Jesus Cleanses the Leper (Mark 1:35-45)

Our text this morning is going to be Mark 1:35-45.

What is the worst possible thing that could happen to you? Be creative. Maybe you could end up forced to spend the rest of your life in an American Girl Doll store eating only canned tuna. Maybe you’d end up stranded on a desert island with that guy from work and only canned okra to eat. We could play this game all day. It could get really dark and ugly.

But in all seriousness, I cannot imagine a worse fate than being a leper in Palestine in Jesus’ day.

Leprosy is a terrible disease. It actually lays dormant with zero symptoms for years. When it shows up, it shows up in these bumps and sores all over your body. The bumps turn white, burst, and stink.

Imagine someone with bumps and open sores all over their body, all over their face. A few times, I’ve met people with bumps all over their body, people who are horribly deformed and every time, my natural reaction is repulsion. Imagine being someone who was so deformed that every time someone looked at you, despite their best efforts, they made a face. Imagine the children in their innocence pointing and saying, “Look, Mommy.” That would be horrible enough.

But it was much, much worse than that. Leprosy actually numbs you. It kills the nerve endings in your skin. You can’t feel anymore. When you see a picture of a leper with no fingers or no toes or with missing facial features, it’s not because the leprosy eats away at their hands and feet. (That’s what I always thought). No, the leprosy just kills their feeling, and they do that to themselves.

This would be awful and sad if it killed you—like most diseases do—in a couple of months to a year, but leprosy is unique in that it takes decades to do its work. You live as a rotting, deformed, numb, and feelingless person for twenty or thirty years, slowly getting worse and worse.

I can’t think of anything worse than being a leper in Jesus’ day, but I haven’t gotten to the worst part yet. You see, lepers in Jesus’ day were almost completely alone. They were ostracized from society.

Leviticus 13-14 lays out the law for lepers. They had to let their hair out. They had to wear all black like they were going to a funeral, and they had to live outside of the camp. Anytime they were around people they had to yell, “Unclean! Unclean!” No one was allowed to touch them.

The Jews had a way of taking God’s laws and making them worse. They liked to be stricter than God (which, by the way, always hurts people). Sometimes we think we are being extra holy when we demand that people take God’s laws to the extreme, and we add a little bit to what the Bible actually says so we are sure not to break it. It’s not helpful. It’s always hurtful when we do that, and it makes God look like a monster.

The Jews in Jesus’ day had taken the law of the leper, which was already hard enough for these poor people, and added a lot to it. The Jews had rules that you had to be at least six feet away from a leper at all times. The Jews said that if a leper even entered your house, it would be unclean. The Jewish leaders taught that it was holy not even to buy fruit on a street where a leper had walked.

So being a leper meant living a walking death sentence: Disfigured, disgusting, stinking, numb, alone, and despised.

In our text this morning, Jesus heals a leper, but He does more than that. Jesus touches a leper. It’s a beautiful story. Let’s read it in Mark 1:35-45.

”Mark 1:35-45 (KJV) 35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. 36 And Simon and they that were with him followed after him. 37 And when they had found him, they said unto him, All [men] seek for thee. 38 And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth. 39 And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils. 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. 41 And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth [his] hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. 42 And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. 43 And he straitly charged him, 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. 45 But he went out, and began to publish [it] much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.”

The main thing I want to focus on in this passage is the healing of the leper, but I don’t want to pass over verses 35-39. Remember that Jesus had just spent a whole day in Capernaum healing and preaching. He’s exhausted, so He gets up a great while before day, in the “wee morning hours,” and He goes to pray in solitude.

I mentioned this last week, but even Jesus relied on the power of prayer and a quiet time alone with God to do the things He did. If Jesus had to spend time with God in prayer, how much more do we?

Well, the disciples come and find him, and they tell him that everyone is looking for Him in Capernaum. Jesus says something interesting in reply. He says,

”Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, for therefore came I forth.”

