The Good News: Mark Part 5

Today we will be closing Mark chapter one looking at the healing of a man with leprosy.

"Leprosy is an infectious disease that has been known since biblical times. It is characterized by disfiguring skin sores, nerve damage, and progressive debilitation." health.google.com

In Bible times leprosy was incurable and fast spreading and any who contracted the disease was made an outcast of society. The were forced to leave their family, friends, jobs, and places of worship. They were considered "unclean." If you were to touch a person with leprosy you would be considered unclean and where treated as if you had the disease as well.

This knowledge will help us to better understand the Good News we have in Jesus Christ as we look at Mark 1:40-45. Here we find Jesus as He and His disciples are traveling through out Galilee spreading the message that the Kingdom of God is at hand when a man with leprosy comes and knells down before Jesus saying, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."

Now the custom of the time was this, if you saw a person with leprosy you would point and yell, "UNCLEAN, UNCLEAN!" to run the person off and let others know that the leper was there and they too would take up the call, "Unclean,unclean..."

It is an understatement to say that lepers suffered. The disease it's self effects the sin and nerves in such a way that it deadens the nerves causing people to get cuts and infections. The infections cause their skin to rot which attracts rats and insects to eat their flesh while they sleep, but on top of that the would be void of human contact. The lost everything.

The Good News: "Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Mark 1:41

Jesus did the unthinkable, He touched the man. This single act was greater than the fact that Jesus healed the leprosy. Jesus looked at this man who had lost it all. Who had dropped to his knees before Him and call out for help and say his greatest need. This man needed to the loving touch of another person. So Jesus reached out His hand and touched the leper.

In that one action Jesus declared, "I will become unclean for you." This News is the heart of the message we have in Jesus Christ. Every one of us have become "unclean" in our sin. Our sin is more infectious, more deadly, and more offensive then the worst case of leprosy the world has ever seen. And Jesus is willing to make us clean. More than Just wanting to make us clean, He is willing to reach out and touch us in such a way that takes our filth and grime upon Himself and leave us clean.

May you come to the feet of Jesus, hit your knees and cry out, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." Knowing fully that Jesus loves you so much that He took your filth with Him upon the cross and in Him you too shall be clean.