During the time when Jesus lived on the earth, leprosy was widespread. It was a dreaded disease. The word “leper” can refer to a person suffering from any of several different skin diseases. When someone had leprosy, they were covered with sores all over their bodies. Unlike chicken pox, these sores did not go away. When someone had leprosy, their situation was hopeless because there was no cure at that time. To make matters worse, other people considered them to be unclean and were not allowed to touch them. Many people believed that people who had leprosy got the disease because of some terrible sin they had committed.

Physically, leprosy seems incurable because it reverses the pain process. Most diseases have pain as an early warning that helps in healing. Leprosy is just the opposite. The disease destroys the signal system for pain, leaving the body without its natural protect  ion against self-destruction. A leper is burned, cut, and broken without the warning of pain. Skin falls off, fingers, arms, toes, and legs die and drop away in defiance of the normal process of the body to heal itself. In the absence of pain, the leper loses the hope of healing.

Leprosy is also a hopeless social disease. Because lepers are so grotesque, respectable society labels them as contagious and sends them into exile. It is one thing to be condemned to die, but it is quite another thing to die in isolation. Lepers were to cry out, “Unclean, unclean” wherever they walked. Decent people avoided the contamination of even their shadows. For Israelites, God was worshipped in the community. Being cut off from that community also meant being cut off from God.

The Law of Moses required all such infected individuals to stay away from healthy men and women, but in the passage we heard from Mark’s Gospel, the man approached Jesus. The man clearly believed that Jesus had the power to heal him; he simply did not know if the Lord desired to do so.  If we identify with the leper, we need to ask ourselves what it is in our lives that makes us feel cut off from community and ashamed at the presence of some condition, habit, or secret in our lives.

Here is the early and yet ultimate test of the feelings of Jesus. During His ministry, He will meet the full range of physical needs-blindness, blood disease, epilepsy, palsy, paralysis, and even insanity. But of all these diseases, leprosy is the symbol of hopelessness. A leper is not only considered physically uncurable, but he also suffers under social rejection and spiritual condemnation. Don’t forget, Jesus hears the scum of the earth cry out, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Some ancient manuscripts have the term “being angered” rather than the term “moved with compassion.” If the former reading is correct, then Jesus was probably angry that the work of the devil had enslaved and injured the affected man. That Jesus touched this leper-and theoretically made Himself ritually unclean and exposing Himself to the disease-stood in stark contrast to the rabbis’ treatment of lepers. Jesus was on a collision course with legalistic religion throughout His ministry. The Good News challenges the drudgery of the Old Testament Law. Jesus’ authority challenged the scribes and the Pharisees. His concern for human needs was opposed by the traditions of the church.

When we read that Jesus is moved with compassion, it means that He feels Himself so deeply into the sufferings of the leper that it is just as if He Himself is suffering as a leper. Jesus is not moved with pity-that is too condescending; not with sympathy-that is too superficial; not with empathy-that is too distant. Not just mind for mind, hand for hand, or even heart for heart, but stomach for stomach, blood for blood, gut for gut, Jesus feels His way into the leper’s needs, just like he feels His way into our needs today.

Jesus met all sorts of physical needs during His ministry, but leprosy was a symbol of hopelessness. Jesus matched the most difficult of human needs with the deepest of human feelings. He knew the full range of human emotions because He was human. He responded to His feelings by touching the leper. Jesus let the leper and us know that He will take our place-not only in the risk of physical contamination, but in social contamination as well. By doing this, Jesus shows us what true compassion really means.

Jesus’ compassion had a cost. He had to give up His ministry in the city because the leper told people how he was healed. People had to come to Jesus in the desert, just like Jesus comes to us in the deserts of our lives. The leper’s actions set the edge of legal opposition to Jesus. Conflict now becomes His never-ending and ever-escalating fact of life.

The man disobeyed Jesus’ instructions not to tell anyone about his healing. He was affected emotionally and rejoiced. He followed his own feelings instead of following Jesus’ commands.  Why did Jesus strictly warn the man not to broadcast what He had done? First, Jesus wanted more time to define His messiahship on His terms before people could misinterpret it on their own terms. Second, if the Romans learned that He was the Messiah, it would prematurely end His ministry, and He had much more to do before His time on earth was done.

Just like Jesus took the man’s leprosy, He can take our sin. Sin makes us feel alone. We don’t feel like going to church and hanging out with fellow Christians who can encourage us. As we mature in our Christian faith we realize that this is when we need Christ and Christian fellowship the most.

At some point in our lives, we will ask the same thing the leper asked: “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” Each and every one of us will face serious illness. Each and every one of us will go to medical professionals and use the best of medical resources. Each and every one of us will pray and beg, “Jesus, if you will, you have the power to heal. My son, my daughter, my mom, my dad, my friend, me. Please Lord, use your powers to make the medical treatments that I am receiving effective. In your name. Amen.” We will all say that prayer with similar words. We will beg for healing, that God will bless the medical procedures we are receiving.

What else do we hear in this text? At the very heart of the story for today, the Bible says, “Jesus was moved with pity.” When He sees us in our diseases, whether it be cancer, heart attacks, or AIDS, God is always moved with pity. Although the culture might not be moved with pity, God is always moved with pity, because He is a God of healing and compassion. He does not allow disease in any form.

Who has not experienced the effects of the leprosy of sin in our lives? The selfishness of sin cuts a person off from family members and friends when: lies are told; goods argued over; siblings exhibit rivalry; parents play favourites; spouses argue excessively and don’t seek help; success is measured by the size of income; and students cheat in school. Hansen’s disease, which is the medical term for leprosy, is treatable with drugs. Sin and its fragmenting and isolating effects are not so easily eliminated.

Sometimes we may find ourselves in a situation where we are uncomfortable, like when we had chicken pox. But there may come a time in our lives when we find ourselves in a situation that is truly hopeless. When that happens, where can we turn? How do we find hope in a hopeless situation? We can turn to Jesus. When the situation is hopeless, Jesus is our only hope.

Jesus shouted the gospel from the housetops, so that the voice of the gospel would echo through history. Like the healed man, we should shout for all to hear, “The Lord has healed me. The Lord has intervened in my life and made me well.” Mark tells us that each hearer of the Gospel experiences Jesus’ compassion and desire to heal us. What he said to the leper is offered to a sinful world and to each of us as well. As God gives us opportunities, we can extend grace and show compassion with a gentle touch that conveys dignity and value. The simple, healing power of human touch goes a long way to remind hurting people of our care and concern. More important is the fact that they are reminded of Christ’s care, concern, and love for them.

(An audio version of this post can be found at https://www.spreaker.com/episode/mark-1-verses-40-45-jesus-compassion–58623432)

Bibliography

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