Message for THE LORD'S DAY MORNING, March 11, 2018 Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister MESSAGE 7 in Making A Difference Sermon Series from the Gospel of Mark The Man Who Touched Jesus' Heart Mark 1:40-45 (NKJV) As we continue with our series of messages from the Gospel of Mark, I would like for you to please open your Bibles to Mark chapter one. And let's read verses 40-45. MARK 1:40-45 (NKJV) 40 Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, If You are willing, You can make me clean. 41 Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, I am willing; be cleansed. 42 As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. 43 And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once, 44 and said to him, See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them. 45 However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every direction.
I N T R O D U C T I O N In our day and time perhaps no disease is more feared and dreaded than CANCER. Our prayer list in the bulletin each week is filled with the names of people who are battling this dreaded disease. There's not a one of us here this morning who doesn't know someone who either has battled or is currently battling cancer. And sadly, all of us knows someone or several someone's who's lives were shortened by this awful, dreaded disease. If you have ever been around someone who has cancer it is almost shocking to watch a once healthy body become disfigured and ravaged by this terrible disease. ************** In Jesus' time, there was no disease more feared and dreaded than the disease called LEPROSY. There is a wonderful website called BIBLE HISTORY ON-LINE. I would like to share some information I found about this dreadful disease on their website. During ancient biblical times there was a loathsome disease called leprosy. In the Hebrew language the word for leprosy was tzarah (tuh-zar-uh) which means smitten. In the New Testament the Greek word lepra means scaly.
It was an uncontrollably, slow growing disease that would cause swollen lumps on the skin and ulcerous scabs all over the body. There was a numbness sensation that caused the leper to scratch himself and damage his body unknowingly. A leprous person would look scaly and very deformed. Their hair and body was noticeably white and therefore the leper was easy to identify. Their bodies would rot...body parts would deform...and their fingers, toes, and sometimes feet would fall off. The leper would drag himself along and his voice would sound like a dog growling or howling in pain. The only hope for the leper was death. (BIBLEHISTORY.COM) If you have ever done an in-depth study on this awful disease you know that the physical suffering was only one aspect of the disease. There was also social and spiritual suffering. If one had leprosy he or she was viewed by the public as stricken by God for his or her sins. Therefore lepers were considered outcasts and were forced to leave their homes, their families, and their friends, and go live in caves or colonies with other lepers. They had to leave their heads uncovered and wear torn clothes which was symbolic of lamenting their own death. If someone approached them they had to put their hand or the sleeve of their garment over their mouth and shout unclean, unclean to warn the person to stay away. Other than those words of warning, a leper was not permitted to give or receive a greeting, because in the eastern culture greetings involved an embrace and often a kiss on both cheeks. In biblical times, lepers would live out their remaining days on earth with no hope...no friends...no words of encouragement...and no warmth of a human touch or embrace. Leprosy was a death sent As we go back to our text, JESUS meets a man one day who is afflicted with this awful, dreaded disease.
First I would have you to notice... I. The Leper's CRY (v.40) 40 Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, If You are willing, You can make me clean. 1. After teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum and healing multitudes of people, including Peter's mother-in-law, JESUS has been going from city to city and village to village throughout Galilee proclaiming the good news to huge crowds of people. 2. Mark doesn't tell us where Jesus is when this leper came to Him. Luke's gospel just says this happened when Jesus was in a certain city. (Luke 5:12) Matthew's gospel tells us there was a great multitude of people following Jesus when this happened. 3. So picture this scene. Jesus is teaching this huge crowd of people, when all the sudden there is a lot of commotion in the crowd. People are scattering...parents a shielding the eyes of their children to protect them from seeing the face of this grossly disfigured man...and many are shouting their disgusts as this leper makes his way through the crowd to get to JESUS. 4. When the leper reaches Jesus, he kneels down before JESUS and in his eerie, gravely voice he cries out, If You are willing, You can make me clean.
5. Oh, is there anything more heart-breaking and gut-wrenching than the human cry of distress and desperation? This is the cry of a man who is all alone in this world. He has no comfort from his family...no companionship with friends...there's no doctor who can heal him... no medicine to ease his pain...no hospital to treat him...jesus CHRIST IS HIS ONLY HOPE...HIS ONLY HOPE! 6. And so this leper throws himself upon the mercy of Christ, and cries out, If You are willing, You can make me clean. 7. The leper knows Jesus has the power and authority to heal. Perhaps he has lingered in the shadows as he witnessed Jesus healing others. He knows Jesus is able. The only question the leper has in his mind is if Jesus is willing to do for him what He has done for others. IF YOU ARE WILLING,, You CAN make me clean. Next we see... II. The Lord's COMPASSION (v.41a) 41a Then Jesus, moved with compassion 1. When the crowd saw this leper they were moved with disgust! In the eyes of the crowd this leper was a sickening sight... a repulsive sight...a disgusting sight...even a frightening sight.
2. Now contrast that with how Jesus saw this leper... Jesus was moved with compassion...jesus was moved with compassion. 3. Those words are spoken of Jesus several times in the Gospels. -In Matthew 9:36 When Jesus saw the huge crowd of sick and diseased people He was moved with compassion. -In Matthew 14:14 when Jesus looked out over that crowd of 5,000 hungry people who had listened to Him teach all day long, He was moved with compassion. -In Mark 5 we read about Jesus encounter with the Gadarene demoniac who lived in a cemetery, verse 19 tells us that Jesus had compassion on him. -In Luke 7 we read that account where Jesus was coming into the small Galilean town of Nain one day when He met a funeral procession. The only son of one of the widows in town had died. And when Jesus saw the unbearable grief in that widow's face, verse 13 says, He had compassion on her.
