IF YOU ARE WILLING, YOU CAN MAKE ME CLEAN
Rev. Bernt P. Tweit
Old Testament Lesson;
2 Kings 5:1-14
Epistle Lesson;
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Gospel Lesson;
Mark 1:40-45
Sermon Text;
Mark 1:40-41
"A man with leprosy came to Him (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,’ He said. ‘Be clean!’
These are your words heavenly Father. Lead us in the way of truth. Your word is truth.
Amen.
In two of our lessons for today, we see men who have leprosy. In our Old Testament Lesson it is Naaman, who was the commander of the army of the king of Aram, who had leprosy. And in our Gospel Lesson it is an unidentified man who had leprosy, who comes before Jesus.
What exactly is leprosy? Leprosy is a mildly contagious skin disease. It is spread through moisture or droplets that come out of your nose or your mouth.
People in the Old Testament and people in Jesus’ day didn’t want to associate with anybody who had leprosy. The Old Testament book of Leviticus (chapter 13) talks about regulations about infectious, skin diseases. If you had a bump, or a boil, or a rash would appear on your body, you were to go to the priest.
If somebody had leprosy appear somewhere on their body, they were to go to the priest and the priest was to examine that spot.
So, let’s say I have leprosy this morning. I go to the priest and I show the priest that little, white spot that has developed on my body. The priest would put me in isolation for seven days. After seven days, the priest would come back and look at that spot. If the spot had started to disappear, he would say that I would be clean and I could leave. But, if that spot hadn’t changed, if it hadn’t grown any bigger, or if it hadn’t gotten any smaller, he would put me back in isolation for seven more days, when he would come and visit me once again, to see if the rash had started to go away, or if it started to grow. If the leprosy started to get a little bit bigger, after I came out of isolation, the priest would then come to me and he would say that I am unclean.
At the very end of Leviticus, chapter 13, it even says, "The person with such an infectious disease, must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, and cover the lower part of his face and cry out, ‘I am unclean, unclean.’ As long as he has the infection, he remains unclean. He must live alone. He must live outside the camp."
And so, a person with leprosy, lived in isolation, outside of the city walls of the camp. Being in isolation, a person with leprosy could not even go into the temple anymore to worship God with all of his brothers and sisters of the faith.
Now, in a humorous way, the seminary in Mequon, of the Wisconsin Lutheran Synod, has a corner in their cafeteria known as the ‘leper colony.’ During the course of a meal, a student could stand up and say, "Would Professor ‘so and so’ please go to the leper colony." Or, "Would student ‘so and so’ go to the leper colony." The person whose name was called out would need to pick up their tray, and go and sit in the corner of the cafeteria, in isolation from everybody else. In a humorous way it is a reminder to them of what leprosy was like for people in the Old Testament, being in isolation from other people and also being in isolation, away from spiritual life with brothers and sisters of the faith.
Here in our Sermon Text, we have a man with that mildly contagious, skin disease, called leprosy, coming before Jesus. He falls down on his knees and says, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."
First of all, we see this man coming in humility. He is on his knees, before Jesus. In another Gospel Lesson it actually says that the man fell down on his face, before Jesus.
He says, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." He knew that Jesus was able to heal him. It was just a matter of if Jesus was willing to do it. But, the man was not sure that Jesus was willing to do it, because the priests and the rabbi’s back in his day didn’t really appreciate being in the presence of lepers.
In his book entitled The Life and Times of Jesus, the Messiah, Alfred Edersheim said, "No one was to even salute a leper. No less a distance than six feet must be kept from a leper. Or, if the wind came from that direction, a hundred feet were scarcely sufficient. Rabbi Meyer would not eat an egg purchased in a street where there had been a leper. Another rabbi boasted that he always threw stones at them to keep them far off, while others hid themselves or ran away. To such extent did rabbism carry its inhuman logic in considering the leper as a mourner, that it even forbade him to wash his face."
We see Jesus filled with compassion, as He comes before the leper, in a very willing manner and He cleanses him. Notice the sequence of events though, in our text. Our text tells us first that Jesus touched him and then He cleansed him. It is as if Jesus was willing to take that leprosy upon Himself, before He spoke the words, "Be clean." And scripture goes on to say that he was cleansed. He went away. "He was cured." He was cleansed.
Leprosy is a very good object lesson for what sin does to God’s people. In the Bible, we should associate leprosy with sin. What is sin? Well, throughout scripture, there are different synonyms for sin like, iniquity, trespass, or transgression. God desires perfection from us.
For someone who is an archer, hitting the bulls eye is perfection. Sin would be like completely missing the target.
We have all seen signs that have said, "No trespassing." Sin is like stepping over that line and trespassing into some place that we shouldn’t be.
The scriptures, as it talks about sin, says in the book of James,
"After desire has conceived,
it gives birth to sin.
And sin, when it is full grown,
gives birth to death."
