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INJ
'I Am Willing, Be Clean'
St Mark 1:40-45
Morning Service
Epiphany VI
February 12th, 2006
A man with leprosy came to [Jesus] and begged Him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing, be clean!”
[St Mark 1:40,41]
Dear Saints,
The Gospel text today tells us a story, the story of the leper on the day he met Jesus. The Scriptures don't tell us much about this leper, his name or his family or his history. We don't know how old he is or how long he has had leprosy or how advanced his sickness is. The text simply describes his as, “A man with leprosy.” Well, what's that like? Leprosy is a skin disease that manifests itself in different forms, some worse than others, some painful, others numbing, some deadly, others not, but it is generally a rotting of the skin.
Through Moses, the Lord had prescribed restrictions for lepers. For example, Leviticus 13[:44-46] reads that if a priest inspects a man, and finds leprosy, that man “is a leprous man. He is unclean. The priest shall surely pronounce him unclean... Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his mustache, and cry, 'Unclean! Unclean!' He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his habitation shall be outside the camp.”
So it is with lepers. The live alone, outside the camp. If anyone comes near they are to cover their mouth and shout, “Unclean! Unclean!” They were forbidden to enter the city, and, worst of all, they were forbidden to enter the temple and hear the preaching of God's Word and make sacrifices.
What about the leper in the story today? How long had it been since he had heard the dreadful words of the priest “It is leprosy. You are unclean.”? How long had it been, months or years, since his clothes were torn and his head uncovered and the priests finger pointed him to the quickest way out of town? Did this man have a family? Were his parents alive? Was he married? Did he have to send his children away, crying, “Unclean! Unclean!” How long had it been since he felt the warmth of a loved one's embrace, since he had shaken the hand of a friend? We don't know, we just know this, “a man with leprosy came to Jesus.”
So this story of the leper is a story about pain and suffering, about loneliness and heartache, about being unclean and unholy, about a broken life. It's a story about being sent away or about being torn apart. It's a story, I suspect, that is not unlike your's and mine. For the Scriptures describe our life on earth as a time spent walking through the valley of the shadow of death. [Psalm 23:4] “In this world you will have trouble,” Jesus promised, [St John 16:33] for we are all sinners, we all have fallen short of God's glory. So we come here, in the Lord's name, saying that we are poor miserable sinners, that we are broken.
Well, back to the leper. With what comes next we see and we hear his suffering and pain, for he came to Jesus, “and begged Him on his knees, 'If you are willing, you can make me clean.'” But in this prayer we see and we hear of his faith and trust in Jesus. Instead of shouting, “Unclean! Unclean!” now with Jesus this leper talks of being clean, “If you are willing, You can make me clean.”
And so we see that this story is about more that pain, it is a story about faith and about prayer. These to always go together, faith and prayer. Faith trusts and believes the promises of God, and prayer is simply asking God to keep those promises with us. And look how his prayer is not a mockery, he's not just praying what he thinks he should, but he is praying from his deepest and utmost need. Over and over in Jesus' ministry we see and hear this kind of prayer. He walks down the street or into a city, and people come to Him, crying, begging, praying, “Lord, have mercy upon me.” For this is the deepest and utmost need all mankind, of all sinners, the Lord's mercy. And so we pray, have prayed this morning, out of our greatest need, out of our heart's desire, “Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us.”
And the Lord hears such prayers, prayed from hearts full of faith, hearts that trust in God and His word and look to Him for all good, and find refuge in Him in time of need. Jesus hears the prayer of this leper and, the text says, He was “filled with compassion.” Love, pity, concern, care; the Lord looked at this leper and hurt with him, for him. The Lord had compassion on Him. There are any number of times when the Gospel writers describe Jesus thus for us. On two blind men who cried out to Jesus for mercy, He “had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight.” [St Matthew 20:29-34] To the widow in the village of Nain who was in the funeral procession of her only son, “the Lord saw her, [and] He had compassion on her, and said to her, 'Do not weep.'” And then He touched the coffin and commanded the dead man to rise, and He presented him, alive to his mourning mother. [St Luke 7:11-17] Or to the hungry multitudes that followed Jesus into the wilderness to hear His preaching and learn from Him. “And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd.” [St Mark 6:34] Jesus is gracious and compassionate.
And this, dear saints, is good news for us, for Jesus looks upon us, not with anger or spite, or with tired frustration, or malice. He looks at us and has compassion on us. He cares for you, He loves you, and Jesus' compassion drives Him, it moves Him. Perhaps this leper had heard of Jesus, that this was a Man with compassion, who was able to heal and deliver, but now this leper sees it, in the face and the eyes of Jesus. Jesus looks at the leper with compassion, and then He does something wonderful, something astonishing, He “reached out His hand and touched the man.” He touches him. The one who was sent away, far off, to live alone. The one who would shout, whenever anyone was near, “Unclean! Unclean!” The one who was banished by the priest, by Moses, by the law, and who was pushed out, this leper was never beyond Jesus' reach. Jesus reaches out and takes hold of the man, of his sickness, of his leprosy, and steals it away, saying, “I am willing. Be clean.”
What Jesus did for the leper in our text, He did for all mankind on the cross. He reached out, He touched us, He sunk Himself into our humanity, into our flesh and blood, into our sickness and suffering, into our death, into our sin. The cries of our unholiness, “Unclean! Unclean!” did not keep Him away, but He looked upon us with compassion, and came down for each of us, and has stolen away our sin, bearing our sin, and the punishment for our sin, for us. And He speaks to each of us, saying, “I am willing. Be clean!” He speaks it, and it is so. You are holy, without spot or blemish, clean, for your sins are forgiven.
And at the word of Jesus, it is done. “Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.” Jesus speaks with authority, commanding the wind and the waves to be still, commanding the demons to depart, commanding disease and sickness and death to flee, commanding light to be, all at Jesus' voice. “I am willing. Be clean!” And dear saints, Jesus is not finished speaking, commanding. Even for you and me, who have come hear asking, pleading and begging for mercy, we have heard His voice, “I forgive you all your sins.”
The Gospel text today tells us a story, the story of the leper on the day he met Jesus. That Jesus is our Jesus, the same Jesus who comes to us today, to comfort us with His promises. Dear saints, may you have the sure comfort of the forgiveness of all of your sins, hearing these words of Jesus, “I am willing. Be clean.” Amen.
And now may the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Pastor Wolfmueller
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