“Then a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, ‘If You are willing, You can make me clean.’ Then Jesus, moved with compassion, put out His hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’ And as soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.” Mark 1:40-42.
In the commentary on Genesis which began here with “In the Beginning God”, posted on 8-7-21 and ended with “Death of Today”, posted on 12-14-21 we saw how God created everything in Genesis chapter one.
And then He created an earth with a perfectly balanced ecology, plentiful food, and beauty that none of us has seen in this present world.
God capped this all off by making man in His own image and giving the care of this earth to him. But soon enough sin entered the world.
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned…” Romans 5:12.
The curse of death came upon all men and the curse of weeds and decay came upon man’s domain. Still, in spite of the marred perfection and an increase in the difficulty of farming the land, there was beauty and plenty.
Man, however, is not satisfied with near perfection; he has to destroy it in continual rebellion until he brings sudden destruction on himself and the world given into his stewardship.
It was all wiped out in the worldwide flood; the emphasis here is on worldwide because everything was wiped out. Men in rebellion today say it never happened in spite of literally mountains of evidence.
Almost immediately after the flood, men again began to rebel by moving to the plain of Shinar and building a city with a tower that was to reach the heavens (not literally, but very high, possibly for astrology).
Again God judged by confusing the languages, dispersing men all over the earth, and man’s folly became known as Babel, now Babylon; soon again to become a rallying point for the globalist.
The love of God is shown over and over in the Old Testament, yet men only seem to see harsh judgment. That is because God’s love is continually rejected and trampled upon.
God was rejected for idols and the doctrines of demons which fit better with man’s corrupt nature. It is a corrupt sin nature that is once again beginning to manifest itself blatantly in the world today.
Many of us are truly stressed and frightened by the things around us, but it is important to realize that in a world of over seven and a half billion people, God deals with individuals.
“O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.” Psalm 139:1-4.
“How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You.” Psalm 139:17-18.
Bear in mind, and do not forget this, this Psalm is not just about the writer, King David, it is about you. You are the “me” referred to in this Psalm, “How precious are your thoughts to me”, there it is, the “me” right here is you.
Stop, look at it, live like it is you that God is thinking about, live like His thoughts of you are more than the sand of the sea. Your life has great value because God loves you and thinks of you continually.
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7.
“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:6-7.
Stop, and think! You are of great value in the sight of God; His thoughts of you are continual, He wants to be your companion for now and eternity.
And it is through the blood of Christ His Son that it is possible, making those who accept Him as their Savior a son or daughter of God the Father.
Finally it is this loving and compassionate person who reveals who God truly is. It is in the eyes of Jesus that we see the love of God shown forth.
“Then a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, ‘If You are willing, You can make me clean.’” Mark 1:40.
While the leprosy described in Leviticus chapters 13 and 14 includes the leprosy that we are familiar with, the word also encompasses other communicable diseases that required separation from the general population to keep it from spreading.
It is this pitiful disease that required persons who had it to dwell apart from others, to wear mourning clothes which would warn others of the danger, as well as having to cry out, “Unclean! Unclean!” whenever they went near to those without the disease.
It is one of these who drops to his knees before Jesus and in complete faith says, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” His words were not, “If You can, will You make me clean.”
This is a saving faith which came from knowing that Jesus was the Christ.
“Then Jesus, moved with compassion, put out His hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’ As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.” Mark 1:41-42.
People who were suspected of having leprosy were to go to the priest for an examination of the sores on their skin, at which point the priest would make certain determinations about the sores as per the law.
Some friends were debating whether Christ would have sinned or become unclean by touching a leper or not. And judging by the order of the words in the verse above, He touched the man before He spoke the words that healed him. A lot of time was wasted discussing this pointless question.
I relate this story as a reminder that we must stay focused on the things that are important in life and not to be sidetracked by meaningless arguments.
As for the answer to this question, I believe that the Lord indicates it in the following verses.
“Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. And the Pharisees said to Him, ‘Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?’” Mark 2:23-24.
“And He said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.’” Mark 2:27-28.
Jesus, the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath, He is Lord over leprosy, and He is Lord over all whether they accept Him as their Savior or whether they cling to the leprosy of sin and reject Him, it matters not.
That He was a sinless sacrifice and worthy of being called Lord of all is attested to by God the Father through His resurrection from the dead.
“And therefore [Abraham believed God and] ‘it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.” Romans 4:22-25.
The most important part of the passage on the leper is that “Jesus, moved with compassion, put out His hand and touched him…”
The dictionary defines compassion in this manner; feelings of deep sympathy or sorrow for another’s condition of suffering or misfortune, having also a desire to alleviate their pain or take away its cause.
This particular Greek word for compassion means about the same thing and is used only 12 times in the New Testament; eight times in reference to Jesus’ feelings toward others, in three of His parables and once when a man asks for compassion on his demonized son.
Few folks feel this sort of compassion and none to the degree that God the Son felt here on earth, and still feels for us though He is now seated in heaven.
Lastly, notice that He touched the leper. This man may not have felt the touch of another human since he had contracted the leprosy, and the first was by God the Son, Jesus.
This too is a part of the compassion of Christ, and it is a touch that all who accept Jesus as their Savior will feel at one time or another in their lifetime.
Some may experience a feeling of closeness, and others may feel elation when they realize all that God has done for them both physically and in the heavenly realm.
“Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.” 1 Peter 3:8-9.
Love and Compassion, Part 1 taken from godisrevealed.com updated on 2-1-19, reposted 3-1-22.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.