instantly as smooth as a baby’s. The
defilement of his disease was immediately takenaway. Everything changed
when the Masterspoke!That leper was given a brand new in that very
moment.

(Note: That is what Jesus does whenHe touches a life! He gives the
person He touches a new life instantly. He literally makes them into “new
creatures” by His amazing power, 2 Cor. 5:17. His gives them a “new birth”,
John 3:3, 7, and they are never the same again!
They are no longeroutcasts, but they are takenin. No longer
children of the devil, but children of God. They are no longer unclean, but
they are “acceptedin the Beloved”. Whata difference the touch of the Master
makes!Has He touched your life?)
III. v. 43-45 A STRANGE MANDATE
A. v. 43-44 The Demand– As soonas He had healed the man, Jesus senthim
away. Ill. This is a strong term that means Jesus “thrust him out of the
crowd.” What a contrastto how a modern “faith healer” would act. The faith
healerwould keepthe fellow around for an advertisement. Jesus did not need
advertisement, so He sent the man away. Why?
Jesus was trying to avoid a circus-like atmosphere around His ministry.
He wanted the people to follow the messageandnot the miracles. He knew
that when they saw a leper healedbefore their eyes, they would go wild and
see Him as a miracle workerand not a preacherof the Gospelof grace. Also,
contactwith a leper would have also given His enemies ammunition against
Him.
Jesus didn’t just send him away. He sent him to the priest at the temple.
This man was told to go and fulfill the requirements of the Law for his
cleansing.
This leper was to go and to present himself to the priest and get a
certificate of cleansing onthe basis of a ceremony in Lev. 14. The leper was to
come to the priest and the priest was to go outside the camp where the leper
was.
That's exactly what Jesus did for us. When we couldn't go to heaven
where Jesus was Jesus came downhere where we are. When we couldn’t get

to God, God came to us! The Bible says in Heb. 13:12 that Jesus suffered
without the gate, Jesus has come down here where we are, and on a hill
outside the city of JerusalemJesus suffered.
Then, the priest was to take an earthen vessel, two birds, some cedarand
hyssop. He was to kill one of those birds and let the blood of that bird pour
into the earthen vesselThen the priest took the blood of the dead bird and
applied it to the wings of the living bird. He then took that living bird, with
the blood dripping from its wings, out into an open field and he let that bird
loose and that bird would go flying up into the air.
The leper would see that blood dripping from the wings of the bird and
he would understand the price of his cleansing and the messagewouldcome to
that leper, “I am clean because ofthe blood.”
(Note:There's only one element that cancleanse you from your sins today and
that is the blood of Jesus. You say, “Well, my sins are so deep”, but the Lord
says, “My blood goes so much deeper.” Oh, but, “Lord, my sins have gone too
far”, but He says, “Myblood has gone much farther.” Oh, but, “Lord, my sins
are strong”;Jesus says, “Myblood is so much stronger.” Justas that leper
had his cleansing completedby the application of blood, so the sinner today is
made cleanthrough the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, Rev. 5:9; 1 Pet.
1:18-19!“What canwashaway my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!”)
B. v. 44-45 The Disobedience – This man was to go and show himself to the
High Priest. Notice what Jesus says that this will be: “fora testimony unto
them”. This is the first recordedcleansing ofa leper since the days of Elisha, 2
Kings 5. The high priest had never seena leper cleansed. He had never
utilized the commandments given in Lev. 14. That day, the Priestwas to be
put on notice that there was a Man in town Who had the powerto take away
leprosy!
What a testimony it would have been when that poor old leper was
glorious cleansedand applied at the temple for cleansing!This miracle would
have notified the priests that the Messiahhad come!

Sadly, the man disobeyedand what would have been a greattestimony
went untold. Jesus told the man to tell no one but the priests; the man went
out and told everyone but the priests!Instead of crying out “Unclean!
Unclean!”; He cried out “Clean!Clean! Look at me, I am clean!”
The leper disobeyed the command of Jesus and, as a result, Jesus was
forcedto move His ministry into the country. Many who could have heard the
Word of the Lord never did because ofone man’s disobedience!
(Note:Now, I understand his excitement. What a thrill it is when Jesus
changes a life! When He liberates a soul from the bondage of sin and sets that
sinner free, the redeemed person wants to tell everyone!
But, when the Lord saves us, He saves us to live a life of obedience, Ill. 1
Sam. 15:22. When we disobey Him we not only damage our own testimony, we
potentially bring dishonor to the Lord. One actof disobedience has the
potential to hinder our Lord’s ability to minister!
Another thought that arises here has to do with our words. It is possible
to say the right words at the wrong time and do greatdamage! We ought to
pray for spiritual discernment when it comes to what we say and do for the
Lord. The right words at the right time and be used of the Lord in wonderful
ways, Pro. 25:11. However, the rights words at the wrong time canbe
damaging.)
Conc:Where does this messagefind you today? Are you like this poor leper
before he was cleansed, afflictedand devastatedby sin? If so, there is hope
and hope’s name is Jesus!Come to Him and find cleansing and a new life!
Have you been cleansedand reminded of just Jesus did for you when He
savedyou? Are you grateful and what to thank Him? This would be a good
time to do just that.

Maybe, like this leper, you have been cleansed, but there are areas of
disobedience in your life. And, the Lord can’t use you to your fullest. Today
would be a goodday to getdown before Him and getthat right.
Wherever you are in your spiritual journey, He cares!He is ready to
reachinto your life and touch you at the very point of your need. He stands
ready to help you, if you will simply come to Him in faith as this poor leper
did!
Catalog No. 5274Mark 1:35-45 5th MessageScottGrantFebruary 3, 2008
THE HUMAN TOUCH
SERIES:THE WAY OF THE LORD: FOLLOWING JESUS IN THE
GOSPELOF MARK
A man riding a motorcycle made a left turn. It happens all the time. What
caught my attention was the Scottishterrier that was riding in a basketin the
back. It leanedinto the turn perfectly and then righted itself as the motorcycle
straightenedout. I was working as a reporter for a small newspaperat the
time, and I was always on the lookoutfor quirky stories that would never
make it into larger papers. I followedthe motorcycle until it stopped at a
coffee shop. I introduced myself to the man and askedhim about his dog. He
said he and his dog were inseparable. The Scottishterrier was the third dog he
had owned. Eachdog, he said, traveled with him everywhere. “I have nothing
againsthumans,” he said, “but they can’t compare to a gooddog.” One of the
tragedies of modern Western life is how alone so many of us feel. Something
within us longs for companionship. If humans don’t meet the need, well, why

not a dog? The hunger for deep and meaningful relationships comes from
being made in the image of God—who exists in three persons, eachof whom is
in constantrelationship with the others. We want to know and be known, to
love and be loved. The relationships that we quite properly desire, however,
often elude us. Many of us therefore feelisolated. Some who feelespecially
alienatedact out in destructive ways. Can anything other than a gooddog
help us? A passagein the Gospelof Mark comes to our aid.
Mark 1:35-45:
In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus gotup, left the house, and
went awayto a secluded place, and was praying there. Simon and his
companions searchedfor Him; they found Him, and said to Him, “Everyone is
looking for You.” He said to them, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns
nearby, so that I may preach there also;for that is what I came for.” And He
went into their synagoguesthroughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out
the demons. And a leper came to Jesus, beseeching Him and falling on his
knees before Him, and saying, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”
Moved with compassion, Jesus stretchedoutHis hand and touched him, and
said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.”Immediately the leprosyleft him and
he was cleansed. And He sternly warned him and immediately senthim away,
and He said to him, “See
1
that you saynothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer
for your cleansing whatMoses commanded, as a testimony to them.” But he
went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spreadthe news around, to
such an extent that Jesus couldno longerpublicly enter a city, but stayed out
in unpopulated areas;and they were coming to Him from everywhere.(1)

The leaderyou can trust After an eventful day in Capernaum in which he
came to the notice of the entire city, Jesus meets with God apart from his
disciples and the crowd that he had attracted. He goes to a secluded place,
which recalls his encounter with Satanin the wilderness (Mark 1:12-13). He
emergedfrom the wilderness with a mission to preachabout the kingdom of
God in the regionof Galilee. As readers, we wonder what will come of his
retreat to another secludedplace. Jesus is so eagerto meet with God that he
rises while it’s still dark, but Simon and others—presumably Andrew, James,
and John—wouldrather he resume the activities of the prior day. They hunt
him down and inform him that folks back in town, where he healed the sick
and castout demons, are clamoring for his attention. The kingdom movement
that Jesus launchedin Capernaum gotoff to a spectacularstart, and Simon
and the others want him to return to capture the moment. “Everyone is
looking for you,” they say, but Jesus, to the chagrinof his followers, was
looking to God. Jesus emergesfrom the secludedplace with a renewed sense
of mission that confounds the expectations of his followers and disappoints the
people of Capernaum, who want more healings and exorcisms. Jesustells his
followers that it’s time to move on. He came into Galilee preaching the gospel,
and now he announces his intention to leave Capernaum and preachin other,
less populated Galileantowns. Jesus’retreathas served to reaffirm his
original sense ofmission. The presidential hopefuls have invaded our state in
hopes of winning our votes in Tuesday’s primary. The candidates come
equipped with a cadre of managers and pollsters to help them court the
particular segments ofthe voting public they need in order to win: soccer
moms, NASCAR dads, and what have you. When the candidates speak, we
suspectthat they’re not telling us what they really believe but what they think
they need to say in order to get elected. Simon is like a campaignmanager
who comes to Jesus with the latestpoll results. Capernaum is going for Jesus
big-time. Jesus, however, doesn’tpay attention to public opinion polls or
campaignmanagers. He doesn’t care about expectations. Unlike most of us, he
doesn’t need popularity to bolsterhis identity. He isn’t running for anything.
His mission doesn’tdepend on public approval. He doesn’t need a ministry of
thousands. In fact, he forsakes a ministry of thousands. He doesn’tneed
adoring fans. He doesn’t need our votes. He isn’t interestedin what’s popular
or in being popular. He’s not listening to Karl Rove or James Carville. He’s

