John Andrew C.: Amen.
John Andrew C.: That was a perfect song to lead us into our time of teaching this morning, where our heart is that we would be drawn nearer to the cross where Jesus had died.
John Andrew C.: My name is John Andrew Clayton.
John Andrew C.: I'm the student pastor here at Central.
John Andrew C.: I'm glad to be with you this morning up here.
John Andrew C.: As we have been walking through the Gospel of Mark, our heart has been to be amazed at Jesus, at the things that he said, the things that he did.
John Andrew C.: You know, many times we read the Gospels or we think about Jesus, but the reality of our lives still weigh heavy on our hearts.
John Andrew C.: Whether it's a sickness in our family or a financial need or whatever it is that's going on in our lives, we find ourselves distracted because of the needs we have.
John Andrew C.: And our heart is not to forget about those needs, but it's to recognize the beauty of Jesus and let that transform everything about the way that we live and think while we're here on this earth.
John Andrew C.: And so that's our heart this morning.
John Andrew C.: So open with me, if you will, to Mark 1.
John Andrew C.: We're going to be in Mark 1, starting in verse 35 this morning.
John Andrew C.: And if you remember, the Gospel of Mark is an account of Jesus's life as told by Mark, who received it from Peter, the Apostle Peter.
John Andrew C.: And so one of the things that I want to set up for us this morning, as we jump into this gospel, is to really recognize the impact that amazement at Jesus has on a person.
John Andrew C.: Peter was amazed by who Jesus was, but this Gospel of Mark is a direct result of the effect that that amazement had on other people.
John Andrew C.: Namely Mark, a disciple of Peter, someone who spent a significant amount of time with him.
John Andrew C.: He heard Peter talking about this guy named Jesus and was so captivated by what he heard, that he was prompted and compelled by the Holy Spirit to write these things down and to record them for us, that we may recognize, too, what it was that Jesus did.
John Andrew C.: And so, as we jump into this passage this morning, keep that in mind, that in as much as we are amazed with Jesus, the people around us are going to be able to tell.
John Andrew C.: They're going to be able to tell the love that we have for him, and they're going to be changed by that, just as Mark was through Peter.
John Andrew C.: And so, let's read this morning, starting in Mark 1:35: It says,"In rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.
John Andrew C.: And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him,"Everyone is looking for you." And he said to them,"Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out." And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.
John Andrew C.: And a leper came to him imploring him, and, kneeling, said to him,"If you will, you can make me clean." Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him,"I will.
John Andrew C.: Be clean." And immediately, the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.
John Andrew C.: And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once and said to him,"See that you say nothing to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded for a proof to them." But he went out and began to talk freely about it and to spread the news so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but it was out in desolate places and people were coming to him from every quarter.
John Andrew C.: " Before we dig into this passage line by line, let's set the context for us a little bit.
John Andrew C.: If you remember, Mark begins his Gospel by highlighting it as the beginning of Jesus's Gospel ministry.
John Andrew C.: And in Mark 1, verse 14, it reads,"Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the Gospel of God, saying the time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand.
John Andrew C.: Repent and believe in the Gospel." So immediately upon coming into Galilee, you see Jesus coming with a message.
John Andrew C.: He is preaching this Gospel of the Kingdom of God and giving these people a command.
John Andrew C.: He says,"Repent and believe in the Gospel," But not only did he come preaching this message, but he came substantiating this message with these acts of healing.
John Andrew C.: And if you remember, first, he healed this man with an unclean spirit, as Mark records, and then later, he healed Peter's mother-in-law, and then, after that, it's as if the entire town heard about everything that was going on and all flooded the place where Jesus was.
John Andrew C.: And in Mark 1:32 through 34, we read this, where it says,"That evening at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons, and the whole city was gathered together at the door.
John Andrew C.: And he healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons." And so, you see this popularity spreading among all the people, where they're hearing about these things that Jesus is doing.
