We’re all Lepers
Mark 1:40-42
Mark 1:40-42
40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." 41 Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" 42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.
Let’s pray…
I only have one point to make tonight and it is this: We are all Lepers.
This is an important thing to understand when you first come to Jesus and it is a vital truth to hold close to your heart after you have been saved by faith in Christ.
But, before we look to Scriptures to find out more about us, we should look and search out truths that God has revealed about Himself in His Word.
Tonight I simply want to unpack these three verses to see a portion, a sliver of the character and nature of God that we see in the God-man Jesus Christ.
Then, I want to show how our own salvation stories line up with this interaction.
First let’s look at Jesus. In this text we see that Jesus has:
- The recognizable power to heal and
- An ACTIVE compassion for the sick and marginalized.
40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." 41 Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" 42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.
By this point in the book of Mark, we know as the readers of the book that Jesus is the Son of God, able to heal the sick and able to cast out demons and we know that he does those things mainly to show the authority by which He teaches.
We know this, and the leper from Galilee knew it too. He knew all about Jesus’ power to heal. The power was evident to the leper. And, the leper understood that Jesus was worth pursuing because of that power.
Let me stop for a moment and say that we are all going to pursue the thing that we believe will help us. Some of us have pursued education, or popularity, or career advancement, or material gain (more stuff), others of us have pursued relationships.
Then there are a few of us who have chased a high or a drunkenness that we believed MIGHT help; and if not help, at least allow us to forget our need for help for a time.
Now, one of the key doctrines that you will find throughout the Bible, from Genesis through Revelation, and what we see a glimpse of here is that God is the only one who can completely satisfy the hunger in our hearts. And so He is who we should turn to.
And listen, all of those other pursuits that I listed are not evil in and of themselves, but if we seek our ultimate happiness from created things, from people, money, jobs, etc., then what we are doing is called idolatry and God takes that very seriously.
To God, idolatry is comparable to adultery between a husband and wife. In Hosea you can read about a woman who had a husband who was willing and able to take care of her and rescue her from bondage. But she just kept going back to other men for her satisfaction.
That is how we violate our relationship with God when we pursue other things and elevate other things above Him in our heart and life.
But, the other piece of God’s character that we see in Jesus here is His ACTIVE compassion for the lost.
Listen close. It IS an ACTIVE compassion. When some of my friends think of God, they have a view of an intelligent designer who is like a watchmaker who created a watch, wound the watch and let it go, without ever interacting with it again.
Those friends say, yes there is a creator who started the universe up, but He doesn’t play a part in how the parts have moved since He kicked things off.
But, the God that we worship, the God who has revealed Himself in this book, is both, the Creator and sustainer and we are taught that He is sovereign over all things.
To put it simply, He is involved and deeply interested in every facet of His creation.
Jesus Himself is the clearest picture of this. In Jesus we see the God of the Universe, who set everything in motion, also coming into the creation to redeem it and reconcile the Universe to Himself.
He isn’t some obtuse God who doesn’t know or care about our problems. And He is not a concerned God who has His hands tied and is unable to help us.
No, the story of redemption that runs through this book tells is that God sees our desperation and that He has been ACTIVE in His compassion and grace ever since the fall of the first man and woman.
And one more point on the active Compassion of Jesus Christ, the main thing we see is something that we’ve seen before in the book of Mark.
When Jesus sees this man, He is moved with compassion and what does He do? Does He form a council or committee to figure out a help plan? Does He look for someone more capable to help? Does He wait to act until He figures out what the reaction might be from the people around Him?
No He reaches out and touches the man. And touch is a weird word. In the Greek the word is haptomai (hap'-tom-ahee) and it means to fasten one’s self to, to cling to. It could be that Jesus grabbed or embraced this man, who up to that point had probably not been touched for a very long time.
Jesus’ compassion was ACTIVE! Please, if you call yourself a Christian, then reflect that aspect of Jesus to the people around you.
Don’t wait for someone else, do SOMETHING.
Let’s move on…
Now that we’ve seen the character of Jesus, God in the flesh, let’s look at the man with leprosy.
And when you look at his story, I want you to see yourself. Remember, the Big Idea is that in one way or another we are all Lepers.
Like I said earlier, it’s important for us to understand that you and I wee lepers. We were sinfully unclean in our spirit when we first came to Jesus.
If you are here and you are not a Christian, this is a great model for how you can come to Jesus, if your heart is being stirred to do so by the Spirit.
And, for the rest of us who profess and I hope possess faith in Christ as savior and lord - it is a vital truth to hold close to your heart throughout this life – that you and I are still lepers to a degree. We needed His grace unto salvation. And, we still need His grace daily for our sanctification.
40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."
The first thing we see in this man is that he has a deep need for Christ. We can feel sorry for him for his leprosy, but in a very real way, the leprosy may be the best thing that ever happened to him in the light of eternity.
If we went through the crowd here I know that we could share story after story of how we found God to be closest - and our fellowship with Him the most vibrant and real - in the midst of desperate trials.
The WORST thing that could happen to someone - I think - is that they might go through their whole life without any significant stripping away of their worldly comfort or security.