listening to the Father, and he’s getting up in the middle of the night to do so.
When you listen to Jesus, you’re not listening to spin; you’re listening to the
truth. You’re getting the straight scoop. Whenhe asks you to follow him, you
know he’s listening to the Father. Isn’t it reassuring, particularly in the
middle of the political
2
season, to know that our leader is not pandering to—and is not swayedby—
public opinion?
Our goal:to follow Jesus
Jesus’message is that God, at long last, is establishing his kingdom—that is,
his healing and loving rule. Jesus will not be drawn into a sedentary mission
that emphasizes healings and exorcisms. The healings and exorcisms go hand
in hand with his message. The in-breaking of the kingdom of God means the
defeatof demons and disease. Jesus’mission, however, is not to heal as many
people as possible. ForJesus, the messagetakesprecedence. His mission, at
leastat first, is that of an itinerate preacher who heralds the arrival of the
kingdom of God. He knows that he will be opposedby powerful forces, both
human and demonic. To stay put is to be a sitting duck. Jesus will stay on the
move, confounding his enemies and avoiding arrest, through 10 chapters of
the GospelofMark. Only when he arrives in Jerusalemwill he stay put—and
only after meeting with God, once again, in a secludedplace (Mark 14:3242).
Jesus would not leave Jerusalem, as he left Capernaum, to preach in nearby
towns about the kingdom of God. No, he would stay in Jerusalemto bring in
the kingdom of God. Fornow, though, he brings his messageto the
synagoguesofother Galileantowns, just like he brought it to the synagogue of
Capernaum. He goes into the synagogues, andthe demons go out. The
kingdom of God isn’t just arriving in Capernaum; it’s arriving all over
Galilee. It’s arriving not in a place but in a person: Jesus ofNazareth, the Son
of God. Jesus entrusts us with his message—thegoodnews that God is

establishing his healing, loving rule on earth. The message takesprecedence.
We must not sublimate it, compromise it, or waterit down. Healings and
exorcisms, and what today we call“socialjustice,” go hand in hand with the
message. The messageofthe gospel, however, gives rise to socialjustice. Social
justice does not give rise to the message.When we bring God’s healing to the
world in acts of socialjustice, we are bringing the gospelto bear on the world.
We are not simply helping people; we are putting hands and feet on the
gospel. We are heralding, whether we open our mouths or not, the arrival of
the kingdom of God in the personof the Lord Jesus Christ. Our goal, though,
is not to heal as many people as possible. Neither is it to save as many people
as possible. Our goalisn’t a ministry of thousands. Neither is it popularity.
Our goalis to follow Jesus. He will leadus to take the messageofGod’s
healing love to the world. His leading, however, is sure to confound us at
times, just as it confounded his first followers. He may lead us to heal and save
thousands; on the other hand, he may not. He’ll tell us to leave Capernaum,
where the possibilities for ministry seemendless, and remain in Jerusalem,
where ministry comes to a screeching halt. He’ll tell us to move when it seems
as if we should stay put. He’ll tell us to stay put when it seems as if we should
move. He will close doors that we want opened and open doors we want
closed. He will, however, impart to us his wisdom, wrought in his eternal
relationship with the Father, through his Holy Spirit. To receive this wisdom,
we must, from time to time, go to a secludedplace and pray, just as Jesus did.
Everyone was looking for Jesus in Capernaum, so he needed to get away.
Everyone, seemingly, is looking for us in the SiliconValley. People have
3
expectations ofus. Therefore, we need to get awayto some place in our lives
where we can listen to Jesus. Mostpeople in your life are not going to
encourage youto forgetabout them in order to spend time with Jesus. Some
people, like Simon, may be disappointed if you disengage. If, however, you are
going to say no to popular opinion and yes to Jesus, then you’ll need to invest
in your relationship with him. Considerbreaking away from your routine to
spend a day with Jesus on a regularbasis—say, once everythree months or
twice a year. Pray. Think. Walk. Write. Read. Reflect. Don’tworry if your
mind wanders. A goodday with Jesus includes meanderings of the mind. A

wandering mind inspires prayer, as you think of things to pray for, and it also
springs from prayer, which inspires new paths of wandering.
Jesus heals a leprous man
Simon and the other followers ofJesus came and found him in a secluded
place. Now, a man afflicted with leprosy, who had to live in a secludedplace in
adherence to the Mosaic Law, comes to Jesus. Jesus refusedthe implied
request of his disciples to follow them back to Capernaum. Now, a leprous
man makes an implied request. Unlike the disciples, for whom the will of
“everyone” was paramount, this man appeals only to the will of Jesus. He
believes that Jesus cancleanse him—that is, heal him and make him ritually
clean. If he’s cleansed, he can rejoin the community from which he’s been
excluded. For him, the only question is whether Jesus will cleanse him. Our
narrator takes pains to tell us that Jesus stretches out his hand and touches
the man. If the narrative were a movie, this part would be in slow motion.
What’s the point? Jesus is touching a leprous man, and touching a leprous
man makes one ritually unclean. Someone afflictedwith leprosy was required
to call out, “Unclean, unclean,” so that no one would approachhim (Leviticus
13:45-46). Jesus wasunconcernedwith public opinion when his followers
wanted to return with him to Capernaum; now he’s unconcernedwith being
infected and with becoming ritually unclean. Jesus touches anuntouchable.
He also speaks to the man, whose interaction with other humans would have
been limited. Jesus was moved with compassionnot only to heal the man but
also to heal him in a particular waythat would minister to him: by touching
him and speaking to him. Justas the demon left the man in the synagogue of
Capernaum and just as the fever left Simon’s mother-in-law, the leprosy
leaves this man. Demons and disease are onthe run—even the dreaded disease
of leprosy, which was consideredinfectious and which excluded people from
community. Having cleansedthe leprous man, Jesus emphatically commands
him to do three things: „ Keep quiet about his healing. „ Show himself to the
localpriest, in accordancewith the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 13). „ Make a

sacrificialoffering, also in accordancewith the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 14).
Jesus’strategyregarding publicity comes off as flexible in the Gospelof
Mark. In this case and at other times, he orders those he has healed to keep
quiet (Mark 5:43, Mark 8:26). In one case, however, he orders a man to
spread the news (Mark 5:19). At this point, he is concernedthat publicity will
hinder his mission to preach in the towns of Galilee. The message—the good
news that God is establishing his healing rule through
4
the Lord Jesus Christ—takesprecedence,but wisdom will, at certain times
and places, advise us to be silent, for reasons sometimesknownand sometimes
unknown. Jesus does, however, wantthe man to speak to one person: a local
priest who would be able to give him a cleanbill of health so that he could
rejoin the community. To make an offering, the man would have to make a
pilgrimage from Galilee to the temple in Jerusalem. The offering would serve
as a witness concerning Jesus to the priests and others in Jerusalemwho
became aware ofit. In a sense, itwould prepare Jerusalemfor Jesus’arrival
there. Jesus wants Jerusalem, his eventual destination, to be aware of the
healing, but not Galilee, where he is launching his mission. When he gets to
Jerusalem, he’ll be finishing the job, not starting the job, and there would be
no need to keepquiet about him any longer. In the end, testimony concerning
the healing of a leper would be evidence that the kingdom of God had arrived.
Evidence of Jesus’healings wouldserve as a witness againstthose who
disbelieved him (Mark 6:11, 13:9). Mark is unconcernedwith reporting
whether the man obeyedthe commands to see a priest and make an offering.
He does, however, report that the man disobeyedthe first command by
spreading the news. Until now, Jesus has calledmen and they have followed,
and both demons and diseases have obeyedhis commands. The ex-leper,
though, disobeys one of his commands, even though Jesus literally “castout”
the man, just as he had castout demons. Demons and diseasesare compelled
to obey Jesus;a human, on the other hand, has a choice. Literally, the man
beganto “preach” and to make known “the word,” activities associatedin the
immediate contextwith Jesus himself (Mark 1:38, 2:2). Jesus literally was
“able” to make the leper clean, but publicity generatedby the leper’s
disobedience means that Jesus is literally no longer “able” to publicly enter a

city. Jesus, like a leper, stays in unpopulated areas. The leper becomes like
Jesus, and Jesus becomeslike the leper. When Simon and his companions
wanted Jesus to stay in Capernaum, Jesus said, “Let us go … ” The disciples
didn’t get what they wanted. The leprous man, on the other hand, gotwhat he
wanted. However, after healing him, Jesus told him to “go,” but he disobeyed.
For the first time in the Gospelof Mark, Jesus doesn’tgetwhat he wants.
Mark’s two-part story beganwith Jesus in a “secludedplace” and it concludes
with Jesus in “unpopulated areas.” (The two Greek words translated
“secludedplace”— erēmos topos—are the same words translated
“unpopulated areas,”although“place” is singular and “areas”is plural.) Just
as the disciples found him in the secluded place, crowds of Galileans find him
in the secludedplaces. People in the north flock to him from literally “all
directions” of Galilee, just as people in the south flockedto John the Baptist
from “all” Judea (Mark 1:5). Jesus wantedto preachin the synagoguesof
Galilee, but the synagogues, ina sense, come to him. In a sense, he becomes
the synagogue.Jesuscommandedthe ex-leper to make a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem, but Galilee, in a sense, is making a pilgrimage to Jesus. Mark will
make it even more evident in his next story that what used to happen in a
place is now happening in a person: Jesus ofNazareth, the Son of God.
Hearing and feeling Jesus
Some of us, perhaps, resonate with the leprous man: we’re living in seclusion.
We may be living a solitary life: living and working and playing apart from
others. Because
5
of our personalities and history, we face immense socialchallenges. Others of
us relate with others well enough but maintain an emotionaldistance. No one
really knows us, because we’re afraidto be known. Mostof us, perhaps, feel
isolatedin one way or another. Henri Nouwen, who workedfor many years
among severelydisabled people, shares these reflections:

In the Westernworld, the suffering that seems to be the most painful is that of
feeling rejected, ignored, despisedand left alone. In my own community, with
many severelyhandicapped men and women, the greatestsource ofsuffering
is not the handicap itself, but the accompanying feelings of being useless,
worthless, unappreciatedand unloved. It is much easierto acceptinability to
speak, walk orfeed oneselfthan it is to acceptthe inability to be of special
value to another person. We human beings cansuffer immense deprivations
with greatsteadfastness, but when we sense that we no longer have anything
to offer anyone, we quickly lose our grip on life. Instinctively we know that the
joy of life comes from the ways in which we live togetherand that the pain of
life comes from the many ways we fail to do that well.(2)
Whether we suffer from a disability or not, many of us live with the sense that
some defectmakes us unacceptable to our world. Can Jesus healus? Yes. The
leprous man believed that Jesus couldheal him. Will Jesus healus? The
narrative gives us every reasonto believe that he will—that is, if we want to be
healed. In Capernaum, publicity was getting out of hand. Jesus refocusedby
meeting with the Father. His mission is to preach, not heal. He leaves
Capernaum, meets a leprous man, and what happens? Jesus knows thathe’ll
be placing his mission at risk if he heals the man. Nevertheless, he feels
compassionfor the man and heals him—almost, it seems, againsthis better
judgment. The successofhis mission now depends, apparently, on the
obedience of the man he has healed. The man, however, spreads the news,
forcing Jesus to change his plans and live like a leper. Paul says that Jesus
“knew no sin” but “became sin on our behalf” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus
places his mission at risk because ofcompassion. Becauseofthe compassion
he feels for you, Jesus is willing to risk his mission in order to heal you. Our
disobedience means that he became what we are—a sin-stained human—that
eachof us might become what he is: a son of God. How does Jesus healus? In
the waythat we need to be healed. If we’re living in isolation, apart from deep
and meaningful human relationships, Jesus speaks to us and touches us. And
let’s not forget: Jesus is human. One of the ways we hear and feelJesus is

through the words and touch of the people who, through his indwelling Spirit,
constitute his body. The leprous man believed that Jesus could heal him. We
must believe that Jesus canhealus through his people. We have to let a few of
his people into our hearts that he might do his work. We may need to find or
create a group of Jesus’followers who are willing to open their hearts to each
other. In such a fellowship, we discoverthat other brothers and sisters
struggle just as we do, sometimes in exactly the same way. Many men, for
example, believe that their issues with pornography and masturbation place
them in the minority until they open up to a few brothers. To be healed, we
need to come out of hiding. In the darkness, our secrets terrorize us. When we
expose them to the light, we candeal with them.
6
In the movie Secrets andLies, a woman is unable to conceive but she and her
husband don’t share this information with their extended family. The secret
eats awayat the couple’s relationship for 15 years. The wife, in particular,
fears what would happen if her secretgotout. Finally, at an intense family
gathering, the husband blurts out the couple’s secret. As soonas the words
emerge from his mouth, he says, “There, I said it. No thunder. No lightning.”
He was surprised how easyit finally was to open up. Keeping the secret, it
turns out, was more damaging than the secretitself.(3)When we expose our
secrets in the presence of the people of Jesus who offer us his love and
acceptance, we are on the way to being restoredto community. If you are in a
small group whose members keeptheir hearts from eachother, take the
initiative to share your heart. By doing so, you might unlock the hearts of
other members as well. You might just start a revolution. My first exposure
to the body of Christ openedmy eyes to see relationships in a new way. When
I was a teenager, the last thing you did in my circles was tell people what you
really felt. Certainthings just weren’tdiscussed. The high schoolstudents in
the youth group that I joined, however, were relating to eachother in a more
open way. They even openedup in public settings about their struggles. I
didn’t know people anywhere relatedto eachother with such vulnerability. As
a teenager, my heart had been closedoff to everyone. The youth group’s
openness, however, attractedme. It helped me open up not only to the
members of the group but to Jesus himself. The youth pastor then brought us

to a Sunday night worship service at Peninsula Bible Church, where two
dozen or so people stood up in front of hundreds of people and sharedtheir
hearts. One even confessedthat he attempted suicide. When I was 16, I knew
people attempted suicide; I just didn’t know anyone talked about it. I wasn’t
sure how to process whatI witnessedthat night, but I am sure it helped me
understand that it wasn’t necessaryto live my life closedoff to the restof the
world. Will you let Jesus, eitherdirectly or through his people, speak to that
part of you that needs to be healed? Will you let him touch you there? Will
you let him heal you and enfold you into his community? If Jesus became
what we are that we might become what he is, then we who have been touched
by Jesus become healers also. We offerthe healing of Jesus through words
and touch to those who ache for deep and meaningful human relationships.
Doctors have discoveredthat some catatonic patients on occasionshow some
change in expressionwhen someone speakstheir names or touches them.(4)
Even simple words and touch, especiallyif they’re personal, can reachinto a
heart. I remember visiting a church some years ago. I satin a chair next to the
aisle in the back a few minutes before the worship service started. Shortly
thereafter, I felt a hand brush againstmy shoulder and I heard the words,
“Hello, brother.” The man was walking down the aisle past me. He didn’t
stop, nor did he look at me. His gesture, though, struck me as genuine and
reachedinto my heart. I felt appreciated. I don’t remember anything about
the worship service—neitherthe sermon nor the music. But I remember that
someone touchedme. The most powerful healing force in the world resides in
us and among us: the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. We release the Spirit
when we open our hearts to eachother, when we accepteachother, when we
look into eachother’s hearts and speak words of affirmation and correction,
and when we touch eachother with sensitivity.
7
The loneliestplace on earth

Jesus goesinto seclusionto seek the will of the Father. He comes out of
seclusionand risks everything in order to bring us out of seclusion. Our
disobedience, like that of the former leper, sends him back into seclusion.
Takentogether, the two stories in Mark 1:35-45 point both backwardand
forward in Mark’s narrative. First, Jesus wentto the wilderness, a secluded
place, and encounteredSatan. Later, after traveling to Jerusalem, he went to
another secludedplace, Gethsemane, to pray: “Abba! Father! All things are
possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You
will.” By all appearances, the Father told him to stayin Gethsemane and wait
for the approaching mob. Finally, our disobedience sentJesus to the loneliest
place on earth: Golgotha, the Place ofthe Skull. Just as in the wilderness, he
encounteredSatan at Golgotha—this time in the taunts of the passersby, chief
priests, and criminals. Yes, he prayed to the Father againin the secluded
place:“My God, My God, why have You forsakenMe?” Butthe Father,
having withdrawn his presence, didn’t answer. Why? BecauseatGolgotha,
Jesus became sin on our behalf. He became what we are that we might become
what he is. Now, just as people came to Jesus from everywhere in Galilee,
people are coming to Jesus from everywhere in the world. Come to him.
Look, he’s stretching out his hand. Feelhim touch you. Hear him speak to
you. Let him heal you. Let him enfold you into his community. Then, follow
the Spirit of Jesus as he moves you to stretch out your hand, to touch others,
and to speak to them that they, too, might be healed.
Notes
(1) A Jesus goes to a secluded“place” (35). B Simon and others come to Jesus
(36-37). C No healing in Capernaum; Jesus commands disciples:“Let us go”
(38). D Jesus “preaches” (39). B’Leper comes to Jesus (40). C’ Jesus heals
leper, commands him to “go” (41-44). D’Leper “preaches”(45a). A’ Jesus
stays in wilderness “places”;many come to him (45b). (2) Henri J.M. Nouwen,
The Life of the Beloved(New York: CrossroadPublishing Co.), 72-73. (3)

Secrets andLies (20th Century Fox). (4) Oliver Sacks,Awakenings (Vintage
Books).
DiscoveryPublishing © 2008, the publications ministry of Peninsula Bible
Church. To receive additional copies of this message, contact:Discovery
Publishing, 3505 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, CA 94306. Phone (650)494-
0623. www.pbc.org/dp. We suggesta 50-centdonation per printed messageto
help with this ministry. Scripture quotations are takenfrom the NEW
AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE (“NASB”), © 1960, 1962,1963, 1968, 1971,
1972, 1973, 1975,1977, 1995, 1996 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by
permission
Rev. David Holwick ZF
First Baptist Church
WestLafayette, Ohio
September 11, 1988
BAPTISM SERVICE
Mark 1:40-45
JESUS CLEANSES A LEPER
I. Leper.
A. Ritually unclean. Lev 13-14

1) Not allowedin Temple.
B. Sociallyunclean.
1) People they touched became unclean.
2) He was a prisoner, cut off from all normal life.
C. Parallelwith AIDS patients.
1) Rejectedby society.
2) Put ourselves in their shoes.
D. Leper asks to be clean.
II. Jesus touches him.
A. Physicalhealing.
B. Socialhealing. (all four gospels mention it)
1) Jesus gives him immediate socialcontact.
a) In doing so, he violates ritual purity laws.
b) Common theme: Jesus welcomes outcasts.
III. The emotions of the encounter.
A. The leper seems to know Jesus can;supernaturally?
1) "If you want to."

a) Perhaps is confrontational - puts Jesus on spot.
B. Jesus reveals his heart - he cares.
1) "I do want to."
2) He is filled with pity.
IV. Stern order not to publicize.
A. Do not publicize.
1) Mark is more severe than other gospels.
B. Follow proper OT ritual for cleansing.
1) A distinction is made:
a) Shallow publicizing.
b) Proper witnessing - ie, to a priest.
C. Man is disobedient and tells others what happened.
1) Lacks insight into Jesus'significance.
a) Sensationalizedhealing.
b) But did not proclaim Jesus'Kingdom.
1> Law of Moses couldcertify disease ordeath.
2> Jesus displays power to heal.
2) Causes Jesus problems in his ministry.