John Andrew C.: They're hearing about this man who can heal people with unclean spirits or heal people who are sick.
John Andrew C.: And so, as people are listening to this message that Jesus is sharing, they're comparing that with this power that they see in him, saying,"This has got to be none other than the son of God, for no one else could do these sorts of things." And as we step into our passage this morning, 35, one of the things that I want to highlight for you is that there are three parts within this passage, three ministries, three elements, in which you see Jesus engaging.
John Andrew C.: And the first is praying.
John Andrew C.: You see him praying, out by himself.
John Andrew C.: Second, you see him preaching, and then third, you see him healing.
John Andrew C.: And so, these are the three elements that we want to focus on today: taking a look at what it was that drove Jesus to pray, to preach, and to heal, and to hopefully be amazed at Jesus because of what we see within this passage.
John Andrew C.: And so let's begin.
John Andrew C.: Mark 1:35.
John Andrew C.: We're going to take this verse-by-verse this morning.
John Andrew C.: It says,"In rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place.
John Andrew C.: And there, he prayed." You've got to remember that Jesus has been flooded by these people that are in Galilee.
John Andrew C.: He's been healing people, presumably all night, all morning, the entire time that he's been there, as they have heard about these things that he can do.
John Andrew C.: Yet it still says that:"rising very early in the morning, he went out, he departed and went to find a place to pray, in order to be alone with his Father." And it's not just the he rose very early in the morning, but one of the unique elements of this phrase, in the original Greek, is that it says,"very early while it was still night".
John Andrew C.: So it's not just that the sun's just barely risen; it hasn't even risen yet.
John Andrew C.: It's still night.
John Andrew C.: Jesus is exhausted, yet he still gets up early in the morning, leaves his disciples, leaves whoever it is that he's around.
John Andrew C.: He departs looking for a desolate place, looking for some time alone where he could spend to rest in prayer with his Father.
John Andrew C.: That's huge.
John Andrew C.: That sets the stage for the rest of this passage, where we see the importance that Jesus assigns to spending time with his Father.
John Andrew C.: Jesus did this frequently.
John Andrew C.: We see in Luke 22 that it says this was his custom.
John Andrew C.: His custom was to get away frequently to spend time with his Father, finding a desolate place, somewhere where he knew no one would bother him, where no one would interrupt his time that he had with his Father.
John Andrew C.: He also set this example for his disciples.
John Andrew C.: We see later on in the Gospel of Mark, in Mark 6:31, that after the disciples are sent out, two by two, they come back to Jesus desiring to tell him everything that they've seen and done, and he says,"Okay, come away by yourselves for a little bit.
John Andrew C.: Let's find a desolate place to rest for awhile." He set this example for his disciples.
John Andrew C.: This was an incredibly important time for Jesus.
John Andrew C.: Yet despite the frequency with which Jesus retreated to spend time with his Father, Mark only records three instances where he gets away to pray.
John Andrew C.: This is the very first of those instances.
John Andrew C.: The other is immediately after the feeding of the 5,000, right before he walks on water, with the last being the time that Jesus spent in the garden of Gethsemane.
John Andrew C.: So since he did this frequently, and Mark only records three of these scenes, this has got to be a very important moment in the life of Jesus, this time that he departed from his disciples, in the middle of this healing ministry, to spend time with his Father.
John Andrew C.: You know, I often ask myself,"When it's not explicitly mentioned, Jesus, what are you praying about?" What was the content of his prayer?
John Andrew C.: And it doesn't list out for us in this passage what it was that Jesus was praying, but we get a little bit of a hint in Matthew 6, where Jesus teaches his disciples what it looks like to pray.
John Andrew C.: In Matthew 6, Jesus commands his disciples,"Pray, then, like this,'Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name.
John Andrew C.: Your kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.
John Andrew C.: Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.
John Andrew C.: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'" As you take a look at this prayer that Jesus records for his disciples, teaching them what it looks like to pray, one of the things that you immediately see is these six lines that Jesus delivers.