Jesus was saying to these disciples, “We have to move on. I have to preach to everyone.” And so verse 39 is one of those verses that probably encapsulates many months of time. It says that Jesus preached in the synagogues throughout all Galilee.

Jesus went and preached the gospel to every town He could, just as He had in Capernaum.

But then, right after that, Mark tells us this story of a leper. It says,

”And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying to him.”

Now stop right there. What we have here is an extreme act of faith on the part of this leper. He came to Jesus.

Lepers didn’t come to anyone. Lepers ran away. Lepers shrunk away in shame. Remember that the Pharisees taught if a leper so much as stepped foot in your house, then you would be unclean and your house would be unclean. They bragged about not even buying fruit from vendors on streets where lepers had walked. Lepers stayed far away from everyone.

But this leper came to Jesus. He came right up to Jesus and kneeled down before Him, and he said, “If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” In other words, “If you want to, Jesus, I know you can heal and cleanse me from this leprosy.”

That was a huge act of faith on the part of this leper. First of all, he had to believe that Jesus would be willing to cleanse a leper like him. It hadn’t happened yet. He’d healed others, but never a leper. So this man had to believe that Jesus would want to heal him.

And secondly, he had to believe that Jesus could heal a leper. This leper was taking a big risk. He was laying himself out in front of Jesus in all of his dirty, grotesque, leprous being.

In the Bible, leprosy is a picture of sin. Notice that this man didn’t say, “Jesus, if you will, you can heal me.” He said, “If you will, you can cleanse me.”

Just like leprosy, sin corrupts us and makes us stink. It deforms us and makes us ugly. It numbs us to the point where we can’t feel the things we should. It defiles us and makes us unclean, separating us from God and everything that is holy.

Sin is ugly. It’s destructive. It’s contagious. It slowly eats away at us until what is left is a disgusting mess of rotting, stinking deformity.

You find the man on parole with tattoos covering his body, an ugly inability to speak a sentence without cursing, addicted to drugs, vile and merciless to women, and do you know what? At one time, that guy was an innocent child. What happened? Sin happened; the leprosy of sin.

You go into the ghetto and you find the vilest prostitute—dirty mouth, dirty life, drug-addicted—and at one point, she was as innocent and sweet as one of the girls who took the children’s offering this morning. What happened? Sin. The leprosy of sin deformed her.

That’s the extreme case, but sin deforms your life, too, in the way you talk to your spouse and the way you yell at your kids. Selfishness. Lust. Lies. Sin is a powerful destructive force in your life, too. It is a disease that is numbing you, destroying you, deforming you.

Sin is unclean. God cannot tolerate unclean. God is going to judge sin. God is going to separate himself from sin forever.

And most sinners, when they see Jesus or when they see Christians, they run away. They yell, “Unclean! Unclean!” They tell themselves that church is for the good folks—for the kind of people who coach soccer teams, live in neat subdivisions, and drive new minivans. Church is for people who have no dirt, sin, or deformity in their life. They run away, and they never come to Jesus.

But the leper in this story had it right. He came right up to Jesus and said, “If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” He didn’t try to dress himself up. He didn’t try to make himself look good. He didn’t try to be a “clean leper.” He just fell at the feet of Jesus as he was and said, “I know you can cleanse me. I know you can heal me.”

Notice with me what Jesus did.

1. Jesus had compassion

People did not naturally have compassion on lepers. They were sad, but they were more disgusting than sad; more scary than sad. They were deformed, and they were dangerous. Most people who saw lepers were moved with revulsion, not moved with compassion.

But Jesus had compassion.

When we look around us and see people living deformed lives from sin, our natural reaction is to look away. It’s revolting. It’s disgusting, but Jesus sees lost sheep; Jesus sees souls for whom He died; Jesus sees prodigal sons. Jesus has compassion.

If you are sin-sick this morning and you come to Jesus as a sinner—as a liar, as a thief, as an addict, as whatever you are—if you come to Him to be cleansed, He won’t send you away. He won’t mock you. He’ll have compassion.

He’s the great physician. He’s the loving Shepherd. He’ll show compassion on you.

