Gospel of Mark: Healing of the Leper (by Dr. Bill Senyard on 07/21/13)

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The Eclipsing Touch of Jesus

William H. Senyard

Slide 1

Jesus’ Eclipsing Call compelled people to follow and enter his campaign.  His eclipsing message knocked them flat in the synagogue.  His eclipsing power over even the Kingdom of the invisible was frightening.  But there is also an eclipsing touch.

29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30 Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. 31 So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.

 

Today we look at that touch—the compassion of God.  Jesus, this man, God, merely touches this poor unclean woman and she is not only healed from a debilitating fever…. she has the energy to wait upon them. This Jesus—God in flesh does something that no one would have ever imagined God doing—He touches the sick and the unclean.  No one could have imagined this—this cuts against their notion of a distant untouchable perfect God.  But Jesus touches the living , the dead, the sick, and the broken. In Jesus, God touches humanity.  Don’t miss this!  When God, the perfectly Holy One touches sinful unclean humans, God does not become dirty or soiled, humans becomes clean.

Slide 2

32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33 The whole town gathered at the door, 34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

 

This is a very interesting section that I will attempt to unpack very briefly.  Galilee of Jesus’ day was filled with desperate people.  This was a people who were deeply hurting and in pain.  Some were sick with “various diseases” and others were demon possessed.  How many were sick?  Well it seemed to Mark, or the eyewitness that Mark got his information from that the entire city was there, either being healed or watching.

 

In 32, it says that the people “kept bringing” (imperfect tense) the sick and demon afflicted. In 1995, when I was beginning the church plant in British Columbia, I met with the head of the local family services organization. I asked him what he thought were the driving perceived needs of the area.  He listed two needs that I had heard before, but then quickly added a third.  He said that one thing was plaguing the peninsula in epidemic proportions; this problem is affecting his work, it is affecting the community and the families in them…. the problem was denial.  I find it here as well.  Many here in Denver think that they don’t have real problems.  They don’t have really serious relationship problems with their parents, with their children, with friends, no addictions, no dysfunctions not manageable by counselors or social services; at least nothing that can’t be handle once we put our minds to it.

 

But then we see Mark 1 and see a very different scene. Here we see a people who at least are not denying that they are sick, even demon possessed!  They are willing to risk societal shame to be healed.  Maybe our first prayer for our region is for us to truly see our desperate need?

Slide 3- Denial of our need of Jesus versus institutional religion

In vs. 32 there is an interesting phrase that I don’t want to overlook. “That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all of the sick and hurting”?

 

Why then?  Because, according to 1^st ct. Jewish understanding of the Law, unless it is life threatening, there should be no work, including healing on the Sabbath.  And so they waited till immediately after the Sabbath to have Jesus see and heal these many people. So when did the transition take place in the mind of the Jew that the Law and the Sabbath was merciless, a cruel mistress who only hinders man coming to God for healing?  Once again, we don’t need religion, we need Jesus.  Listen to God’s complaint against religious Israel—and us today from Micah 6:

Slide 4

² Hear, O mountains, the LORD’s accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth. For the LORD has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge against Israel.  ³ “My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me.

 

Q: When you think of church, or Christianity, or your faith expression, is it a burden? In first century Judaism, religion had become burdensome; something that had nothing to do with healing, or rest or freedom—only service, things that you need to do to hopefully gain God’s attention and maybe, just maybe, His pleasure and blessings.  Really a tragic cat and mouse game that was confusing at best.  Religion by its nature says, or implies that you need to be clean to come to God.  You need to be well to come to God, whole.  You need to jump through prescribed hoops, but I’m telling you that Jesus has already jumped through all the hoops.

 

On the other hand, Jesus says come as you are—and come now!  Come as you are to the presence of God, because the thing that you and I need the most today is the fullness of God.  This we access by faith in His presence.  This is core to our gospel here at LMCC.  Here we each implicitly or explicitly submit to the process, flawed, contextualized, imperfect, but we each in our own way submit to the worship process.  This “coming as we are into the presence of God, seeking to be healed” is the core of worship.

 

So, what are you going to do?  Are you going to wait until you stop being skeptical?  All your questions answered to your satisfaction?  Stop being angry at God for what has happened to you?  Stop being wary of Christians?  You will be the first ever in human history.  Are you going to wait until you fully understand everything, fully believe?  You will be the first.

 

Rather, look at the people of Mark.  Are you in need?  Come.  Are you dissatisfied with your life? Are your relationships confusing, irreconcilably messy?  Are you depressed, lack hope?  Do you struggle with addiction?  Do you have stuff that you can’t forgive? Come, bring them all.  Honestly, what have you got to lose?  Show some intellectual integrity and come.  Come with all of your questions—there is no need to lay them aside.  Bring them.  Are you in need?  Come.  Sabbath should be healing and transformative—it should be life giving—such things worship God.