An example of leprosy being associated with sin, is the siblings Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. When Moses took to himself a Cushite wife, Aaron and Miriam were angry with Moses. Scripture says their anger burned against him. God heard about that anger and called a meeting between the three of them, and asked them to come to the tent of meeting, where the pillar of cloud, (God’s presence), came down on the tent of meeting. God spoke against Aaron and against Miriam. And when that pillar of cloud left, the Bible tells us Miriam was leprous, like snow.
Aaron and Miriam realized that they had sinned against God. Aaron pleaded on Miriam’s behalf, asking that God would take the leprosy away from her. And, He did. But, she had to go and live in isolation for seven days, just like the laws declared. After those seven days were over, then they were able to move on in their journey through the wilderness.
In our lives, there are many things that may start out very simple, very ‘innocent,’ and yet it is sin. And, if gone unchecked, that sin, when it is full grown, leads to death. Let’s say in a classrooms, our young people have eyes wander, while they are taking a quiz or a test. Those wandering eyes find an answer that they write down on that sheet. If gone unchecked, getting one answer can turn into getting a couple of answers. Or, maybe it turns into cheating on a whole assignment. If gone unchecked, that cheating will continue to grow, and grow, and grow. It leads to death.
Or, how about lying? One simple, little, white lie does not hurt anybody, right. And yet, that one lie needs to be covered up by another lie. And that lie needs to be covered up by another lie, until we have lied, and lied, and lied. And sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.
Or, maybe it is a little pop up on our computer, for pornography. Just one, simple, little click. It can’t hurt anybody, right. And yet, if gone unchecked, that sin like leprosy grows, and grows, and it grows.
Or, drinking alcohol. One simple, little, drink can’t be that bad. But, if gone unchecked, it grows, and it grows, and it grows. And sin, when it is full grown, leads to death.
Just like the man with leprosy did, we also should get down on our knees today, before Jesus, falling on our face and saying, "Jesus, if you are willing, you can make us clean."
And we know that Jesus is willing to make us clean. It is not a matter of if He wants to, but we know He wants to. Scripture tells us,
"The Lord is patient with you,
not wanting anyone to perish,
but everyone to come to repentance."
The New King James says, "willing,"
"The Lord is patient with you,
not willing anyone to perish,
but for everyone to come to repentance."
"God wants
all men to be saved
and to come to the knowledge of the truth."
Jesus is filled with compassion for you and me, just as He was filled with compassion with the leper. Jesus can make us clean.
Notice the sequence of events again, Jesus makes us clean, just as He made the leper clean. First of all, He touched the leper, and then He pronounced to him that he was clean. The sequence of events is the same for us, too, as Jesus has touched us. He did so by becoming our very own Brother. Jesus came in the flesh, first, before He pronounced that we were clean of all of our sin. Scripture says,
"God made Him who had no sin (that is Jesus)
to be sin
for us,
so that in Him
we might become the righteousness of God."
He touched us, and then He cleansed us. The Bible says,
"He saved us
not because of righteous things we have done,
but because of His mercy.
He saved us
by the washing of regeneration
and rebirth in the Holy Spirit."
What a beautiful picture that is of baptism - cleansing us and making us clean.
For King David in the Old Testament one, little sin led to a variety of great sins. Laziness led him not to go out to war one day. Unrestfulness led him to go walk around on his balcony. Wandering eyes led him to see someone who was bathing. His sin grew and grew and grew. Finally, after he was confronted, because of his sin, David gives us a beautiful picture of his sorrow over sin. He gives us a beautiful picture falling on his knees, as we too should say,
"Have mercy on me O God, according to your unfailing love, according to your great compassion (and remember Jesus has compassion on us). Blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity. And cleanse me from my sin. Cleanse me and I will be clean. Wash me and I will be whiter than snow. Create in me a pure heart O God. And renew a steadfast spirit from me. Do not cast me from your presence. (Don’t throw me into the leper colony. Don’t throw me from your presence), or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me."
What then is our response, as we have fallen on our knees and proclaimed to Jesus, "If you are willing you can make me clean?"
Well, Jesus has cleansed us. He showed that at the cross as He said, "It is finished." All of our sins were paid for. And so, our response becomes, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith. Having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from the guilty conscious. And having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess. For, He who promised is faithful.
And, let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love. "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing. But, let us encourage one another in all the more, as you see the day approaching."
We close with prayer.
Dear Jesus,
As we approach you with our hopeless condition of sin, we thank you for your great compassion that you have been filled up with, toward us. And, that you have touched us by becoming our very own Brother. You have pronounced the words of forgiveness to us, as you have said, "Be clean." We thank you that at the cross you took our sins upon you and you give us the white robe of your righteous life in place. We look forward to the day when we will live with you in Heaven for all eternity. But, during this time that you give us here on this earth, help us to tell others and to proclaim to others about you.
In your name we pray,
Amen.
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