D. Nevertheless,whetherwrong or right, the news about Jesus spreads.
V. Application:
A. Modern leprosy - spiritual sin before God.
1) Illustration from WestPoint:
During his first days at WestPoint, Randall Feweltried hard to
achieve a perfect room inspection, and one morning he thought he had
succeeded. With white gloves on, the company commander checkedevery
cornerof the room, and the gloves came awayclean. He was feeling
proud of himself.
But then the commander said, "Raise your left foot, mister!" and
ran a gloved finger along the sole of his shoe.
None of us can pass God's inspection.
B. Jesus is willing and able to cleanse us from sin.
1) No sin is too great.
2) But repentance, turning around, is expected.
C. We must proclaim him in an obedient way.
1) Not superficial.
2) By our lifestyle.

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Morning Devotionalfor September4
BY SPURGEON
"I will; be thou clean."
- Mark 1:41
Primeval darkness heard the Almighty fiat, "light be," and straightwaylight
was, and the word of the Lord Jesus is equal in majesty to that ancientword
of power. Redemption like Creationhas its word of might. Jesus speaksand it
is done. Leprosy yielded to no human remedies, but it fled at once at the
Lord's "I will." The disease exhibited no hopeful signs or tokens of recovery,
nature contributed nothing to its own healing, but the unaided word effected
the entire work on the spot and for ever. The sinner is in a plight more
miserable than the leper; let him imitate his example and go to Jesus,
"beseeching him and kneeling down to him." Let him exercise whatlittle faith
he has, even though it should go no further than "Lord, if thou wilt, thou
canstmake me clean";and there need be no doubt as to the result of the
application. Jesus heals allwho come, and casts outnone. In reading the
narrative in which our morning's text occurs, it is worthy of devout notice
that Jesus touchedthe leper. This unclean person had brokenthrough the
regulations of the ceremoniallaw and pressedinto the house, but Jesus so far
from chiding him broke through the law himself in order to meet him. He
made an interchange with the leper, for while he cleansedhim, he contracted
by that touch a Levitical defilement. Even so Jesus Christ was made sin for us,
although in himself he knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. O that poor sinners would go to Jesus, believing in the power
of his blessedsubstitutionary work, and they would soonlearn the power of
his gracious touch. That hand which multiplied the loaves, which saved

sinking Peter, which upholds afflicted saints, which crowns believers, that
same hand will touch every seeking sinner, and in a moment make him clean.
The love of Jesus is the source of salvation. He loves, he looks, he touches us,
WE LIVE.
Healings and HEALING
This entry was postedin Mark (Rayburn) on April 22, 2007 by Rev. Dr.
Robert S. Rayburn.
Mark 1:29-45
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After a month away, we return to the Gospelof Mark and take up our
reading at 1:29. Remember, the Lord has just driven an evil spirit out of a
man in the synagogue in Capernaum, amazing the people with his authority.
We are now to be given severalaccounts ofmiraculous healing and will be
told that Jesus performed many such exorcisms and healings.
Text Comment
v.29
It is quite likely that this house, the home of Peterand Andrew, was the
Lord’s own home in Capernaum and so the place where he regularly met with
his disciples and the headquarters of his ministry. Interestingly, within a
stone’s throw of what is now known to have been the locationof the
Capernaum synagogue, the scene ofthe previous episode, lies the structure
that is now calledand can be reasonablyidentified as the house of Peter.
Archaeologistshave found Christian graffiti in Greek, Latin, Syriac, and
Aramaic indicating that it was a sacredgathering place for Christians and
perhaps a church as far back as the end of the first or beginning of the second
century. Forobvious reasons, it was apparently a spot venerated by
Christians. [Edwards, 59]
v.31
As always, the Lord’s healing of the sick is immediate and complete. There
are no spells or incantations, no rituals, such as were typical of so-called
healers then and now. No one fell backwardinto the arms of waiting
assistants.There is nothing of the “symptomatic abatement” that one
sometimes hears from modern so-calledfaith healers;that is, the declaration
of healing without any obvious change in the sick person’s condition. There
was authority exercisedby Jesus and there were always immediate and
definitive and unmistakable results.
Mark notes the fact that, as soonas she was healed, Peter’s mother-in-law
beganto “serve” those in her home. It is an historicalrecollection, to be sure,
but it beautifully suggests whatwill be an emphatic article of the teaching of
Jesus:those who have been touchedand saved by him are to serve others.

v.32
The people waited until after sunsetbecause it was still the same Sabbath day
first mentioned in v. 21. Mark presents the events reported in 1:22-38 as
occurring on a single Sabbath day. The adverb “immediately” – translated
variously in the NIV – occurs five times in these verses, suggesting thatthese
things happened one right after the other. To carry the sick to Jesus, evento
travel to see him, would be work such as was forbidden on the Sabbath, or at
leastthat was the prevailing theory in the Judaism of that day. Jesus, as you
know, did not scruple to heal on the Sabbath day and that will become a cause
of contention betweenhim and the religious leadership.
You will notice, by the way, that Mark carefully distinguishes betweenthose
who were sick and those who were demon-possessed.
v.34
It is interesting and important that it does not appear that Jesus everwent out
looking for the sick. They came to him. As we will see, healing and exorcism
were not part of his ministry in the same way that preaching was.
The Lord’s silencing of the demons is the first instance of what is famously
referred to in the study of the Gospels as “the messianic secret.”We will have
cause to consider this again, but, in short, it appears that the Lord knew it was
necessaryto keepthe wraps on his identity as the Messiahas long as he could
and as best he could so as not to provoke a confrontation with either the
political or the religious leadership before it was time. The demons who knew
who he was therefore were silenced. The current understanding of the
Messiahamong the Jews was that he would be a military and political figure.
To have Jesus identified as such would have prompted swift intervention from
the Romangovernment. But it would also have excited the Jews for precisely
the wrong reasons, forJesus was manifestly not the Messiahthey were
expecting and he had no intention of doing what they expected the Messiahto
do.
v.35

The redundant “very early, while it was still dark” suggestsaneyewitness
touch. Peteris remembering that long ago morning, the look and feel of the
early morning, the chill in the air. So much is suggestedin this single sentence.
The Lord’s life was a life of faith; he was a man of prayer who relied on the
help and blessing of his heavenly Father. He placed such a value on his
communion with God that, exhausted as he must have been by the perpetual
demands of the crowds upon his time, he stole from his sleepto find time for it
and soughtsolitude in which to devote himself to it without distraction. Our
salvation, yours and mine, depended not only on what Jesus did in public, but
what power and help he receivedwhen he was alone in prayer. There are so
many lessons here for us. We are to do as Jesus did and go into our room and
shut the door in order to be alone with God. And we are to place a similar
premium on prayer. Though the Lord Jesus had no sins to confess and few
earthly interests to pray for – the things that make up the bulk of our praying
– he prayed as no man has ever prayed before. A perfect man is not the man
who doesn’t need to pray but the man who always wants to pray!
For none so lone on earth as he
Whose wayof thought is high and free
Beyond the mist, beyond the cloud,
Beyond the clamor of the crowd,
Moving where Jesus trod,
In the lone walk with God.
v.37
The word the NIV translates “is looking for” is used 10x in the Gospelof
Mark and always in a negative sense. Men, in other words, were seeking to
control Jesus, notto submit to him or to follow him. This kind of “seeking” is
not a goodthing. [Edwards, 66-67]
v.39

Here we are introduced, for the first time, to what will also become a familiar
theme in the Gospel:the difference betweenthe Lord’s program and his
disciples’expectation. The Lord had suddenly become the talk of the town.
Crowds had gatheredthe night before and were gathering again as the
morning broke. His disciples assumedthat surely the Lord would exploit this
glorious opportunity, capitalize on his sudden popularity and there would be
more of the signs and wonders that had produced such crowds in the first
place. But the Lord replied that the Gospel, the message ofsalvation, the
coming of the kingdom of God, this is what is all-important. He could heal the
sick and they would still go to hell. He came, he says – and we naturally think
of his coming into the world – a preacherfirst and foremost, a healeronly
secondarily.
v.42
A leper – or a personinfected with any malignant skin disease – was not only
made miserable by the disease but made an outcastby the ceremonial
impurity that it causedand the fear of contagion. People fearedlepers and so
they were required to advertise their coming and to remain at least50 paces
awayfrom others. Josephus speaks ofthe banishment of lepers as those “in no
way differing from a corpse.” [Edwards, 69]The uncleanness of the leper is
reflectedin the language here. This man is not healed, he is cleansed. We
know the disease was widespreadin Palestine during this time. The Mishnah
is full of instructions for the handling of people with this disease. ButJesus’
reputation had reachedthis man, cut off from society, and in hope of
deliverance he found the Lord and, expressing his faith sought a cure. He
offended againstconvention immediately by coming right up to Jesus. As is
typical of his healing miracles, and as we saw with Peter’s mother-in-law in v.
31, the Lord touched the man, more significant than we might think because
the man was an outcast, unused to being touched, and because he was
unclean. Mark’s addition of “reachedout his hand” places emphasis on Jesus’
touching the leper. Was he violating the law of Mosesby touching someone
who was unclean? Not if the touch made the man immediately clean!