If we don’t feel the need, we might never turn to Him. Let’s move on though because deep need isn’t the only thing we see. There is also a RIGHT REACTION to the need when God comes into view.
The leper responds in his desperation with a reverence, or deep respect for Jesus.
We see that he came to Jesus and begged Him on his knees. Oh! If only we would have the humility and the respect for God to approach Him in this way more often.
In the world today we see many people in a deep pain or a desperate trail who show contempt for God instead of a respect for Him.
IF there is even a recognition that He exists, the world scowls and belittles God and demands, “If He’s there and He’s so powerful, Then Why Doesn’t He just fix me right here and now!?”
I used to do this, as if He was some lackey who existed to do my bidding! As if he owed me anything except wrath for my life of rebellion!
Friends, I would plead with you not to see God as some weak and passive God who would do anything for your approval.
Please see Him as the Holy and Mighty God of the Universe who would be JUST to wipe us out for our sin, but who instead has continued to pour out grace and has provided ample opportunities for us to repent and believe the Gospel.
If you are here and you aren’t a Christian, then tonight, I beg you, turn to Him. Take Christ.
And to turn the spotlight on us as believers, please go to God as your Abba, Father. But don’t be so flippant as to forget who God is. Don’t let your relationship drift into disrespect.
Another thing we see in this man is a strong faith. We talked about this earlier, Jesus’ power to overcome even an obstacle like leprosy, was as good as a done deal.
The man said if you are WILLING , YOU CAN make me clean. I asked a few weeks ago, do you really believe that Jesus CAN heal you? So many of us don’t pray bold, out-of-this-world prayers. Don’t be scared to ask for what you believe you need.
Of course you need to continue in your growth in the Spirit to be transformed by the Word of God so that your outrageous prayers won’t contradict God’s will, but start praying. Praying for yourself, your family, your workplace, your neighborhood, your city, nation and the world with bold prayers.
God will answer the prayers that are within His will. He already knows what you need, and He tells us again and again, to pray.
But don’t doubt God’s ability when you come to Him. Don’t be like the man with the boy who had a demon in Mark 9. He said the demon:
…has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."
23" 'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."
23" 'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."
The last point is closely tied to this one. In verse 40 we see a desperate man who deeply desires to be healed. We see a bold confidence in Christ, but we also see a submission to God’s will in the situation.
Listen, I have seen God do all kinds of amazing things in the lives of friends and family. I really do believe in miracles.
In fact, we’re working a story at the paper on a guy who beat cancer and He was weeping as he talked to me on Monday about how God answered a prayer within 24 hours.
Why did God answer the prayer? For His glory – that’s for sure. But the avenue by which God’s glory was revealed was through this man’s bold prayer and through His testimony after the fact. But, we’ll talk more about the leper’s testimony – his reaction to his healing next week.
But, back to submitting to God’s will; I have also seen friends die of cancer, I’ve seen my grandmother die of AIDS. And I’ve also been there when they buried my brother, who was only 14 when he died.
In the end, we must – as Christians – find our rest in the fact that God decides according to His purpose and will who will live as a testimony to His wonderful works and who will not.
Either way, we believe that God’s plans are beyond our comprehension and they ARE ALWAYS GOOD, because He cannot do wrong.
We may not know until we get to Heaven why some suffered more than others. I suspect that at that time – the radiance of His glorious presence And the renewed fellowship with believers in Heaven, free of sin, free of sorrow, free of sickness and pain, will wipe a lot of those questions out of my mind.
Now, back to the FACT that we are all lepers. Please! Christians, do not forget this. Do not forget that you and I, we had a problem INFINITELY greater that the problem of leprosy.
We were COVERED in sin, CONTROLLED by our sinful nature, UNABLE to please God or pay our sin debt.
And, in our time of desperation that was worse than that of this leper – at that time Christ saved us.
He saved us and it was not because of who we are, not because of where we were born, not because of what skin color we have, not because of what our bank accounts looked like, not because of who we voted for, and not because of or what we did – good or bad – Christ saved us because of who He is.
Christians, when we forget that we were just as desperate than this man, then we WILL hinder the Gospel. We’ll hinder the Gospel, either through our arrogance or our laziness.
In respect to arrogance, I had a non-believer ask me this week, how people could call themselves Christians and at the same time spew anger, malice, hatred and racism out like a fountain with their words.
My response is that such people either forgot that they were just as sinful as any other person on earth, or they never knew it in the first place.
One pastor says that we as Christians are the worst hypocrites when we don’t give the grace we’ve been given in Christ.
Don’t be that Christian. Remember that we were all Lepers in need of cleansing by the touch of Christ.
We were all beggars in need of bread.
We were all foreigners looking toward Home.
We were all prisoners seeking a pardon.
We were all slaves running to the cross for freedom.
We are all sinners saved by grace.
If you cannot let go of the hate, if you refuse to forgive, if you deny the rights of others, or if you see yourself as better than THEM, then I beg you for the first time or in a spirit of renewal – REPENT AND BELIEVE in the Gospel.
Otherwise you will never be able to follow Christ and show Christian compassion that is active and life changing to the other lepers around you.
Let’s pray…