4. Jesus was constantly moved with compassion. Jesus moved towards people other people moved away from. Jesus was drawn to those who disgusted others. Jesus felt our griefs. He took our sorrows, and our sicknesses, and our pain, and our suffering upon Himself. The tears of others brought Him to tears. The hurts of others brought hurt to His heart. The cries of others reached down into the very depths of Jesus and moved Him to offer whatever help He could render. 5. When JESUS saw how leprosy had ravaged the face and body of this leper and He heard his cry for help, Jesus was moved with compassion. 6. Brothers and sisters, need I remind you this same JESUS has compassion for you and me. * When you lost your mate and cried yourself to sleep night after night, Jesus was moved with compassion. * When you sat by the bedside of your precious loved one in their final days here on earth, Jesus was moved with compassion. * When your heart was broken by the cruel, hurtful words of your rebellious teenage son or daughter, Jesus was moved with compassion.
7. You have never shed a tear...you have never felt a pain...you have never cried out for help... you have never uttered a prayer of desperation...but what JESUS didn't know it, and was moved with compassion. 8. When that pitiful leper made his way through the crowd that day and cried, If You are willing, You can make me clean...jesus was moved with compassion. The man literally touched the very heart of JESUS. Next we see... III. The Lord's CURE (vs.41,42) 41 Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, I am willing; be cleansed. 42 As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. 1. Do you remember in last week's message when Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law of her fever, I told you Jesus performed that miracle with no fanfare...no drama... and no theatrics? 2. Jesus uses that same soft, gentle, low-key approach in healing this leper. He stretched out His hand and touched him, and in response to the leper's earlier plea, Jesus said, I am willing; be cleansed.
3. As soon as Jesus said those words, the man was immediately made whole again. The scaly skin cleared up. Every oozing scab disappeared. Every missing finger, every missing toe reappeared. All the color came back into his bleached white hair and skin. There wasn't one solitary shred of evidence that the man had ever even had leprosy. Whatever the man looked like before he had leprosy, he now looked even better and healthier. 4. Only JESUS can do that! Only JESUS can heal completely and restore us to wholeness. This brings us to our fourth and final thought and that is... IV. The Lord's COMMAND (vs. 43,44) 43 And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once, 44 and said to him, See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them. 1. Jesus actually gave the healed leper two commands here. The command to go show himself to the priest served a two-fold purpose; one physical, the other spiritual. According to the law of Moses in Leviticus 14, when one was cleansed of leprosy or any kind of skin rash or disease, they were to go before the priest to be examined.
Only the priest could verify the leprosy or skin disease was gone and could declare the man whole. Once the man or woman was declared cleansed, they were free to return to their family, and free to once again worship at the temple. 2. The other commandment Jesus gave to this healed leper seems strange to us. Mark tells us that Jesus strictly warned the man not to say anything to anyone about how Jesus had healed him of his leprosy. Jesus didn't ask him not to tell anyone...he didn't request that he not tell anyone...he strictly warned him not to tell anyone. The Greek vocabulary that is used here literally means, Jesus snorted like a horse as He said these words. There was an undeniable sternness in His voice when He gave this command to the man. 3. Why was Jesus so emphatic that this man keep his healing a secret? It was because healing was not the focal point of His ministry. The focal point of His ministry was to preach and teach the good news of the kingdom. Jesus had no interest in becoming a celebrity! He didn't want people viewing His ministry as some kind of a traveling sideshow. This would only obscure the true purpose of His ministry. This is why JESUS commanded the man to tell no one!
4. Of course the man didn't heed JESUS' warning. Mark tells us in verse 45, However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter... That's just another way of saying he told every person he met about what Jesus had done for him. And sure enough, the very thing Jesus was trying to avoid happened! People began to view him as Israel's most famous celebrity, and the only way Jesus could avoid the crowds was to stay out of the cities and stay in desolate places. APPLICATION Now what does any of this have to do with us? Actually, much more than you think. In the scriptures, leprosy was much more than a dreaded physical disease. Leprosy symbolized SIN and its deadly effects upon every man. You see, at one time you and I were spiritual lepers. Just like leprosy, sin started out small in our lives and continued to grow. Like leprosy, sin numbed our sensitivity to GOD. Like leprosy, sin marred and disfigured our lives. Like leprosy, sin rotted our minds, our hearts, and our spirit. Like leprosy, sin damaged our relationships with our family and friends. And worst of all, sin made us unclean and separated us from GOD.
Like filthy, rotten, wretched lepers, there was nothing we could do to heal ourselves. We were vile, disgusting sinners who could only cry out to the LORD for mercy. And the LORD had compassion on us, and by His grace He reached out and touched us, and cleansed us, and made us whole. And the LORD is still touching lives today! No matter what you have done! No matter how bad you have been! No matter how miserably you have failed! No matter how numerous your sins may be, JESUS LOVES YOU... JESUS HAS COMPASSION ON YOU...and JESUS WANTS TO CLEANSE YOU AND MAKE YOU WHOLE! Will you come to Him today? Will you cry out, Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean? Shackled by a heavy burden 'Neath a load of guilt and shame Then the hand of Jesus touched me And now I am no longer the same [Chorus] He touched me, oh He touched me And oh the joy that floods my soul! Something happened and now I know He touched me and made me whole Since I met this blessed Savior Since He's cleansed and made me whole Oh I will never cease to praise Him I'll shout it while eternity rolls (BACK TO CHORUS)