Shownotes
Mark 1:40-45 Jesus the Great Physician
Title: The Great Physician and the Miracle Cure (Mark 1:40-45)
Focus Keyphrase: Healing, Great Physician
Excerpt: Jesus is willing to forgive and cleanse those who trust in him. The cure he offers is not just spiritual - it impacts every part of our lives.
Talking Points:
- Leprosy is analogous to sin. It is an incurable infection that affects every part of our lives: physical, mental, emotional, relational, spiritual etc.. Mark 1:40
- Only the Great Physician could heal this disease. Only Jesus can take away our sin. He’s not just powerful enough to heal, he’s also willing. Mark 1:41-42
- Jesus doesn’t just want to heal people, he wants to restore them as well. This man is being prescribed the way back into his community to share his testimony. Mark 1:43-44, Mark 1:45
Discussion:
- What sort of negative circumstances would a person with leprosy have in their life? How is leprosy analogous to sin?
- Talk about a moment in your life when you felt hopeless and alone.
- Read Mark 1:40-42. What do you think this man believes about Jesus based on his statement? What does this tell you about Jesus’ willingness to save people?
- Scan Through Leviticus 13. What does this say about how to cleanse from leprosy? Why do you think Jesus touched the man to heal him?
- Why does Jesus tell him not to tell anyone about what he has done for him?
- Have you ever noticed certain churches being over the top? Explain.
- What commands of Jesus do you struggle wanting to do?
See Also:
Shownotes:
Jesus is willing to forgive and cleanse those who come to him by faith. The right response for salvation is to be obedient to his commands.
Mark 1:40-45 (NLT) A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said. Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed. Then Jesus sent him on his way with a stern warning: “Don’t tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.” But the man went and spread the word, proclaiming to everyone what had happened. As a result, large crowds soon surrounded Jesus, and he couldn’t publicly enter a town anywhere. He had to stay out in the secluded places, but people from everywhere kept coming to him.
The Infection
Mark 1:40 (NLT) A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said.
(Teaching moment about leprosy.) Mainly affects the nerve endings in the body making it so that you can’t feel any pain. Pain is good because it causes you to protect and nurse wounds / injuries. When you can’t feel a burn, scrape, bruise it is left untreated. Start to lose fingers and toes. Skin infections happen from cuts and bruises. Nose deformity and loss of extremities.
Leprosy was an incurable disease. This man’s faith is proven by his statement that Jesus was able to heal him. There was no question of Jesus’s power but only his willingness. He kneels as a sign of respect and worship. This man knows who Jesus truly is. He knows of his power and authority. He comes by faith.
How did this man get to the point of desperation? In OT law he would have been an outcast. “Unclean’ is what he would have been labeled by his community.
Leviticus 13:45-46 (ESV) “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. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.
This man was self-loathing and alone. Hopeless. He wouldn’t have been able to have any close relationships. This disease ultimately kept him from being able to worship God.
(Illustration of this in modern day) My own sin and hopelessness from addiction.
Leprosy is analogous to sin. It is an incurable infection that affects every part of our lives: physical, mental, emotional, relational, spiritual etc. Sin causes so many harmful and unwanted circumstances. Disease and illness are ever present in us and people around us because of the Fall. Mental health issues are more common than not. We’ve been hurt by people we love and we continue to hurt those we love via not having control over our emotions. Most significantly, humanity’s connection with God is broken due to our own sin and the sinful nature we inherited.
What is the hope of mankind? We are all like lepers.
(Trans) There’s only one person who can cure this infection… Jesus!
The Cure
Mark 1:41-42 (NLT) Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed.
Only the Great Physician could heal this disease. Only Jesus can take away our sin. He’s not just powerful enough to heal, he’s also willing. Jesus broke the religious barriers of some and risked touching this man. No one touched lepers, but Jesus did out of compassion, power and authority. The rituals that mere men would have to do to be clean, Jesus would not have to do because of who he is.
Restating the leper’s faith moment, he knew that Jesus was powerful enough to heal him. Not only did he state that he could heal him but also make him clean as well. In the OT, the only person that could declare a person clean was a priest, and that was after a ritual. Here we see his faith in Jesus being sovereign to do only what God can do which is instantaneously heal and cleanse him. This means he believed that Jesus was none other than the Messiah, the Son of God. This faith in who Jesus is and what he can and will do is his saving grace.