John Andrew C.: And these first set of three,"Our Father in Heaven," he says,"hallowed be your name.""May you be lifted up and glorified.""May you be exalted above all else." He enters into this time of prayer by magnifying his Father.
John Andrew C.: Then he says,"Your Kingdom come." His entire ministry was based around this coming of the Kingdom of God.
John Andrew C.: That's the content of his preaching, as you remember from earlier.
John Andrew C.: It says,"Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.
John Andrew C.: And as we know from later on in the life of Jesus, this"your will be done" isn't a simple prayer.
John Andrew C.: To submit to his Father's will meant everything for him.
John Andrew C.: If you remember him in that garden of Gethsemane, that last moment of prayer that Mark records, as he's praying,"Father, if possible, would you take this cup from me?" But what is his response?
John Andrew C.: He says,"Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done." These are heavy words that Jesus is praying, and this first set of three,"Hallowed be your name.
John Andrew C.: Your kingdom come, your will be done." These all deal with magnifying the Father and seeing everything that he wants accomplished on this earth to take place.
John Andrew C.: These next set of three, where he teaches them to pray,"Give us this day our daily bread.
John Andrew C.: Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.
John Andrew C.: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." These deal with our neediness.
John Andrew C.: Do you recognize that?
John Andrew C.: He's saying,"Give me today what it is that I need.""Give me today what I need to get through today, preaching your message, preaching this Gospel of the Kingdom of God.""Sustain me as I give this message to these people that I'm around." Then, he prays,"Forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors." Now, we know Jesus didn't have to pray that piece of the prayer, but it was essential that he set this example for his disciples, because they very well needed to pray this.
John Andrew C.: And he says,"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil," saying,"Father, as we are in the middle of delivering your message to these people, would you keep us safe from the enemy?" By this point in time, Jesus had already spent 40 days and nights in the wilderness of Judea, wrestling with Satan, as Satan tempted him again and again and again.
John Andrew C.: Although it only mentions three specific temptations, we know that that was long-lasting, and it endured long after those 40 days.
John Andrew C.: Mark even records that the devil left him at the end of those 40 days until a more opportune time.
John Andrew C.: So Jesus was intimately aware of his neediness of the Father.
John Andrew C.: He knew what that meant for him, and so he sets this example for his disciples.
John Andrew C.: I only imagine that, as Jesus retreats in the middle of this healing ministry, that this is the same sort of prayer that he is praying: first, lifting up his Father, acknowledging him for who he is, exalting him far above anything else, but then also acknowledging his neediness, saying,"Father, I need you.""I need you to continue to strengthen me as I deliver this message, as I preach this Gospel of the Kingdom." And I think, for us, before we continue with the rest of this passage, we need to take a little bit of an internal survey, asking ourselves,"Is this what our prayer life looks like?" I hope that's a convicting question for you.
John Andrew C.: Maybe it's not.
John Andrew C.: Maybe your prayer life looks just like this.
John Andrew C.: But I know that, if I'm honest with myself, I allow the things that are going on in my life to far outweigh this sort of approach to prayer, or maybe my prayers are kind of haphazard and quick.
John Andrew C.: My prayer for myself this morning, and for you, is that we would take a look at this time that Jesus spends, intentionally getting away from his disciples, spending time with his Father, and that we would not just be amazed by Jesus, but that we would allow this amazement to transform the way that we pray.
John Andrew C.: May we, in our prayers, lift high the name of the Father, and also recognize our neediness and recognize his desire to listen to us in our neediness.
John Andrew C.: That's my prayer for us this morning.
John Andrew C.: As we continue, verse 36 says,"And Simon and those who were with him searched for him.
John Andrew C.: Imagine what this must have been like for the disciples, as they have been witnessing all of these things that Jesus is doing.
John Andrew C.: They're seeing these healings take place.
John Andrew C.: People are clamoring to get to Jesus, and in the middle of this sort of ministry success, what does Jesus do?
