Mark 1:40-45
God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. –Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6
The begging leper came and humbly knelt before Jesus. It was his faith that stirred Jesus’ compassion and moved him to stretch out his hand, touch and heal him. That Jesus would touch the leper is something that not even the lowest Israelite would do. Touching a leper in this age was very dangerous. Contracting the disease meant the slow and painful spread of a deadly, incurable disease. At the very least, Jesus’ merciful act meant that he needed to perform the inconvenient ceremonial washing and self quarantine.
But Jesus’ love exceeds any concern over the risks and here we see that he gladly reached out for the sick man without hesitation. The lesson for us is simple: Christ is willing to help all who come humbly and helplessly to him no matter what the cost.
And the ceremonial cleansing that Jesus commanded the healed leper to perform is even further example of Christ’s willingness to help us in our time of need (Leviticus 14:2-7):
These are the regulations for the diseased person at the time of his ceremonial cleansing, when he is brought to the priest: The priest is to go outside the camp and examine him. If the person has been healed of his infectious skin disease, the priest shall order that two live clean birds and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop be brought for the one to be cleansed. Then the priest shall order that one of the birds be killed over fresh water in a clay pot. He is then to take the live bird and dip it, together with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. Seven times he shall sprinkle the one to be cleansed of the infectious disease and pronounce him clean. Then he is to release the live bird in the open fields.
This cleansing ritual presents to us a vivid picture of Jesus’ sacrifice. First, Jesus is the Priest who came out to the leper, touched and healed him. Second, the leper became as the clean bird that was released in the open field while Jesus became as the sacrificial bird killed for purification – Jesus took the risk to heal the sick man. Third, this symbol became reality when Jesus died on the cross. Every sinner saved by his grace has become clean while Jesus became their substitute when he took their sins upon himself. And in asking the leper to perform the ceremony, Jesus was leading him to all these images about himself, these pictures of his mercy, love and grace – particularly of the cross to come.
Probably dilerious and overcome with joy, the leper disobeyed Jesus’ instructions. The ostracized leper was now free to travel about the towns of the region, while the King of Glory became ostracized due to his spreading fame. Ironically, this news prevented Jesus from coming into the towns as the leper freely went through them telling them what Jesus had done for him.
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