This is how a person comes to faith and starts a relationship with God. Trusting Jesus for who he is and for the forgiveness of sins. Topics 4,5,6 in the Pursuit help us with this:
- We understand our sin and need for forgiveness.
- We realize what the bible says about who Jesus is, God in the flesh who came to save the lost.
- We come to a place where we surrender to him, repent and believe.
The leper symbolizes starting a relationship with God. He’s openly declaring that “Jesus is Lord” (Romans 10:9). In a moment, this man is set free from the bondage of his infectious disease.
This is what Jesus came to do! May we see our need and have faith like this man. In a sense, even though this man had a rough go at life for a while he is more blessed than any of the religious leaders of his day. Why? Because the sickness revealed to him his need for the Savior. The rule following legalists of their day and ours are blind to the fact that their infection is internal. In Chapter 2 we’ll see Jesus challenge these guys and here’s something he says:
Mark 2:17 (ESV) When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”
Jesus will operate on those who know they have the need for a heart transplant. The hearts of the Pharisees were prideful and arrogant. They thought salvation was in themselves following the law not understanding that no one could measure up to the standards of God because the heart is deceitful and wicked (Jer 17:9).
Salvation is by grace through faith alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
(Trans) So this man starts out right. Let’s see if he’ll be able to trust Jesus not only for salvation but for further instructions on what to do next with his life…
The Prescription
Mark 1:43-44 (NLT) Then Jesus sent him on his way with a stern warning: “Don’t tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.”
Trusting Jesus for salvation isn’t where our faith ends. Being obedient to his commands honors God and proves that our faith is genuine. Jesus cares about how we live after we come to faith. (Module 3 in the Pursuit)
(Illustration of following the doctors orders or following a prescribed diet or plan)
Submitting to the One who has the authority to heal seems wise doesn’t it? We listen to doctors, scientists, fitness gurus, dieticians and, sadly, even politicians. LOL. Why wouldn’t we listen to Jesus?
He doesn’t just want to heal him but he also wants to restore him as well, even to society in a way. This man is being prescribed the way back into his community. Back into relationships. Back into the social graces of Israel. There was an OT way through the law that a person would be considered clean. This was God’s way for restoration and healing to happen. Jesus' desire was to reach more people through this guy’s testimony in a way that they could relate to. He also knew that the time hadn’t come yet to change their way of worship.
Referring back to the first part of these verses, we see Jesus for the 2nd time in Mark chapter 1 say to not tell anyone about his power and authority cast out demons or to heal. This is called the “messianic secret”. (Vs. 34 is the 1st time)
“Jesus will define his messianic role as the Son of Man who will suffer and die as a ransom for sin (8:31; 9:31; 10:45). As to its timing, rumors surrounding Jesus’ identity risk inciting the crowds to messianic furor and so thwarting his plans to proclaim the kingdom of God throughout the towns and villages of Galilee (1:38). A premature and misinformed revelation of Jesus’ identity will create a hindrance to his essential mission.” Zondervan Exegetical Commentary Mark Strauss
Jesus was going to abide by the timing of his ministry plan and would reveal his identity when he saw fit. He does not need anyone to give him fame or come up with a better plan than what he’s already doing.
(Trans) That leads us to what happens next. What will this newly cleansed and excited man do?
The Relapse
Mark 1:45 (NLT) But the man went and spread the word, proclaiming to everyone what had happened. As a result, large crowds soon surrounded Jesus, and he couldn’t publicly enter a town anywhere. He had to stay out in the secluded places, but people from everywhere kept coming to him.
Obedience is better than ambition and creativity. We hinder God’s work when we don’t do it his way. He doesn’t go back into leprosy but he shows that he is not fully surrendered to Christ. He wants to do it his way. Pride is a part of the old nature.
Story about a hasty decision or an idea in ministry / evangelism that was regretted. Calvin’s Cage.
My guess is that this man probably isn’t named because Peter was probably irritated with his decision to go against Jesus’ command. It says that it made their public ministry even harder than it already was. Imagine the guy at work who speaks up about something and creates more work for everyone! Don’t be that guy. LOL
I believe Mark wrote this part of the story down for us so that we can learn from the ex-leper’s mistake. We don’t need to over complicate the mission! So many churches these days are making the message of the Gospel so convoluted with hobby horses and sacred cows. If we want to know how to honor God and live out our Christian lives at church, then we need not look any further than in the bible. God’s Word gives us everything we need to figure out how to share truth.