John Andrew C.: "Sorry.
John Andrew C.: Bye.
John Andrew C.: I'm gone." He leaves.
John Andrew C.: It doesn't record whether or not he tells them, but you can only assume, by virtue of his desire to get alone, that he didn't even tell his disciples where he was going.
John Andrew C.: He just left, maybe hoping they weren't going to be watching him as he was on his way out, not watching where he was going.
John Andrew C.: He leaves to spend time with his Father.
John Andrew C.: Disciples are searching for him, as people presumably come back to them, searching for Jesus, desperately seeking to be healed.
John Andrew C.: These disciples go out searching for Jesus.
John Andrew C.: In verse 37, we see them find him.
John Andrew C.: It says,"And they found him and said to him,'Everyone is looking for you.'" It doesn't say how long it took them to search.
John Andrew C.: Now, I only imagine it was probably quite some time that they spent searching for him.
John Andrew C.: Jesus probably knew, you know, the locations around that area that they were most familiar with.
John Andrew C.: He probably sought a place that was not very familiar to them, so they wouldn't find him immediately, so he could really spend some good quality time with his Father.
John Andrew C.: But regardless, they found him, after who-knows-how-long of searching, and they immediately come to him and immediately say,"Everyone is searching for you." It's interesting to note that they are interrupting this time of prayer, but interrupting it, in their minds, with the thought of alerting him to what's going on.
John Andrew C.: "Hey, everyone is looking for you.""Everything you've been doing, these people want more.
John Andrew C.: They want more." William L.
John Andrew C.: Lane, a famous New Testament scholar, remarked on this statement from the disciples by saying,"There is a note of reproach in the statement,'All are seeking for you,' which means,'What are you doing here when you should be in the midst of the multitude who are clamoring for you?'" I think these disciples, like us a lot of times, believe that God is at work in the middle of some sort of big, popular thing and not at work in other things.
John Andrew C.: These disciples assume Jesus is seeking to ride this wave of popularity that he has stirred up in Galilee, when in reality, what's Jesus doing?
John Andrew C.: He is waiting with bated breath for every word that comes from his Father, seeking direction.
John Andrew C.: Now, I know for me, I don't know about for the rest of you, but I know when I think about ministering or doing whatever it is that I'm going to do throughout my day-to-day life, I tend to look at things and assign a certain level of success to those things based off the way that people are responding.
John Andrew C.: Anybody there with me?
John Andrew C.: You there?
John Andrew C.: Here, we see Jesus doing the exact opposite.
John Andrew C.: That is the most countercultural thing for us to understand.
John Andrew C.: If you were to go into churches that have a thriving, successful ministry where people are beating the door down to get inside, to hear about this Jesus, this sort of response of,"No, let's begin doing something different." Why?
John Andrew C.: Because God is leading us in that direction.
John Andrew C.: Yeah, maybe there are a whole lot of people desperately seeking what we've got, but if the Father is leading us in a different direction, who are we to question his will?
John Andrew C.: This is totally countercultural to us, but these disciples, like us, assume Jesus is just seeking to ride out this popularity, to continue to build up this momentum and Galilee.
John Andrew C.: Yet Jesus, seeking direction from his Father, he has a different idea.
John Andrew C.: In verse 38, we see Jesus respond,"And he said to them, let us go onto the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.
John Andrew C.: You always see, within Jesus, this attitude that there is one mission, one mission that the Father has sent me on, and that is to proclaim the good news of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God to everyone.
John Andrew C.: All throughout Isaiah, you see this desire for God's name to be made known among all the nations.
John Andrew C.: Not just Collierville, not just Tennessee, not just the US, not, in this time, just Galilee, but everywhere.
John Andrew C.: Jesus says,"Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also." In response to the disciples' question, Jesus reveals the priority of his mission, which is to preach the Kingdom of God to all peoples.