Notice the second thing Jesus did when this leprous man came to Him.

2. Jesus touched him.

No good Jew would ever touch a leper. To touch a leper meant that you too were unclean. To touch a leper meant that you might catch what they had.

This man may not have felt a compassionate touch for decades! But Jesus tenderly reached out His hand and touched Him. He was untouchable! But Jesus touched Him.

Jesus loves to touch the untouchables. The woman at the well, with all her husbands and adultery, and her mess of a life, Jesus went out of His way to touch her life.

The Gadarean maniac—living in the cave, tearing himself apart like a madman—Jesus went out of his way to touch him, too.

Eight times in the book of Mark, it tells us that Jesus touched people. Jesus didn’t have to touch anyone. Jesus can just speak and heal people, but He reached out and touched sinners.

There is this old song we used to listen to on a girls home CD:

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How can we reach a world we never touch?
How can we show them Christ, if we never show them love?
Just to say we care, will never be enough?
How can we reach a world we never touch?
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Jesus had compassion, Jesus touched him, and look at the third thing this passage says Jesus did:

3. Jesus spoke to Him

Jesus looked down with compassion and said to the man, ”I will; be thou clean.”

Jesus could have said, “Get out of here, you filthy leper! You disgust me.” He could have said, “How dare you defile me with your presence,” but no. He said ”I will”—”I want to”—“Be thou clean.”

Listen, sinner: Jesus wants to cleanse you. He wants to heal you. If you come to Him in faith as a sinner, He won’t chastise you. He won’t send you away. He will heal you and cleanse you.

Jesus said in John 6:37,

”him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”

Jesus wants you to come. ”Come ye who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” ”Come take of the water of life freely.”

Come to Jesus, and He promises He will not cast you out. Jesus wants to heal sinners.

Sometimes I think the biggest barrier we face is we think God doesn’t want to heal sinners. We think surely God wants to judge them. Surely God wants nothing to do with them. Oh, maybe He picks one up once in a while to make the rest of them feel bad, but surely God doesn’t care about sinners.

But listen: God wants to see sinners cleansed far more than you or I ever could. God so loved sinners He sent His only begotten Son to die for them. Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world, but that the world through Him could be saved. Jesus wants to save sinners.

And maybe, just maybe there is someone here this morning who is in their sin. You’ve never been healed and cleansed by Jesus. Maybe sin has wrecked your life. Maybe sin has deformed you. Maybe you feel like Jesus would never want to have anything to do with a disgusting sinner like you.

But Jesus says ”I will, be thou clean.”

4. Jesus healed Him

Verse 42 says:

”As soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him and he was cleansed.”

Imagine this man with me. The disgusting sores withered away. His fingers grew back. He face went back to normal. This awful disease was gone and gone forever. He could go find his wife. He could find his children, and maybe for the first time in decades, he could give them a hug.

He was healed. He was cleansed.

He had spent years shouting “Unclean! Unclean!” to anyone who came near. Now imagine him looking at his skin and feeling for the first time in forever. He’s not shouting, “Unclean! Unclean!” anymore. He’s shouting, “I’m clean! I’m clean!”

That’s what Jesus does. That’s what He will do to you if you let Him, if you come to Him.

”18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:” (Isaiah 1:18,19)

Jesus is in the healing business. He’s in the cleansing business. He loves to take lepers and make them whole, and He’ll do it to you.

If you’ve never trusted Christ as your savior, why not do it today? He loves sinners so much He came to this world and died on the cross for your sins. He took your punishment, and all He asks is that you come in faith and believe. Come a sinner, and leave a saved man. Come sick, and leave healed. Come broken, and leave whole.

Why not come to Jesus this morning?

I don’t like most contemporary Christian music, but there is this one song I’ve heard that I love the words to:

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Weak and wounded sinner, lost and left to die
Lift your head for love is passing by
Come to Jesus.  Come to Jesus.  Come to Jesus
and live.
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Let’s stand with heads bowed and eyes closed this morning.