The rabbis said in Jesus’day that to cure a leper was as difficult as raising the
dead. The sudden cure of the man’s skin, the most obvious feature of his body,
must have been phenomenally impressive.
v.44
There would have been priests in Galilee, not only 90 miles south in
Jerusalem, but the formal cleansing of a personwhose skin disease provedto
be temporary, a purification ritual required in the Mosaic law, required
sacrifices andso a trip to the temple. But this was necessaryif the man were to
be allowedback into society. The Lord is honoring the law of Moses in any
case.
v.45
It begins to be clearthat his reputation as a miracle-worker, spreading like
wild-fire as it would certainly have done, Jesus found himself riding a
whirlwind: despite his best efforts he was unable to control the popular
excitement. He did his best to keeppeople quiet, but folk usually talk about
what amazes them. A wonderfully human touch.
It is clearfrom this narrative and the parallel sections ofthe other Gospels
that Jesus did not slowly and gradually acquire a reputation and a following
among the people of Galilee. Quite the contrary. Our Saviorburst upon
bucolic Galilee with an explosionof divine power, powerthat he seemedto
have at his fingertips. In a moment his name was on everyone’s lips and his
works were being reported breathlesslyin one excited conversationafter
another. People, as they will, aware that Jesus coulddo extraordinary things,
beganto swarmround him. Mark’s description of the Lord’s early miracles in
Capernaum and other nearby towns is restrained, matter-of-fact, but it is not
hard to picture the roads and streets filling up with people eagerto geta look
at the wonder-workerorto find healing for themselves or their loved ones. It
is not hard for us to imagine how we would have dropped everything to see for
ourselves the one who was supposed to have done such extraordinary things.
A man demon-possessedhadbeen exorcisedand this was done in public, in
the synagogue no less. The conversationbetweenJesus andthe demon was

like nothing anyone had ever heard before and the result was breathtaking:
the man once againsound in mind and spirit, the demon having been sent
packing. Then the mother-in-law of Peter, perhaps not so terribly ill, but
certainly sick, became well, hale and hearty, in an instant when Jesus touched
her and spoke to her. No one had ever seenanything like this either. News
spread throughout the town in moments and then the crowds beganto gather
and it mattered not what the ailment, how serious the disease, allwere cured,
immediately and completely. And then a few days later Jesus was accostedby
a leper begging for help and he too was cured.
Now what is the meaning of all of this? Some say that such poweris intrinsic
to the gospeland the greatmeaning of these miracles is that such healings are
always available to those who have faith in Jesus. In other words, Mark has
given us a picture of what should always be happening in Christian circles.
There are Christians today who pity Christians like us because nothing
miraculous, no such healing is occurring among us, such as they claim is
happening among them.
But with the best will in the world, and with the honestadmission that we too
would love to witness a miracle like these miracles that Mark has reported, we
point out certainfacts.
First, miracles are not found everywhere in the Bible. They were never the
ordinary experience of believers in biblical times. Indeed, the ordinary person
of biblical times never saw a miracle. Miracles are, in fact, concentratedinto
three historical periods only. The first is that of the exodus, the wilderness,
and the early conquest of the Promised Land; the secondis during the
ministry of Elijah and Elisha;and the third is the ministry of Jesus and his
apostles, especiallythe early ministry of the apostles. Bythe end of the New
Testamentthere do not seemto be miracles occurring. The later writings of
Paul, for example, make no mention of them. At one time simply to touch a
handkerchief that Paul had touched would healthe sick. [Acts 19:11]But at
the end of his life, in 2 Tim. 4, we hear the plaintive sigh of a man who was
missing a treasuredfriend: “Trophimus I left ill at Miletus.” The time of
miracles was past, even for Paul.

Second, miracles in the Bible are always associatedwith the ministry of
prophets and apostles. We know of no miracle that is not associatedwith these
unique offices. The Bible certainly never teaches us to expectthat we would
witness miracles, much less be able to perform them, without the presence of a
prophet like MosesorElijah or an apostle like Peteror Paul.
Third, when Jesus’ministry was complete and he had returned to heaven,
Petertells us what his miracles were for. In his Pentecostsermonhe says to
the Jews that“Jesus ofNazareth was a man accreditedby God to you by
miracles, wonders, and signs, which Goddid among you through him, as you
yourselves know.” In other words, the purpose of Jesus’miracles was not in
the first instance to getsick people well. It was to reveal Jesus as the Sonof
God and the Savior of the world. Miracles and revelationalways go together
in the Bible! Jesus makes the same point. He pointed out that there were many
widows in Israelin Elijah’s day, in that time of severe famine, but he
miraculously provided for only one widow and she was not an Israelite
woman. And there were many lepers in Israel in Elisha’s day and he cleansed
only one and he was not an Israelite either. The role of miracles in the history
of salvationis to accreditthose who speak and actfor God in the world in that
once for all way in which Moses did and Elijah did and Jesus did and Paul
did. There is absolutelynothing in the Bible to suggestthat the miraculous
was ever intended to be the ordinary experience of the church. Indeed,
miracles would ceaseto be miracles if they occurred all the time.
Fourth, Jesus’miracles, as we have said, were real miracles. Theyastonished
everyone;they left everyone baffled, they convinced everyone of their
miraculous nature. Even Jesus’enemies did not, could not deny that he had
healed the sick, even raisedthe dead. The so-calledmiracles of today are not
of this type as has been proved, alas, too many times. I have told you before,
biblical miracles being what they were – self-authenticating demonstrations of
divine power – if such miracles begin occurring againtoday, you will read
about it on the front page of the New York Times and the WashingtonPost.
They may not believe in Christ – Jesus himself said that such is the
intractability of man’s rebellion againstGod and his blindness in sin that
many folk would not believe in him even if a man were to rise from the dead –
but even unbelievers will not be able to deny that supernatural powerhad

been unleashed in the world. The world, alas, chuckles orrolls its eyes at the
miraculous claims often made by Christians today. Nobody chuckledand
nobody rolled his eyes who saw the miracles of Jesus of Nazareth!As someone
bluntly put it: “A man in the jungle at night may suppose a hyena’s growlto
be a lion’s; but when he hears the lion’s roar, he knows damn well it’s a lion.”
[A Severe Mercy, 21]
There are far too many sad stories that I could tell you of Christian folk –
through the Christian ages and still today – folk who expected that there
would be just such miraculous working in the world as we read of in Mark 1
and of the disappointment, the confusion, and the dishonesty that resulted
when the miracles they expecteddid not occur. This is a mistake that even
very goodmen have made, supposing that what Jesus did in his ministry, all
or at leastmany Christians could do in theirs. Many of you have read the
books of Andrew Murray, the devout son of ScottishPresbyterian parents
who went to South Africa in the 19th century to serve as a missionary with the
Dutch Reformed Church. He believed that Christians, with supernatural
means of healing at their disposal, should never resort to doctors. Once, while
preparing for a preaching tour, his nephew, though ill with TB, expresseda
desire to go with him. Murray encouragedhim to go trusting that God would
heal him. They read togethersome verses ofthe Bible, prayed for healing,
thanked God for the healing that they knew would come, and setoff on their
trip. In three weeks the nephew was dead. Murray was a man of faith, but he
misunderstood the miracles of the Bible. They were never primarily about
getting people well – though they did make the sick well and wonderfully so –;
they were to authenticate the divine authority of the one who wielded this
almighty power. And that, unmistakably, is what Jesus’miracles did: they
made people realize the unique and divine authority of Jesus.
We are going to see next Lord’s Day morning that his miracles served another
purpose: they were the embodiment of his messagein a spectacularly
impressive form. They were, in other words, magnificent pictures of the
salvationJesus came to bring. Such is the case here with the leper. He was
cleansed. His physical malady and the resulting uncleanness that kept him
from the temple, the house of God and the community of faith, were

illustrations of everyone’s spiritual condition. We all are outcasts becausewe
are spiritually unclean and Jesus alone is able to make us clean.
But there is something still more in what miracles revealto us about Jesus.
What his healings and his other miraculous works and his exorcisms did was
to demonstrate that the Son of God has power over all the troubles and
afflictions of our lives, over all the powers that threaten us, overevery person
or thing, including things within ourselves. That, ofcourse, is why the crowds
gatheredso quickly. Jesus wasn’tperforming amazing parlor tricks; he was
delivering people from the scourgesthat were making them miserable. He was
doing for them the most important and wonderful thing they could imagine
being done for them. What is more, these miracles revealJesus to be full of
sympathy, compassion, and love and touched by our weakness, ourbondage,
and our need.
You see this, of course, in the fact that he touched these people. We can see
him reaching out his hand, we can almost feelthe gentle touch of some who
cares for us, really cares. He touched even the leper, the one who wasn’tto be
touched! He might have simply spokenthe leprosy away, but that touch, that
physical contactmeant so much and was obviously an indication of his
compassionfor this poor man, isolated, hopeless, anddesperate. You
husbands and wives know, you parents know how love in the heart produces
the touch of the hand. So it was with Jesus.
But, brothers and sisters, think: this same Jesus is with us now. He has the
same power, his heart is full of the same love, the same tender sympathy, the
same compassion. It is not his will – as it has not ordinarily been his will – to
heal our sicknessesmiraculously, but it is not for want of poweror for lack of
sympathy. What we see in Jesus here, is what we have in him now. Paul says
that he prayed for the Christians in Ephesus that they might know “[the
Lord’s] incomparably greatpowerfor us who believe…the working of God’s
mighty strength.” The miracles of Mark 1 and the restof the Lord’s public
ministry are a demonstration of the power that the Lord always has at his
disposalto exercise on behalf of those he loves and for those for whom he feels
compassionand sympathy. The Lord’s heart is touched by the feeling of our
infirmities, the Bible says;he is not someone who is unable to sympathize with