John Andrew C.: In Luke 4, which is Luke's version of this scene right here, Luke records Jesus's response as,"I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns as well, for I was sent for this purpose." So we must understand that Jesus's primary mission is to preach the good news of the Kingdom of God coming near to people.
John Andrew C.: Everything else, all of his miracle work, is subservient to that end: the miracles, the healings, all of that was done in order to substantiate these claims, to reveal that he really was the son of God, to show his compassionate hand, but that was all done in service to Jesus preaching.
John Andrew C.: That was his primary, primary mission: that all may know that the Kingdom of God is at hand, that God has come near through the person of Jesus.
John Andrew C.: Verse 39:"And he went out throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons." So that's what he did.
John Andrew C.: Spending time alone with his Father, receiving direction from his Father, knowing the popularity that's there in those towns, in Galilee, but still hearing,"No, I want you to go elsewhere.
John Andrew C.: Go to these other towns." That's exactly what Jesus does.
John Andrew C.: We don't see the disciples' reaction to this statement, that he must go to these other towns, but simply by knowing that they went with him, we know they must have obeyed.
John Andrew C.: Whether it was truly recognizing, in that moment, the importance of what Jesus was doing, the example that he was laying out for them in submitting to the will of God or not.
John Andrew C.: Maybe it was just,"Okay, Jesus, we don't understand, but you've shown yourself to be faithful up to this point, so we'll follow you regardless.
John Andrew C.: Even if we don't understand." Who knows?
John Andrew C.: Who knows what was going on in their minds?
John Andrew C.: But regardless, we see them go with him, go with him.
John Andrew C.: And as Jesus goes, he continues this preaching ministry, and you've got to assume that in their minds, they're reflecting back on this time in Galilee, remembering everything that was happening, remembering the people that were beating the door down to get to Jesus.
John Andrew C.: And maybe, at first, before this level of popularity had risen in these other towns, they were thinking,"Jesus, we told you.
John Andrew C.: We told you so.
John Andrew C.: It didn't seem like a smart move, yet you did it anyway.
John Andrew C.: You said we've got to go, and look at this.
John Andrew C.: We had more people back there than here." You don't see that take place.
John Andrew C.: I'm sure maybe that was in their hearts a little bit.
John Andrew C.: How do I know that?
John Andrew C.: Because that's in our hearts, right?
John Andrew C.: And they were human like we're human.
John Andrew C.: But regardless, we see Jesus going and preaching in those synagogues and casting out demons, continuing to preach the good news of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and substantiate those claims, revealing who he truly was in order to make those-- that news, that the Kingdom has come near, to make that more understandable.
John Andrew C.: And I'm sure, eventually, these disciples must've recognized what it was that Jesus was doing and what it truly meant to be guided by the Father and to recognize that anything we determine as success in ministry comes from that, regardless of what it looks like on the outside.
John Andrew C.: It comes from us being obedient to our Father's call.
John Andrew C.: So for us, I think our challenge this morning is, again, to be amazed at Jesus's commitment to his Father's will and mission, but more than that, to allow that to transform the way that we submit our lives to his will.
John Andrew C.: For us, in our decision-making, my prayer is that we follow God's call, even if it doesn't appear to make sense.
John Andrew C.: I think you probably know those times.
John Andrew C.: If you are a believer in here, you know those times where the Lord is calling you to do something, and you also know that, a lot of times, it does not appear to make sense on the surface.
John Andrew C.: But at the end of the day, just like Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, what are we going to pray if not,"May your will be done.
John Andrew C.: May your will be done." My wife and I, we spent a number of years in Ecuador, which is a country at the northwestern part of South America, as we felt the Lord call us there.
John Andrew C.: Before we got called to Ecuador, we were serving here, at Central.
John Andrew C.: I was here on staff in student ministries.
John Andrew C.: My wife was teaching Spanish at a local high school.
John Andrew C.: We loved what we were doing.
John Andrew C.: We saw tremendous success in those ministries, but the Lord came and prompted our hearts and would not relent, pushing us to leave, to leave what we loved doing and to begin to listen to him for direction as to where we ought to go.