 

As we will see in the next chapter, Jesus will dramatically challenge their understanding of Sabbath practices and laws.   Notice that Jesus had already healed one person, apparently on the Sabbath.  As we will see, Sabbath is Sabbath because Jesus is there.  Worship is happening here now because the Spirit of Jesus is here now.

Slide 5- Denial of our need for more than just healing.

Lots of attention is given to Jesus’ stunning healing of physical and spiritual wounds and oppressive forces of his day.  That alone is worth the admission.  This is no doubt why so many people swarmed to Jesus—but the healings were at the end of the day a temporary respite—not to take anything away from them being well received then and today.  We pray for healing here.  We pray for the end of immediate spiritual oppression here.

 

But, having said that, let’s not miss that they had a greater need than they were even aware of—that Jesus saw.  They were separated from the Creator God—trying to find intimacy, wholeness, identity, value, worth in context that had no power to give up such goods.  This was the even better “good” news, not just that in Christ all diseases and oppressions can be temporarily and will eventually be totally put to death, but that mankind’s shattered relationship with God could be restored, our rebellion and sin forgiven, you and I can be adopted into the very family of the creator God with full privileges.  These people experienced a moment of real humanity, a fuller humanity.  It was these people, those who were clearly in a pickle; those who couldn’t fix themselves, who had issues that could not be fixed by the governing officials, or the religious leadership who came and received the stark blessings that—it was assumed—came only to the clean.  Ironic!  It was the sick, the ritually unclean, the religious marginalized who found God’s blessings. That is a head blowing truth.

Slide 6-Leprosy

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. 43 Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44 “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” 45 Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. (NIV)

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These lepers knew their need.  Mark writes brilliantly—just to give you a taste of the quality of writing in this gospel-

1) “Comes”- historical present stresses the desperate plight,

2) Couplet, “Begged him on his knees adds double pathos,

3) “If you will..” and “You are able”, these participles imply the authority of Jesus as a figure to whom another person makes supplication and shows reverence,

4) “to make clean” is something that only Jesus can do.

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Leprosy is a collective noun designating a wide variety of chronic skin diseases.  In addition to pain, and chronic discomfort, the person would also be religiously unclean.  They would live in shame—separated from the community of God and the house of God.   (see Lv 13:45ff, Num 5:1-4).  Can you imagine the loneliness?  The public humiliation.  They had detailed all possibilities.  According to the  M. Nega’im XIII.7:

Slide 7

“If an unclean man [afflicted with leprosy] stood under a tree and a clean one passed by, the latter becomes unclean.  If a clean man stood under a tree and an unclean one passed by, the former remains clean.  If the latter stood still, the former becomes unclean.” (f.n. 145 p. 85). 

 

Lepers had to live outside the walls of the cities.  The leper was not permitted to enter any house (M. Kelim I.4; M. Nega’im XIII.11. They could attend synagogues but behind protective screens—not to protect them—but to protect the so-called “clean.”  But then Jesus…  Now everything changes.

 

So, check out the tremendous humor here.  You have to laugh.  The very first thing that the healed leper does is disobey Jesus.  So now I am going to enter into wild speculation.  So what do you think that he is thinking? Maybe he was pretty secular and had nothing to do with the Priests?  Maybe he is upset at the critical judgmental attitude of the priests?  Maybe he was so crazy excited he didn’t even hear Jesus?  Maybe all he could think about was to go and show his former family and friends?  Now I am not justifying his choice.  Jesus did specifically tell him what he wanted him to do.  Jesus apparently wanted an obvious miracle to show to the priests, right?  Disobedience is disobedience.  Jesus would hang on the cross to pay for the man’s disobedience.  I’m just saying that I get it.  By the way, get this.  Even though the guy’s first steps are disobedient, direct disobedience, Jesus does not take back the cleansing.  That is huge hope for me!

Slide 8 -Observation 1- The Touch of Jesus, like the Eclipsing Power–eclipses the Law

Or maybe, just maybe, it was a comic vignette to portray that the touch of Jesus has eclipsed the Law. Maybe, just maybe he got that he didn’t need to go to the ordained uncleanness inspectors to know that he was freed.  He didn’t need a second opinion!!!  Maybe he understood that the inspectors were only temporary jobs.  Now that the cleansing King has come, it is foolish to check his work.

 

Such a juxtaposition here.  The Law of Moses only provided for the guidelines to determine if a person was leprous or not. After a well-documented ritual, the priest could officially declare the man clean.  That was all they could do. The Law was powerless to actually purge a man of the disease.  Lepers are helpless. The Torah cannot help.  If you are a leper, you are relegated to a life of loneliness and shame.  But now— Jesus!