us in our weaknesses.Farfrom it, no one ever found a more sympathetic
friend than Jesus Christ or one better able to help in time of need.
JosephDamien, a Roman Catholic priest, born in 1840, sailedto Hawaiias a
missionary in 1863 and, when he arrived, was horrified to discoverthe plight
of the lepers there who were banished to a colonyon the island of Molokai.
Here they ekedout a miserable existence in disease,filth, and want, with
neither family nor church to help them. FatherDamien volunteered to go and
live among them. He buried their dead; he taught them hygiene; cleanedtheir
watersupply; he built a church for them; improved their homes;built a
hospital; constructedan orphanage;and trained a choir. He was for them a
teacher, a carpenter, a stone mason, a sanitation engineer, a friend, and a
priest. This selfless ministry continued for sixteenyears until one Sunday
morning in 1885 he stunned his congregationby beginning his sermon with
the words “We lepers…” He had contractedthe disease himselfand died on
Molokaiin 1889. [Stott, The Incomparable Christ, 144]He became a leper
because he gave himself and his life for lepers.
But did you notice how our text ends. Jesus stayedoutside in lonely places.
That’s where the leper had lived, in lonely places. In love and by his saving
powerJesus exchangedplaces with that leper. The leper came home, was
restoredto his family, and to a happy life. Jesus took his place awayfrom
people. He had to be there because the work he came to do for us required it.
He had to exchange a comfortable life for a difficult one; he had to keep
himself out of the way of people as much as he could because he still had more
than two years of ministry yet to perform before going to the cross forus and
our salvation. He couldn’t allow his work to be short-circuited by the
misunderstanding of the people and by false responses to him that would then
be reported to the authorities. He could not go to his death before the
appointed time. And so he took the leper’s place in the lonely places as he
would eventually take the leper’s place on the cross.
Well, we are all lepers, all just as needy, just as desperate, justas helpless and
hopeless in ourselves as was that poor man who came to Jesus begging fora
cure. We are unclean before God and unable to make ourselves clean. But
what the leper found in Jesus was the purest sympathy and compassion

matched with limitless power. And that is what people find and will find in
Jesus today. Jesus canand certainly does still deliver people from disease
(though not miraculously), but his far greaterwork is to cleanse ourlives for
time and eternity, a greatergift, a greaterdeliverance, a greaterwonder
requiring far greaterpowerthan even the sudden, immediate and complete
cure of a leper by a mere touch and a mere word. That miracle hasn’t
happened but a few times in the history of the world because its purpose was
to accreditonce for all Jesus the Christ.
But that greatercure, the cure that lasts forever, that has happened times
without number by the same powerand the same love that touchedPeter’s
mother-in-law, the crowds of sick and troubles folk who gatheredat Jesus’
door, and the leper who so boldly came to Jesus for help only he could
provide.
You see, we do not lack a thing because ourSavior cannotprovide it for us or
because he lacks the love to care enough for our welfare. If we go without it is
because, it must be because he considers it best that we do and, supremely,
because the message thathe brought and preached and the salvationthat he
came to accomplishfor us is much, much more important than even a leper’s
cure.
On his deathbed the Scottishsaint Thomas Halyburton – the theologianand
minister who, by his ownrequest, was buried right next to Samuel Rutherford
in the cathedralcemeteryat St. Andrews – lay immobilized by painfully
swollenlimbs. “Lame hands,” he said to those gathered round his bed, “and
lame legs, but see a lame man leaping and rejoicing.” In other words, Christ
the miracle-worker, is as much with me as he was with the lame he made to
leap and run long ago and I have been more completely cured than they!
I would love to see a miracle. But I would rather walk with Jesus and have his
almighty power at work in my life securing for me not so much a healthy body
for this world as a cleansoul and perfectbody for the world to come.

Jesus and the Gift of Touch
Lisa Harper
July 8, 2013
So, today I’ve been thinking about the gift of touch. It is probably because it’s
a cold morning, and I’m sitting here by the fireplace, wishing someone else
were sitting here with me rubbing my freezing feet. My heart warms up at the
mere thought of physical touch. It makes me happy to hold the hand of
someone I love or hug someone I like or scootup next to a friend and drape an
arm across hershoulders when we’re praying together. There’s just
something about physical affectionthat sweetens the bond of relationship. It’s
kind of like the sugarand creamI liberally splash in my coffee—Ithink they
enhance the flavor of something that was alreadypretty good. Of course, some
java addicts prefer their coffee black. Theyactually think it tastes better
without the added calories. And there are certainly those who prefer their
relationships without touch too—who think life should be a noncontactsport.
One of them used to attend a Bible study I taught in Nashville. (For the sake
of her anonymity, I won’t use her real name. But for the sake ofamusement,
I’ll callher “Fridgeeta.”)The attendance in this particular Bible study usually
hovered around sixty or so women, and we got togetherevery week forseveral
hours for five years. Thatmeant we shared a whole lot of life together. We
walkedthrough marriages and births and miscarriages anddivorces.
Sometimes we laughed until tears streamed down our faces andsometimes we
cried until it seemedwe didn’t have any tears left. We became very authentic
and comfortable with eachother, a pretty closeknitkind of family.
Therefore, a year or so into this girlfriends-who-love-Godjourney, I thought
it would be a goodidea to begin eachsessionby standing up as a group and
turning in one direction and rubbing the shoulders of whoeverhappened to be
sitting beside us that morning. I thought a brief, communal massage could
help getout the kinks of stress and distraction before we satback down and

tried to focus on God’s Word and how it applied to our sometimes difficult
lives. Judging by the oohs and aahs and exclamations of “rub a little more to
the left” in the room, it worked. Well, it workedfor everybody except
Fridgeeta, who harrumphed her way through the rubbing routine and
ultimately beganshowing up ten or fifteen minutes late so she could avoid it
altogether. Soonenough, she made an appointment with me to officially
express her disapproval.
I can still remember the wayshe satdown with a bit of a huff in my office,
then crossedherarms and pursed her lips before launching into why she
thought it was completely inappropriate for grownwomen to “grope” each
other. She went on to complain that she wasn’t a demonstrative person and
didn’t feel comfortable having other people squeeze her shoulders, especially
in church. She finished with an indignant flourish, saying, “If I want a
massage, I’ll make an appointment with a professionaland pay for it!”
Although I tend to speak first and think later, I found myself pausing for
severallong moments before responding. What I really wanted to do was
gather her walled-off little selfinto a bear hug and squeeze until she stopped
squirming.
Instead, I said, “Maybe it would help if I explained the method behind what
comes acrossas madness to you.” I told Fridge that I meet women on a weekly
basis who receive very little, if any, healthy physical touch. Some of the
manicured, perfectly coiffedwomen who occupy pews every Sunday in our
congregationhave been victims of physical abuse by their husbands or sexual
abuse by someone they knew when they were growing up. For most of us,
rubbing a friend’s shoulders is no big deal, not even a blip on our daily radar.
However, for a woman whose private experience with physicality has been a
closedfist or an unwanted violation, having someone safe touchher with a
hand that means her well can be deeply comforting. Even healing, like
offering a sip of coolwaterto someone who’s dying of thirst in the desert.
Furthermore, I told Fridgie, “God wired us for touch.” Medicalstudies have
proven that physical touch boosts our immune systems, improves our
psychologicalstates, andcan literally save lives.

Historical documents reveal a crude and cruel thirteenth-century study in
which Frederick II, the reigning German emperor, wondered what language
children would speak if they were never spokento. So he selectedseveral
newborns in an orphanage and instructed nurses to feed them, but not to talk
to them or touch them. Every single one of those babies died. Dr. Fritz Talbot
conducted a more scientific study regarding the effects of touch on babies in
the 1940sand establisheda conclusive connectionbetweentouchand an
infant’s ability to thrive.
Additional data gatheredfrom orphanages proves a distinct correlation
betweenholding, cuddling with, and carrying infants, and their survival rates.
Obviously, from the moment we’re first plopped on this spinning orb called
Earth, we need a loving, literal connectionwith someone else who’s wearing a
suit of skin too.
I concluded my defense by carefully explaining that the Gospels describe
Jesus Himself as a toucher. There are multiple casesin which our Savior
reachedout and embraced people when a simple nod or quick handshake
would have sufficed.
He intentionally used tactile methods—hugging a leper, placing His hands on
a crippled woman’s spine—in most of His healing miracles. When the
disciples tried to keeplittle children from interacting with Jesus (like most
kids, they probably had stickyhands and dirty knees and, therefore, the
disciples thought they were too messyto interact with the Messiah), the Lamb
of God beckonedthem to pile onto His lap (Mark 10:13–16).
And the defining moment of the apostle John’s life was when Jesus allowed
him to lean back againstHis chestduring the lastmeal they shared together
(John 21:20). In short, I told my skittish friend, our Saviorwas a master
masseur.
The following week, Fridgeeta sheepishlyshowedup on time and submitted to
being loved on. It took months for her to loosenup, but eventually she got to
where she’d almostpurr if you rubbed her shoulders in just the right spot!

Jesus’s giftof touch provides healing connectionand can warm even the
coldestheart.
Your Turn
Jesus modeledthe restorative effects oftouch two thousand years ago. He
typically used His hands to heal. In what ways canyou be the hands of Jesus
and show the gift of touch this week to someone who many need your love and
compassion? You’re invited to leave your comments below – we’d love to hear
from you!
How many times did Jesus touch to heal?
Answered by Mark Morgan· 13 February 2011 · 0 Comments
Jesus healedpeople of many different sicknessesanddisabilities in many
different situations. His healing is sometimes attributed to his words and at
other times to his touch. Astonished people saidof him in Mark 6:2
Where did this man getthese things? What is the wisdom given to him? How
are such mighty works done by his hands?
In fact, the only thing that limited his healing powers seems to have been a
lack of faith in the people he might otherwise have healed. This is reported
immediately after people made the comments above (see Mark 6:5-6).
When we come to tally up numbers, however, it becomes quite difficult,
because parallelrecords do not always recordthe same details of events and
sometimes it is hard to be sure that records in different gospels are records of
the same events. After all, Jesus did so many miracles that healing one blind
man could be very similar to healing another blind man – except to the blind
men involved!