John Andrew C.: It ended up that he was directing us toward South America.
John Andrew C.: We spent a number of years living down there working, investing in local leaders and pastors, seeking to equip them.
John Andrew C.: While we didn't quite understand the"why, why are you calling us out of what we love doing?", I'm so grateful that for once we obeyed that cal.
John Andrew C.: It seems like there are far more-- It's far more often that we disobey than obey, because we're hardheaded.
John Andrew C.: No, we're not alone in that, but my prayer for myself, and my prayer for all of you, is that as we think of what it is that we're doing here in this short time that we have in the body, and as we listen to the things that the Lord is putting on our hearts, whether it's that he's prompting you for the first time or whether he is unrelenting in his promptings, in everything that you do, would you follow after the Lord and what he's pushing you to do, even if it doesn't appear to make sense?
John Andrew C.: And you will be blessed because of it.
John Andrew C.: That doesn't mean he's going to fill your life with making everything easy.
John Andrew C.: Our time in Ecuador certainly was not easy.
John Andrew C.: It was some of the hardest two years that we've lived, but at the end of the day, we felt as if we truly knew the heart of our Father better, regardless of what we were forced to pass through, regardless of the of the hurt that came with it, we felt like we knew our Father's heart a little better, and at the end of the day, that is worth anything.
John Andrew C.: I'll give up any comfort for that.
John Andrew C.: That's my prayer for you as well, especially as we look at Jesus's preaching ministry and the ear that he has tuned to his Father's voice.
John Andrew C.: That's our heart.
John Andrew C.: Moving on, we enter into this time of healing, beginning in verse 40.
John Andrew C.: It says,"And a leper came to him, imploring him and, kneeling, said to him,'If you will, you can make me clean.'" First, we see this leper coming to Jesus.
John Andrew C.: I want you to examine the posture of this leper.
John Andrew C.: First, you see him entering the city, and if you know anything about Jewish tradition in this time, especially in Galilee, which is a Jewish province, lepers were not allowed into the city.
John Andrew C.: In Leviticus 13, we see some outlines that are given to people who have leprosy or similar skin diseases.
John Andrew C.: Leviticus 13:45-46.
John Andrew C.: It says,"The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out,'Unclean, unclean.' He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease.
John Andrew C.: He is unclean.
John Andrew C.: He shall live alone.
John Andrew C.: His dwelling shall be outside the camp.
John Andrew C.: And so for him to even enter into the city, he is immediately putting himself in grave danger.
John Andrew C.: The people in the cities, when a leper would enter into those cities, they obviously had every desire to prevent that disease from spreading among the people in the city.
John Andrew C.: And so, they would drive the lepers out.
John Andrew C.: So this leper entered into the city, knowing what awaited him, knowing the risk that awaited him.
John Andrew C.: Yet he had heard about this guy named Jesus.
John Andrew C.: He said,"I don't care.
John Andrew C.: I don't care about any of this.
John Andrew C.: I've got to find this guy." And he entered into the city.
John Andrew C.: Next, it says he implores Jesus.
John Andrew C.: He begs him, begging him, and it says"kneeling".
John Andrew C.: Not only was he imploring, but he was kneeling in front of Jesus.
John Andrew C.: And finally, he speaks.
John Andrew C.: He says,"If you will, you can make me clean." Within this statement, you see the leper doing two things simultaneously.
John Andrew C.: First, he is acknowledging Jesus's power by saying,"You can make me clean." But before he even says that, he is submitting to Jesus's will.
John Andrew C.: He says,"If you will, if you will, you can make me clean." And it's important to note, too, that there are only two people in the Old Testament, two documented cases of lepers who had been healed of this disease.
John Andrew C.: One we find in Numbers 12, Miriam, the other in 2 Kings, Naaman, the only two people we had known who had been healed of this disease.
