Scripture Reference: Mark 1:14-45

Bringing In the Outcast – Continued

Please read Mark 1:40-45 for the background to this section.

From Last Lesson: If you did recover from leprosy, only the priests could declare that you were “clean” once more. There were detailed rules for that as well, including sacrifices that had to be offered.

All of this meant that life for the leprosy sufferer, the “leper,” was very grim. Although in theory they were allowed to live anywhere except inside a walled city, in practice they lived away from everyday society, quite literally out of touch. To make matters even worse, the religious authorities in typical style had added to the original rules a whole section of legislation about exactly how clean people might be made unclean. See if you can make sense of this, for example:

“If an unclean man stands under a tree and a clean man passes by the latter becomes unclean. If a clean man stands under a tree and an unclean man passes by, the former remains clean. If the latter stands still, the former becomes unclean.”

All this would make normal people more wary than ever about contact with the disease. This was one set of regulations the people of Israel observed very strictly. Even Uzziah, one of their greatest kings, when struck with leprosy was shut away in a house by himself for the rest of his life . . . a king, yet an outcast (2 Chronicles 26:16-21). The rabbis believed that it was as difficult to cleanse a leprosy sufferer as it was to raise the dead, which was not exactly encouraging. The Old Testament records only two cases of leprosy being healed, both by divine intervention; one was Miriam (Numbers 12:1-15), the sister of Moses, and the other was Naaman (2 Kings 5:1-14), the Syrian general.

So here comes this man, carrying all that weight of exclusion on his shoulders. Think how he must have felt! Knowing the hopelessness of his situation, the scale of the barriers which divide him from his fellow man, we can understand why he goes down on his knees! He has clearly heard about Jesus; perhaps from a distance he has watched Him in action. In any case, he seems to have no doubts; “You can make me clean.” The only question in his mind is whether Jesus is willing to do so. Jesus at once speaks and acts. Moved with deep compassion, He stretches out His hand and, breaking all those barriers, He touches the man. By that action, the rules say, Jesus Himself becomes ritually unclean; by the touch that the man has not felt perhaps for many years. “Be clean!” Jesus says. What is interesting is that some versions of the Bible says, “be cured,” yet the literal meaning in the original is “to be made clean.”

Think of it, a diseased man has been healed, a healing that is immediate and 100% successful. But, more than that, the barriers have been broken down; the outcast is brought back in and restored. Then Jesus sends him off to the priest. That is what the law states; the priest is the only one qualified to check you over and declare that you are clean. The custom is that you visit the local priest and then go on to the authorities in Jerusalem. Then there are special ceremonies to perform, partly to act out your freedom, and partly to give thanks to God, and you will be certified free of disease and fit to rejoin society again. At last, this man can now look forward to normal life; back to the family, back to work, back to self-respect.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
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