"Leper Talk" Mark 1: 40-45

We had a nice service today.  We are between preaching series, so I preached a sermon I had preached several years ago when I served FPC, Troy.  Actually, I started with an old sermon, but by the time I had made revision based on some new insights, there was not much left of the old sermon. 

I had a pretty cool Time with Young Disciples.  I had the kids kneel on the area in front of the communion table and ask beg Jesus like the leper did, and then I told them Jesus said, "i choose you," and invited them to come up in the chancel area, which is on the other side of the communion table.  Then, I told them that when Jesus says, "I choose you," it means he is willing to give himself for them, which is why the path from being outcasts on their knees to being with God goes through the Lord's Table.  It seemed work pretty well.

“Leper Talk” FPC, Troy; February 12, 2005; Mark 1: 40-45

⁴⁰ A leper^[a] came to him begging him [Jesus], and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” ⁴¹ Moved with pity,^[c] Jesus^[d] stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” ⁴² Immediately the leprosy^[e] left him, and he was made clean. ⁴³ After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, ⁴⁴ saying to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” ⁴⁵ But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus^[f] could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.

Introduction: The Gospel of Mark is known for its style that is very direct. For example, Mark does not spend any time with stories of Jesus’ birth - Mark goes straight to Jesus’ ministry.

In the original Greek, Mark’s style reflects lots of verbs.  Action.  Action. Action.

In this opening section of Mark, the action is often Jesus healing.

Let’s reflect for a few moments about this particular healing story.

Move1:   Leper cannot help himself - he has to talk to Jesus.

a.  He thinks he has found the one who can heal him.

1. we do not know what he has heard about Jesus or seen Jesus do already.  

Maybe he was there when Jesus called the unclean spirit out of the man.

Or perhaps he had heard about Jesus healing Simon’s mother when she had a fever.

2. We do not know what has led to this moment; 

we do know the leper has to talk to Jesus.

b.  Not just talk to Jesus, but ask Jesus to heal him.

1.  Not just ask, but get down on his knees and beg Jesus to heal him.

2.  “If you choose, you can make me clean.”

3.  Less a question of Jesus’ power - the leper has no doubt Jesus can heal him;

more a question of what Jesus desires.

5. Is Jesus the kind of person who has the power to heal and wants to heal?

6.  Jesus responds to the leper’s “If you choose” with a resounding, “I do choose.”

Welcome to the son of God, the one who chooses you!

Move 2:   Jesus could not help but touch and heal.

1. We get the sense that Jesus did not want to focus on healing.

1. Maybe he knew there would be too much crowd attraction.

2.  Maybe Jesus did not understand himself to be primarily a healer.

        3.  Maybe the news of the healing would make it easier to miss the point that Jesus came to transform lives in many ways, not just healing, as Jesus ushered in the reign of God.

b. But when the leper was kneeling before him, what could he do?

1. The leper, whose diseased skin makes him an outcast in the world.

2. the leper, who by the Jewish laws is labeled untouchable, both in a physical sense and spiritual sense.

4. the leper kneeling before Jesus has been labeled as an outcast;  a person no one will touch.

1. Except Jesus.  Jesus had to touch him. Jesus had to heal - that is who Jesus was, and who Jesus is, and who Jesus will be.
2. 
   
3. The one whose compassion cannot be contained.

1. the one who choose to free us from that which binds us and holds us back.

1. the one who chooses new life for us.

1. Christ could no more walk away from the leper kneeling before him than quit breathing.  

1. Jesus was a healer.  he could not help himself.

Move 3:  The leper could not help but talk.

1. Jesus told him not to tell anyone.

1. Remember, the person asking the leper not to tell anyone is the person who healed him.

1. In fact, if the leper wanted to respond, Jesus suggested he go to the temple and engage in the rites of purification.

1. legitimize his healing; certify him as ready to be accepted in society.

1. But Jesus just doesn’t want the leper to tell anyone what Jesus had done. 

5.  Surely the leper wanted to do what Jesus asked of him.

1. But the leper could not contain himself.

1. This incredible healing had happened and he had to tell.

1. Can you imagine how the scene might play out when he returned home if he chose not tell anyone about Jesus? 

“Son, your leprous skin is healed.  What happened?”  

“I can’t tell you.”  

Or maybe he could give a deceptive answer – “Well, the priest at the temple led me through the rites of purification, just ask him.”

Or if he wants to play top the drama and push the limits:  “Something big happened.  But I’ve been sworn to secrecy. Sorry.”

1. Instead, the leper cannot contain himself.  He has to tell everyone about what jesus has done.

1. To keep him from talking would be like keeping a new father from texting everyone in his contact list when his wife gives birth to their new child; 

1. or asking a new grandmother not to show photos of her grandchild. 

1. We are not told what the leper said, but it must have been good (of course, when you can show off your healed skin it illustrates your point pretty well!) because suddenly Jesus could not go anywhere without encountering crowds.  People desperately want to me him.

We do not know exactly what the leper said, but we know he had to say it.

 Move 4:  Powerful story - make sure you notice a couple of things.

1. Note the role reversal. 

1. The realities of the leper and Jesus are switched within five verses. 

1. When the story beings, the leper is an outcast who cannot come and go freely in his community.  he is an outsider, shunned because of his physical ailment.  

By the end of the story, he is able to come and go as he wants, released from the bondage of his disease.

1. On the other hand, when the story begins we see Jesus moving freely wherever wants, healing at will.   he wants suddenly finds himself unable to enter a village and is kept from his role in life. 

4.  A reminder that  when Jesus comes to transform our lives, he is willing to give up himself.  (this point comes from having read the comments of Sarah Henrich,Professor Emeritus of New Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN (http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1201)

b.  also, imagine how we might responds to what jesus does for us.

1.  Some of us might like the instructions Jesus gave the leper – don’t’ tell anyone.

  2.  but isn’t part of the leper’s experience our experience as well?

1.  I suspect many of you are here today because you have been touched by Christ, you have experienced his love and his presence, you have had your lives changed by him.

2. Or you want to experience Christ. 

3. You want to be in relationship with the one who says, “I choose you?”

You want to be changed. 

4.  Jesus invites us into this life changing, transforming relationship with him.

c.  what do we say in response to having discovered the life-changing presence of Christ in our lives?

1. Are we compelled to speak?

2. To share with others what we have discovered and how God has been a part of our lives?

3. Or do we keep it to ourselves?  Keep quiet about what God has done?

Conclusion:  Jesus had to heal; the leper had to talk; what do you have to do?