John Andrew C.: In fact, rabbis would frequently say as as David Tiede, another New Testament scholar and Old Testament scholar, notes that it was more difficult, more complex to heal a person of leprosy than it was to raise the dead.
John Andrew C.: That was the traditional saying of rabbis in these days.
John Andrew C.: So for this leper to come to Jesus, coming, submitting to his will, but also recognizing his power.
John Andrew C.: You know that he is coming, truly understanding how powerful Jesus is.
John Andrew C.: Maybe he's coming thinking,"Well, I'm a lost cause, but this is my last shot.
John Andrew C.: No one else has been able to heal me.
John Andrew C.: This guy has been able to heal others, so we'll give it a try.
John Andrew C.: One last attempt." And he comes to Jesus, risking everything.
John Andrew C.: Jesus does what?
John Andrew C.: In verse 41, it says,"Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him,'I will.
John Andrew C.: Be clean." In Mark 1, in some of these previous healing moments, we see Jesus, at a mere voice command, healing people without any touch.
John Andrew C.: Yet you see Jesus reaching out his hand before he says a word, reaching out his hand and touching this leper, then saying,"I will.
John Andrew C.: Be clean." Jesus is risking everything.
John Andrew C.: Again, Leviticus outlines everything that a good Jewish person ought to do in order to remain clean, and one of those is,"Do not touch a leper.
John Andrew C.: Do not touch any person who is unclean, or you shall yourself become unclean." Jesus reaches out his hand, touches this leper, who presumably hadn't been touched in who-knows-how-long from the time he'd had the disease.
John Andrew C.: I'm sure not a single person, family member, spouse or otherwise had lain a hand on him.
John Andrew C.: He hadn't felt human touch in who-knows-how-long, the warmth that comes with that, and upon imploring Jesus, he feels Jesus reach out his hand and place his hand on him, saying,"I will.
John Andrew C.: Be clean." Verse 42 says,"Immediately, the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.
John Andrew C.: You see that, within this healing, Jesus is conveying numerous characteristics about him and his power.
John Andrew C.: You see, first, it was performed in compassion.
John Andrew C.: It says,"Moved with pity("moved with compassion"), He reached out his hand and touched him." His healings were performed out of compassion.
John Andrew C.: They were immediate, as we see right here.
John Andrew C.: They were also complete, as we see with the healing of of Simon's mother-in-law.
John Andrew C.: These healings were complete, a total restoration.
John Andrew C.: But finally, and most importantly, these healings communicated Jesus's power to forgive sins.
John Andrew C.: And I think for us this morning, that's the crux of what we have to understand, because as these people were amazed with what Jesus was doing, it wasn't the simple power to heal an external affliction that they were amazed at, but it was what was communicated through this healing act.
John Andrew C.: There was a very well-known theology in these days that comes from the Pentateuch and from the book of Deuteronomy.
John Andrew C.: It's known as deuteronomic theology, and in essence, it's kind of bound up within these words that God delivered first to Abraham, and then later on, to Moses and others and the people of Israel, where he says,"I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you.
John Andrew C.: What's entailed in that is,"If you do well, it will be well for you, so if you keep from sinning, you will be just fine, whereas if you sin, if you do not do well, I will curse you." And these physical afflictions were looked at as a manifestation of God's curse, and so when this leper comes to Jesus, everyone around looked at this leper as if he had been cursed by God, that this leprosy was a result of that curse, a result of his own sin.
John Andrew C.: We see that in John 9, as Jesus and his disciples passed by a man who had been blind from birth.
John Andrew C.: If you remember this, the disciples asked,"Jesus, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind" You remember Jesus's response?
John Andrew C.: He says,"Neither.
John Andrew C.: Rather, this took place in this man's life so that the glory of God and his power may be demonstrated through it," completely changing the mindset of these people.
John Andrew C.: In Matthew 9, we see a paralytic being brought to Jesus, and as these friends lay their paralytic friend in front of Jesus, right at his feet, Jesus doesn't reach out his hand, as with the leper and touch him, and says,"I will.