Slide 9- Observation 2- Jesus Touch eclipses the shame of the leper

Jesus sees the man’s dehumanization and oppression, his humiliation, loneliness and disease and experiences “splagchnizomai” — the compassion of God.  Remember we have seen this splagchnizomai of God before.  It is the powerful singular emotion that God feels when he sees someone who is hurting.  Literally it is a ‘gut wrenching’ visceral sensation.  This emotion is only attributed to Jesus and to the ideal god-like characters in only three of His parables.  This is the compassion of God.  This is what God most naturally experiences in his gut when he looks upon His image trapped and suffering.  He is overwhelmed in a gut wrenching pain.

 

Great contrast… the world saw the leper as unclean and dirty—- an object of contempt and avoidance….. someone or something to avoid— in fact in the name of God!  God comes and not only does he not avoid him, he touches him and heals him, driven by ‘splagchnizomai’.  This is very different than much of the caricature of God around today.

<pause>

Q: Think with me for a moment.  Whose face does the Holy Spirit bring to your mind?  Who are the lepers in your life?  Those who cannot enter the presence of the Lord without feeling contempt from the “religious”?

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There are the sick and diseased who do not come… Those with such horrible illnesses such as AIDS, expect contempt from fellowships such as ours.  There are the disabled, the scarred who feel out of place among the able and the unscarred.  There are the singles, the widows, the widowers who feel out of step.  There is the man or woman who is struggling with homosexuality, pornography.  There are the divorcees.  There are those who bear the burden of sin and guilt…. they don’t dare enter this place…… the mother who tragically chose to abort…. someone from the other political party?  the struggling alcoholic, the drug addict, single moms and dads, parolees, the whole category of churched damaged……

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Often, they see themselves being held in contempt as much as the leprous were in the time of Christ.  Does your heart break out with splagchnizomai for the leprous?  If you are ‘in Christ’, you would experience this—a surprising awareness of the lepers among you—And you would sense a powerful gut wrenching compassion.  Let me put it another way.  The Holy Spirit in you is powerfully reacting to people around you with splagchnizomai.  Are you in sync?

 

Our natural response to lepers is contempt, fear, indifference, pity—or avoidance.  But the flesh is at odds with the Spirit in us.  Do you feel the conflict?

 

The good news of the Kingdom of God in you—within our midst– is that there are no more untouchables.  Jesus changed everything.  By the way, the big secret is that you and I are proof of that.  All are welcomed here.  All are invited to come here to join uas as we lean into meeting with Christ ourselves—all of us emptied cups looking for fullness in this Kingdom of His.  Forgive us for any and all contempt that you might have experienced.  In the presence of Christ, we are all redeemed former lepers.  Ah, but Jesus’ embrace, His touch heals, forgives, empowers, fills, restores, reconciles, bestows honor, glory, majesty, justifies.  Jesus’ love for lepers such as me carried Him to the cross to take my place, to endure my punishment. He paid for all of my ritual uncleanness, he took on my many leprosies, he bore all of that related contempt for me, that I could not have endured.  What you need and I need this morning is the experienced splagchnizomai of Him.

Slide 10- Call—Come lepers and be touched by Jesus—feel his splagchnizomai.

Jesus is the God who touches the untouchable.  Are you unclean in someway? Hear this. Jesus touches and Jesus Heals.  When he touches, He does not cringe away, He does not get dirty or unclean. He restores, he sets free, and he heals.  Cry out to him in your need, cry out to him single-mindedly, without excuses, without any self-defense, or self justifications and cry out, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Slide 11- Call- Jesus give us hearts that must touch lepers. Give us your splagchnizomai.

We must begin to reconstruct the biblical view of evangelism.  We are lepers, embraced by Christ, still bearing much of our infection and weakness…. but now ambassadors of Him.  And as such we go to invite all—-ALL to Him.  We are the untouchables in Christ.  And we are to go to the world’s untouchables in the name of Christ, sharing in his powerful compassion and love.  The law is good, it is a road sign, but it is powerless to heal!!!!  Jesus and the gospel is the end of the Law…. He is the Law’s only mechanism of love.  The Law required a perfect substitute.  Jesus is that substitute for untouchables.  Jesus’ love is reserved for untouchables!

 

As you take the bread remember that the very hands that broke the bread, touched the untouchables, the dead, the leprous, the prostitute, the ill, the adulterer, the infectious, the drunks….. This bread is the carrier of all of the sins of the world.  Do you still care to eat it?

 

The lips that drank of the cup kissed the traitor, ate with criminals, and the dregs of society….. do you still care to drink?  This precious fluid represents the same blood that was shared for many lepers throughout history— all forgiven— all touched—- this includes murderers, homosexuals, pedophiles, adulterers, criminals, pimps, drug pushers, politicians even…. me!  Do you still care to drink… to identify with this number?  This is the final act of God’s splagchnizomai.  This is the touch of God!