Mark 1:37-45
RIght after His baptism, Mark 1 records, Jesus called His first disciples and went to Capernaum where He drove out an unclean spirit and healed Simon’s mother-in-law. The news of that prompted the people to bring to Him all their sick and possessed. He healed many and then He went to a solitary place and prayed. But people kept looking for Him. When He was told of it, He said in verse 38:
Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth.
While in Galilee, a leper came to Him for healing. Moved with pity, He made him clean, and told him not to tell anyone about it. But we read in verse 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.
Jesus, it seems, found Himself in a dilemma. He wanted to preach, but the crowd was so interested in His healing that He could not even openly enter into the city.
A former mystery
That the people had the wrong ideas of what kind of savior they wanted was a problem. Even the disciples did not really understand what it meant for Jesus to be the Christ. At one time Jesus asked them whom they thought He was, and Peter replied, “You are the Christ.” Yet, when he was told that Jesus must suffer, be rejected, be killed, and so on, Peter began to object. He didn’t like the idea of a suffering Savior. Jesus had to rebuke him sharply, saying “Get thee behind me, Satan”.
In all fairness, Peter wasn’t any worse than other people of that day. The Jews wanted a savior that would deliver them from the oppressive Romans. Certainly, a powerful healer like Jesus could come in handy in a war of liberation. Then, there no doubt were others who wanted Him to make them physically and financially well off.
It’s no different today. People in oppressed countries want someone to give them liberty. Those who are sick long for good health. And those living in poverty seek a savior that would bring them food and shelter. It’s the same here in affluent US. Most people want higher income, a better job, or larger returns on their investments. They want a savior that will make their dreams come true, so to speak.
Spiritual blindness. It was this universal ignorance that contributed to the Lord’s dilemma. You see, Jesus came to preach the Kingdom of God, but only in the light of His death and resurrection can His message be understood. Before He went to the Cross, He kept warning those whom He had healed not to publicize what He had done, the demons He cast out not to reveal that He is the Son of God (1:34; 3:12); and the disciples to whom He confided not to let it be known the He is the Christ (8:30).
In Matthew 12, after Jesus had healed a man with a withered hand, He told that man the same thing in verse 16. Verses 17-20 then explain why:
That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.
It was at the Cross that Christ scored His decisive victory over Satan. Before that, He had to lie low because people just couldn’t really understand what a Savior is all about.
John 12 gives us some insight into how God revealed truths about the Cross to the disciples. Jesus had made His Triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Then verse 16 says, “These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.”
Considering that before the Cross, Jesus primarily wanted to preach and proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God, why then did He perform so many miraculous healings. Answer: To develop historical parables in which the various aspects of His salvation program are hidden.
Symbolic healing. There are indeed many parallels between our physical sicknesses and our spiritual disease.
For instance, a huge number of people in the world have diabetes, high blood pressure, hardening arteries and other dangerous sicknesses without ever knowing it. They just take for granted that they are in good physical shape. Then, there are those who don’t feel well but still hate to go to see a doctor. Even when they do go, they do not always follow their doctors’ advice.
There is this man who was hurting from a seriously worn-out knee. Remembering how good his body felt in his younger days after a whirlpool bath, he asked his doctor to give him a prescription to use the only whirlpool bath in town. The doctor told him, however, that a whirlpool bath would not heel his knee and that he needed another kind of treatment. Angry at his doctor, he shopped around and found one who would give him the prescription he wanted. Result: He is now a cripple.
Isn’t that true with our spiritual problem? Most people do not have the faintest idea that they are under the wrath of God and are subject to eternal damnation. Then, there are those who somehow suspect that all is not well with their souls, but continue to ignore the problem. Still others know at least intellectually that they need a Savior, but they don’t like the One presented in the Bible. They shop around and settle for gospels that they want to hear.
Ignorance of sins
By nature, we reject the gospel of the Bible because we don’t realize how spiritually horrible sin is. Again, our physical health is a suitable means by which to illustrate this truth. How often, for example, we expose ourselves to dangerous viruses without knowing it. Sometimes, even though we have been told that “something” is going around, we go ahead and take all kinds of chances anyway.
For instance, a little fornication might sound like fun to many singles, but sooner or later the players find themselves stuck with unwanted pregnancies, incurable sexual diseases or unbearable relationships. Likewise, a little adulterous affair might seem exciting for some married people, but they soon end up in divorces, separation from their children, and even emotional breakdown.
Nicotine is another trap. How many young people began to try smoking for fun, but have since become addicted to it. It is the same with alcohol. It seems relaxing at first, yet drunkenness has become one of the main reasons for broken families and ruined careers. We can talk about other legal and illegal drugs as well.
Self gratifying is probably the most insidious disease that we all have. The devil plays on our pride. When he tried to tempt Jesus, he said to Him, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread” (Matt. 4:3). Jesus didn’t take the bait. Not so with us people. We want to show how good and powerful we are. We don’t want to hear that we have a desperately wicked heart. Like the drunkard who will not be cured until he admits that he is an alcoholic, we refuse to admit that we need a Savior to die for our iniquities.
Broken. To become aware of our sin sickness, we need God to open our spiritual eyes. The Bible indeed contains many accounts of Jesus opening the eyes of the blind. Similarly, the leper in our historical parable is a picture of us believers formerly being unclean with our sins. Now, we read in verse 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.
Lepers were people perhaps most despised in Israel from Moses’ time through Jesus’ day. It was then a disease for which there was no cure. From Leviticus 13, we can glean some idea as to how a leper was treated. We read in verses 45 and 46:
And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.
It was obviously a humiliating thing for this leper to approach Christ. He was to live alone in a leper colony that was outside the cities. So, he had to travel from the leper colony to Jesus. He was to wear torn clothes and had his hair disheveled (the Jewish word for “bare” would probably be better translated “unkempt”). Wherever he went, he was to cover his upper lip and cry, “Unclean, unclean.” But he fought the humiliating frowns and sneers to make his journey to Jesus.
New understanding. Why? Somehow, he has been made aware of his dire situation. When God begins to save us, the Holy Spirit helps us realize how spiritually helpless and hopeless we are.
In this story, we see that the leper has come to know that he is in a bad shape and is wasting away. He acknowledges that he cannot be cured by any human remedy. Nor can he heal himself by some act of the will. Thankfully, he has heard about Jesus, the miracle healer, and so he went to Jesus.
This is like a person repenting and coming to Jesus. To admit that one is a sinner is humiliating. But God gives to those whom He is saving true repentance. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand:” the Lord says in Mark 1:15, “repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Repentance means to turn and change direction. Coming to Jesus is to leave our pride behind, risk humiliation, and admit that we have been unclean.
Heartfelt humility. The leper came to Jesus beseeching Him and kneeling down to Him. We, too, need to come to the Healer on our spiritual knees! We need to seek Him and beseech with a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
In the temple, a Pharisee prayed, “God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican (tax collector).” The publican, on the other hand, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Notice what Jesus says in Luke 18:14, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
Conclusion. Jesus came to save His people from the disease of sin. Thanks to what He did at the Cross, His gospel message is no longer hidden from everyone. If you sincerely repent and acknowledge your need for a Savior, then go humbly to the Lord Jesus Christ, as this leper did, kneeling, beseeching Him for salvation. God has promised in Jeremiah 29:13, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”