John Andrew C.: Be healed." But rather, Jesus first says,"Son, your sins are forgiven," without even acknowledging his paralysis.
John Andrew C.: And then the Pharisees begin to grumble.
John Andrew C.: They say,"Who is this man to forgive sins?" And Jesus, knowing what was in their hearts, he responds,"That you may know that the Son of Man has power on Earth to forgive sins.
John Andrew C.: Rise and walk." Says what?
John Andrew C.: "What's easier to say?
John Andrew C.: 'Son, your sins are forgiven,' or,'Rise and walk.' Look at the power that I have because of who I am, rise and walk.' And that leper rose, took his mat, and walked.
John Andrew C.: And so, in the mindset of these Pharisees, these Jewish leaders who are around, they're not seeing a simple act of healing.
John Andrew C.: They're not seeing a simple man who's been paralyzed gain the use of his legs.
John Andrew C.: They're not seeing a leper simply be healed of these external afflictions.
John Andrew C.: What they're seeing is the one who has the power to cure the curse of sin.
John Andrew C.: That's what they're seeing, and that's the most important element of these healing moments, is for these people to recognize that, more important, far and away the most important element of this preaching.
John Andrew C.: It's not the healing of your temporary circumstances, but it's this eternal healing of the curse of sin.
John Andrew C.: Through this healing, Jesus was communicating his power to reverse the curse of sin, to this leper, but also to all of those who are around.
John Andrew C.: That's huge.
John Andrew C.: Verse 43, we see the response.
John Andrew C.: It says,"Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once and said to him,'See that you say nothing to no one, but go show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded for a proof to them." But despite this command,"Say nothing to no one," what do we see this guy do?
John Andrew C.: It says,"But he began to go out and talk freely about it and to spread the news so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter." Who knows what the heart of this man was?
John Andrew C.: Maybe it was something as simple as,"How can I refrain after experiencing this moment?
John Andrew C.: How can I refrain from shouting from the rooftops everything that I've seen?" Maybe he was a little more malicious in his attempt.
John Andrew C.: Who knows?
John Andrew C.: I would believe it would be the first: that he couldn't refrain from sharing with everyone around him everything that he'd seen and experienced.
John Andrew C.: He disobeyed Jesus's command.
John Andrew C.: If you look through the rest of the Gospel narratives, that is the most disobeyed command, is the command to say nothing to no one.
John Andrew C.: They just couldn't refrain.
John Andrew C.: And he began to speak to everyone else about it.
John Andrew C.: So Jesus could no longer enter the towns, out in the desolate places.
John Andrew C.: But it's important for us to note that despite the fact that this changed Jesus's plan a little bit, maybe he can no longer enter these cities, the effect was no different.
John Andrew C.: It says people were still-- whether he was in the city or in the countryside, people were coming to him from every corner.
John Andrew C.: His plan would not be thwarted, in their lives or in our lives.
John Andrew C.: His plan cannot be thwarted.
John Andrew C.: So for us this morning, as we wrap up our time, the challenge for us is not simply to be amazed at Jesus's power and authority over this world, but it's, again, to be transformed by this.
John Andrew C.: It's to trust in his sovereign and healing hand, but also to rest in the peace that such a trust brings.
John Andrew C.: That's my challenge and my prayer for all of you and for myself.
John Andrew C.: Let me close with a word of prayer for all of us this morning.
John Andrew C.: Father, we thank you for who you are, and Father, we thank you for how much you love us.
John Andrew C.: Father, we thank you for this passage.
John Andrew C.: We thank you that you have disclosed yourself to us in such a beautiful way, and Father, we pray that you would cause amazement to well up within us, and that you would transform us from the inside out, that this amazement would result, Father, in an overwhelming trust in your will for our lives.
John Andrew C.: Father, we love you this morning, and we pray, God, that you would continue to lead us.
John Andrew C.: In your name we pray, amen.