Here are severalexamples where Jesus touchedpeople at the same time as
they were healed. Parallelpassages are only quoted where they also mention
touch.
A man with leprosy in a city in Galilee
Matthew 8:2-3, Mark 1:40-42, Luke 5:12-13
Peter’s mother in law in Capernaum
Matthew 8:14-15, Mark 1:30-31
Many people in a crowd in Capernaum
Luke 4:40
A 12 yearold girl in Capernaum
Matthew 9:25, Mark 5:41-42, Luke 8:54-55
Two blind men in Capernaum
Matthew 9:29-30
A few people in Nazareth
Mark 6:4-6
A man who was deaf and could hardly talk in the Decapolis
Mark 7:32-35
A blind man just outside Bethsaida
Mark 8:22-25
A blind man in Jerusalem
John 9:1, 6-7
In a synagogue, a womanwho could not stand straight
Luke 13:11-13

Two blind men near Jericho
Matthew 20:30,33-34
A servant of the high priest whose earPeterhad cut off in the garden of
Gethsemane
Luke 22:50-51
There are also two cases where touchoccurred very close to the time of the
healing:
Raising the young son of a widow
Luke 7:14-15
Healing a young boy
Mark 9:25-27
And finally the reverse:people who touched Jesus or his clothes to be healed:
Many who had diseases(it is not recordedwhether they were healed or not)
Mark 3:9-10
A crowd
Luke 6:18-19
A woman with a discharge of blood
Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:27-29, Luke 8:43-44
Crowds in various towns
Matthew 14:35-36, Mark 6:54-56
There could easilybe other examples of Jesus healing by touch. If you are
aware of any, please mention them in comments below and the list canbe
updated.

The Touchof Jesus
Submitted by admin on Monday, August 6, 2012 - 3:37pm
Sermon Date:
Wednesday, March17, 2010
Duane Smith
Scripture:
Luke 6:17-19
Luke 8:42-48
Volume 45, No. 24
Sermon prepared by Rev. Duane Smith, Bemis, South Dakota
Use your own Order of Worship
Make up your own Liturgy.
Scripture reading: Luke 6:17-19 and Luke 8:42b-48
SuggestedHymns: #63, #535, #462, #363,#627
Sermon: "The Touch of Jesus"
Sermon
Baseballfans are often excitedabout seeing the players of their favourite team
play and after the game have a chance to meet some of them. Betteryet, to
talk with them, shake their hands or gettheir autograph. To do that is a thrill
— just to be near them or to touch their favourite player. It is something they
will remember for a long time.

For RomanCatholic people it is an even greaterthrill to see the pope when he,
in the pope-mobile, drives through the streets. You cansee the people line up
by the thousands, waving — if only to be close to the pope — maybe even to
have his shadow fall on them, or better yet, to touch him, or his garment. Best
of all, to getto speak to him, to feelhis powerand influence in their lives.
The same thing happened when Mother Teresa wasstill alive and she would
come to visit a town. Or, nowadays, Billy Graham for that matter. People who
come near them or touch them, somehow, feelclose to Godand extremely
blessed. Even the sick have experiencedhealing powerin their lives.
In the book of Acts, chapter 5, there is such a phenomenon. The apostle Peter
was in the temple at the place calledSolomon's colonnade. Because many men
and women believed in the Lord, people brought their sick into the streets and
laid them on beds and mats so that at leastPeter's shadow might fall on some
of them as he passedby.
People saw in Peterhealing powerthat he did in the name of Jesus. Later, in
Acts 19, Paul was in Ephesus and God did extra-ordinary miracles through
himso that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken
to the sick and their illnesses were cured and evil spirits left them.
If this phenomenon was true of Peterand Paul, how much more so of Jesus,
the Sonof God. While on earth, He made Himself available to the people,
going from town to town, house to house, ate with tax-collectors and sinners,
easilytalked to people from every socialclass, slave and free, Jew and Gentile,
men, womenand children. Whoevercame to Him, He never turned away. The
people often crowdedaround Him and many took the initiative to have Jesus
come near and touch them.
In Matthew 14, just after Jesus had walkedon the water, people brought all
their sick to Him and beggedHim to let the sick just touch the edge of His
cloak and all who touched Him were healed. In Luke 6, people all tried to
touch Him because powerwas coming from Him and healing them all. In
Luke 18, people were also bringing babies to Jesus to have Him touch them.
Oh, what a joy, what a blessing to feel the warmth of Jesus'touch! It seems
that Luke, himself a doctor, knew the specialeffects of touch. And how it

enhancedhealing for the sick. He mentions Jesus'touchmore often than
Matthew and Mark.
The powerof touch by a doctor or therapist, even today, enhances healing. It's
regrettable that we live in a societywhere no one dares to touch another
person for fear of sexual harassment — a touch that so easily sends out the
wrong message.
Touch, of course, must always be appropriate. Be it on the arm or shoulder, a
gentle embrace or a hug. It's often done at weddings and funerals and other
such occasions ofgreatjoy or sadness.Babies needto be touched, cuddled and
held to grow and develop normally. Our children need to be touched and
hugged on occasion, including through the teen years. It conveys the message,
louder than words could say, “We care for you and about you.” It gives
encouragementand hope.
Adults also needto be touched. We need to do it more often at the appropriate
times and places. In a time of difficulty, times of depression, aftera talk, a
handshake or better, a hand on arm or shoulder, even a hug with the words,
“Hang in there... you cando it, I'm praying for you,” makes hope soar.
A certain telephone company has a line, “Reachout and touch someone.” The
phone call to someone who is struggling makes him or her more blessedand
hopeful. Thinking and knowing that someone caresenoughto call and talk.
We should not be afraid to reachout and touch someone.
People in the crowds reachedout to touch Jesus and He touched them with
power. The powerof God went out from Him to heal and restore. One of the
most moving stories in Scripture of such healing power was ofa woman in the
crowdwho had suffered for twelve long years from some sort of bleeding.
Doctors were ofno help and she had spent all her money but still there was no
cure. Worse, she was consideredto be an outcastof society, ceremonially
unclean.
According to Leviticus 15, when a woman has a discharge of blood she would
be unclean as long as she had the discharge. This poor woman had been

unclean for twelve long years and no-one touched her for fearthat they then
would become unclean.
Understand then why she had no intention of meeting Jesus face to face.
According to Matthew's account, she thought, “if I only touch His cloak, Iwill
be healed.” Silently and persistently, and in faith, she made her way through
the crowd, came up behind the MasterHealerand touched His cloak. Sure
enough, immediately she felt the bleeding had stopped. Quickly slipping away,
imagine her surprise when Jesus turned around and asked, “'Who touched
Me?”
With the crowdpressing Him on every side, Peterfound it a strange question.
But Jesus insisted, "SomeonetouchedMe, because I know power has gone out
from me." The woman knew that she had no choice but to come to Jesus. She
came trembling. Would He be angry and scoldher, treat her harshly and
rejecther? After all, she had been unclean all these years, and besides, she
was a woman.
She managedto tell Him the whole story of her miserable life, her feeling of
despair and the burden of being an outcast. She took a huge risk and told it in
the presence ofall those people in the crowd: How the bleeding had stopped
and that she had been healed. No doubt, her story came out, mixed with tears
of sadness and joy.
See the tender compassionofthe Saviour! Perhaps, He placedHis hand on
her shoulder and then He calledher “Daughter,” the only woman so
addressedby Jesus, “Yourfaith has healed You, go in peace.”Surely, she
remembered those words for the rest of her life. By faith she had been healed,
not only from her physical bleeding, but also spiritually, as she was warmly
welcomedby the Saviour into His family of believers, with the parting
blessing, “Go in peace.”
Her life had turned around. All became new because in faith she had touched
Jesus, Who then had touched her with His healing power. She was never the
same after that.

Make no mistake about it. The healing, saving power of Jesus is just as real
today as it was then. After all, He is the eternal Son of God. His power goes
forth to all those who, like this woman, humble themselves, believe in Jesus,
reachout in faith to touch Him in prayer, calling on His name.
In Romans 1, the gospelis called “the Powerof God unto salvationfor all who
believe.” The moment that we, yes, even the vilest offender, believe in Jesus,
His powerthrough His Holy Spirit goes out and surges into our lives. It is a
powerthat miraculously opens and softens hardened hearts, so that we believe
the powerof His blood shed on the cross washesawayall our sins and
uncleanness and spiritual filth. It is the power of His life-giving spirit to heal
us of all the wounds of our sins and to make us new persons to live in new
obedience. Power, thatwe know is there.
When we reachout to touch Jesus in the personalquiet of a jail-cell or in a
large crowd, He touches us with a powerso realyou can't explain it, but you
know that you will never, no never, be the same. You will have a different
view of the world, of yourself, of others, a whole new outlook on life.
More than that, Jesus doesn'twant anyone who has touched Him, and Whom
He has touched with His healing power, to slip awayunnoticed. He wants us
and He calls us to come out of the crowd.
Therefore, come out of hiding and tell Him all about your sin and misery. The
mistakes we have made in the past, our fears and failures. But He also wants
us to tell Him in thankfulness, maybe with tears of joy, about our healing.
How His powerful touch has changedour lives, so that we'll never be the
same.
As this woman told Him in the presence of a crowdof witnesses, Jesus also
would want us to tell it in the presence ofall the people. Tell it to the
congregationso that all may know of His healing, saving and redeeming
power. Tell them that Jesus saidto you personally, “Daughter, Son,... your
faith has healedyou, savedyou, Go in peace.”
The only realpeace you or anyone canhave is peace with Godwhich comes
through faith in His Son Jesus. Are you healed? Do you have this lasting peace

with God? If so, praise the Lord. If not, reachout and touch Jesus — in
prayer and come to know, once and for all, His healing power and abiding
peace.
Amen.
Touchedby Jesus
Rev. David BastJanuary 20, 2008 Uncategorized
READ : Matthew 8:1-4
The first miracle described in the gospelofMatthew is an amazing
demonstration, not just of Jesus’power, but of his compassionatelove.
One of the most appealing of all Jesus’many attractive qualities was his
sympathy for suffering people. Most of us feel bad when we hear about
someone who is experiencing great pain or trouble. Some of us might even try
to do something to help. But very few of us are willing to get directly involved
in a messy situation of need. We don’t like to getour hands dirty, either
figuratively or literally. I found myself thinking about this once as I visited
Mother Teresa’shospice forthe dying in Calcutta. Staff and volunteers there
were constantly moving down the long rows of the cots, tending to the most
basic physical needs of the dying people who had been brought in to spend
their final days in some measure of peace, dignity and comfort. How do these
Christian care-givers do it? Where do they find the strength to serve in such a
place, in such a way?, I thought to myself.
The answeris simple. They were just following the example of their Lord. The
Bible tells how Jesus, thoughhe was by very nature divine, did not consider
his exaltedposition as God as something he should cling to, but voluntarily
gave it up and humbled himself to enter the world as a man. And then he

stoopedeven lower, becoming a servant who spent his entire life attending to
the needs of others. Jesus never shrank from human suffering. He was not
afraid to gethis hands dirty ministering to the sicknessand squalor of his
world. He used those hands to reach out and touch suffering people with
healing and hope.
Coming down from the Mountain
Considerthis story which opens the eighth chapter of the GospelofMatthew
8.
When he came down from the mountain, greatcrowds followedhim. And
behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will,
you canmake me clean.” And Jesus stretchedout his hand and touched him,
saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosywas cleansed.
Matthew 8:1-3
“When he came down from the mountain . . .” Matthew says. What mountain
is that? It’s the mountain where Jesus had just finished his famous Sermon on
the Mount (Matthew 5-7). He had been teaching the crowds what it means to
live a life that is pleasing to God. It was a sublime moment. Jesus had never
been more eloquent; the crowd had never heard more profound and beautiful
teaching. Now Jesus comes back downto earth, so to speak. As he does, he’s
immediately confronted with an instance of profound human need. A leper
came to him, knelt before Jesus, and askedfor healing.
This man seems to have had no doubt about Jesus’ability or powerto heal.
The only question in the leper’s mind had to do with Jesus’willingness. In
that time and culture lepers were the most revolting of all people. Their
disease was incurable, and produced hideous symptoms. It was a sort of living
death. Even worse, lepers were consideredimpure, unclean, contaminating.
They were literally untouchable. So there was a real point to this leper’s
hesitant statement, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”
Jesus’response was immediate and dramatic. He “stretchedout his hand and
touched him, saying, ‘I will; be clean.'” Thattouch of Jesus was almostmore
eloquent than his words. In its own way it said as much as the great Sermon

that went before it. We pass over this detail without letting it make much of
an impression on us. But we ought to ponder it at length. Jesus Christactually
stretchedout his hand to touch a leper, and in so doing healedhim.
A Ministry of Touch
This wasn’t just a sympathetic human act. It was really a touch of God. I
wonder what it must have been like to be touched by God when God had
hands and fingers! What would it be like to feel the skin of Godon your skin?
Actually, the Gospels are full of examples of Jesus’physically touching and
being touched by people. For example, Jesus touchedpeople as he healed
them as he did here.
There was also Peter’s mother-in-law who lay sick with a fever: “And he came
and took her by the hand and lifted her up and the fever left her” (Mark
1:31).
On anotheroccasionhe helped a man who was deaf and mute: “Taking him
aside . . . he put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue;
and looking up to heaven he sighed and saidto him, ‘Be opened'” (Mark 7:33-
34).
There was the case ofa blind man. “And some people brought to him a blind
man and beggedhim to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand …
and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands upon him, he askedhim
‘Do you see anything?'” (Mark 8:23).
Or the boy tormented by demonic, epileptic seizures, who convulsed and lay
as dead: “But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose”
(Mark 9:27).
And don’t forget the young girl who actually was lying dead. Jesus, “taking
her by the hand, said Talitha cumi, ‘Little girl, getup.'” And she did! (Mark
5:41).
Jesus not only touched suffering people who needed healing as described in all
those examples I just read from the Gospels;he also touched struggling people

who needed help. Think of Petersinking in the sea as he tried to walk to Jesus
across the water. Jesus reachedout his hand and caught him.
Or picture Jesus as he gatheredthe little children in his arms and blessed
them. He also allowedhimself to be touched, even by those whose contact
would ceremonially defile him in the eyes of the law. There was a sick woman
who once reachedout to him in a passing crowdbecause she thought, “If I
just touch his clothes, I will be healed” (Mark 5:28). She was right. Another
time a woman with a shady past came up to Jesus ata banquet and expressed
her gratitude for his forgiveness by washing his feet with her tears and drying
them with her hair. And especiallythere was Thomas, the disciple who
doubted Jesus’resurrection. More dramatically than anyone, Jesus allowed
Thomas to touch him, and all his doubts vanished in an instant.
But why did Jesus touch all these people, in particular this leper who appealed
to him for help. I don’t think that Jesus’touch was either diagnostic or
therapeutic. In other words, Jesus wasn’tlike our medical practitioners.
Doctors, nurses, therapists—theyall have to use their hands to treat diseases
or fix injuries. But Jesus was different. He never neededto be told what was
wrong with someone;he always knew. Nordid he have to touch people to
make them well. Jesus couldand did heal with a simple word. He didn’t even
have to be presentto do that.
So why did he touch this particular man, the man with leprosy—leprosy, with
all its horrible features and associations;standing for the disease ofsin itself?
A leper, whose very contactwould make Jesus unclean? Actually, nothing
could make him unclean. As one New Testamentscholarnoted, Jesus was “the
Pure to whom all things were pure; who was at once incontaminate and
incontaminable … Another would have defiled himself by touching the leper;
but he himself remaining undefiled, cleansedhim whom he touched; for in
him health overcame sickness, andpurity, defilement, and life, death” (R. C.
Trench).
I think the reasonJesus touchedthis man is obvious. The leper had wondered
whether Jesus was willing to help him, to have contactwith him, to get
involved in his messylife and its gross problems. Would Jesus be interested;

would he care? Orwould he too be repelled like everyone else? Remember
what the man had said? “Lord, if you will …” That’s really an implied
question: “Lord, are you willing? Would you really want to help someone like
me, someone so hurting, so unclean?” Jesus didn’t offer the man only a verbal
answerto his question. His touch was the answer. Jesustouchedthe man
because he loved him, and to say that he loved him. You know, love can never
be satisfiedwith mere words. It wants an embrace, the touch of a hand, the
feel of living skin on living skin.
Touchedby God
Do you ever find yourself wondering about God? Not whether he can help
you— you know that if there is a God he can do anything. But wondering
whether he wants to help you, whether God even notices you. Or are you
thinking that the things inside your head or in your past—the stuff you keep
hidden even from those closestto you—are so sure to gross Godout that he’s
only going to reject you? Well, guess what: God knows all about it. He knows
things about you that you don’t even know. And he is still willing to touch you,
to love you, to heal you.
You do realize that Jesus Christhas done far more for us than simply put his
hand upon us. Christ allowedthose hands to be stretchedout on a cross for us,
with nails driven through them, and still they reachtoward us. Here is how
one greatChristian thinker put it: “In assuming our flesh, [Christ] has
granted us more than the touch of his hand; he has brought himself into one
and the same body with us, that we should be the flesh of his flesh. He does not
only stretch out his arm to us, but he comes downfrom heaveneven to the
very depths … cleans all our dirt away, and pours upon us his own holiness”
(John Calvin).
Maybe it would be a goodidea to saythank you to him. And maybe you could
show that by reaching out and touching someone else in need.

The Healing Touchof Jesus
David's Blog
It takes but one touch from the Master’s hand to bring forth a miraculous
healing. To heal the sick, Jesus neither toils nor fails. Healing virtue flows
mightily from Him and in greatabundance. Whether you are in need of a
healing yourself or desire to minister God’s healing powerto the sick, you
need to learn one thing and one thing only: it is the touch of Jesus that heals
the sick.
Healing is not found in the touch of a man or a woman. Healing is not found
in a gimmick, a technique, or a methodology. Healing is not found in a special
prayer or a specialmessage. Healing is found in the touch of Jesus.
As the sun went down that evening, people throughout the village brought sick
family members to Jesus. No matter what their diseaseswere, the touch of his
hand healed every one. - Luke 4:40, NLT
I love that scripture. Its poweris in its simplicity.
Often, ministers will ask me, “Whatis the secretto God’s healing power?”
They’ll saythings to me like, “The way you minister to the sick makes it looks
so easy.”
So what is the “secret”?I’ll be totally honestwith you. There is no secret. If
there was a secretto it, then that would mean healing is in man’s power to
give. And why does healing seemto flow so easily? It’s because I’m doing
nothing but surrendering to the Holy Spirit. It has nothing to do with me. I’ve
just learned how to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. Really, that’s all
there is to it.
There is no healing powerin me exceptfor that which belongs completely to
Jesus. And the same goes foryou.
It’s only His touch, and it takes just one touch. It truly is simply the healing
powerof God.

So how does one receive or minister healing power? It’s simple. To minister
healing, just point to the Healer. Tell the people about His wonderful healing
power, and tell them that they can receive healing from Him. To receive
healing, just go to Jesus in faith. Ask for His healing touch and leave the rest
to the sovereigntyof God.
We ask and then leave it to God. Don’t fret or worry about the results or the
timing of the results. Justbe at peace knowing that He is a healing Jesus. You
don’t have to give money to receive a healing. You simply have to ask in faith.
Then trust Him from there.
I encourage younow. Reachback to the Lord. TouchHim by faith. Declare
the promises of the Word. Focus totallyon the Lord Himself. Forgetyour
sickness. Forgetyour pain. Love His presence. Focus onHim. In the spirit,
look upon the face of Jesus. WhenHis presence becomesmore real to you
than your sickness, youwill be healed. You will receive the healing touch of
Jesus.

Jesus was able to heal by a touch

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