(Illustration of church’s services that look like a circus or a broadway production)
Other ways we can hinder the work of Jesus around us is when we just blatantly live disobedient lives, even practicing and justifying sinful behaviors.
Going back to vs. 44,’This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.” We are a better witness to the outside world when we follow Jesus well after salvation. Genuine faith is more attractive than hypocrisy. I know we want to go tell it on the mountain and shout it on the rooftops and we should. Yet, we ought to learn how to, first, live out our changed and cleansed lives and secondly, be obedient to Jesus’ commands out of gratitude for all he has done for us.
We all want people to be saved. Let's just do the clear and prescribed work laid out for us in scripture and trust the Great Physician to do the work that only he can do!
Close:
Jesus is willing to heal and cleanse from sinfulness all that would come to him in faith. For many, you have already experienced his life changing, cleansing power. The challenge for the believer then is to pace yourself. Continue to learn to live to honor God. Find out what his commands are and then live them out. One of them is to be a witness to what he’s done in your life by sharing and living out your testimony. Don’t complicate it or water it down. Be faithful in doing your ministry his way.
For the unbeliever or seeker, can you see the infection of sin in your life? Can you see the evidence of a broken relationship with God? Believe in who the Jesus of the bible is and trust in his willingness to restore you and heal your brokenness.
Transcripts
Speaker 1 00:00:34 All right. It says, A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean. He said, moved with compassion. Jesus reached out and touched him. I am willing. He said, be healed. Instantly. The leprosy disappeared and the man was healed. Then Jesus sent him on his way with a stern warning offering. Don't, don't tell anyone about this. Instead go to the priests and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed. But the man went and spread the word proclaiming to everyone what had happened. As a result, large crowd soon surrounded Jesus. And he couldn't publicly enter a town anywhere. He had to stay out in secluded places, but people from everywhere kept coming to him.
:Speaker 1 00:02:22 Well, to be a leper in Jesus day. Fir first, let me explain, you know, what I understand about the disease or the infection of leprosy. Now I'm, I'm not a doctor because I don't have any patients
Speaker 1 00:02:40 Exactly. So I can inform us on, on this, this disease, um, you know, a lot of people think it's like a skin disease and, and it does affect the skin, but really it mainly affects, uh, nerve endings. And, and the skin has a ton of nerve endings in it. And so what happens is, when you, when a person has leprosy, they don't feel that any pain at those, those nerve endings. And so when you get a cut or a scrape or a bruise, um, on your skin, um, you know, normally it'd be able to heal itself or you'd be able to take care of it. But, but with these people, they can't, they don't notice it. Um, their skin gets easily infected. Um, burns, scrapes, bruises, left untreated, uh, cause cause people to lose their digits to, to lose their extremities even. And some deformity starts happening and their skin starts. Um, you know, having some huge, uh, sores and infections that, uh, really are, are are hideous and gross sometimes. And even with b broken bones and stuff, you know, like you, you know, when your bone is broken that you need to go see a doctor. But when they get injured, they don't know. They don't know. They're not feeling anything. And so oftentimes they, they're left mangled and, and in, in pretty bad shape. And so,
:Speaker 1 00:04:18 Hmm.
:Speaker 0 00:05:16 All of a sudden you have the ability to sense what's wrong, to sense your problem and recognize that the, where the solution is. But if you don't, if you can't ever, the biblical word for this is conviction. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 00:06:51 Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 00:08:59 Leper. Yeah. And because back then this was an incurable disease. Now I know that there's, there's, um, methods nowadays to, to help lepers, but back then they didn't have the same, you know, technology and the same, you know, understanding of, you know, medical issues as we do now. But this would've been an incurable disease. Um, if it went away on its own, then there were laws that you could come and, you know, do a cleansing and, and stuff like that. But, but this guy would've been alone, self-loathing, wondering if anybody cared about him, wondering if anybody loved him. Probably even angry at God in, in some sense. So we see again how this is so, uh, such a great analogy for, you know, the atheist, the agnostic, the believer, the seeker, um, they don't recognize their, their need for Jesus. Um, and sometimes they wonder why their life is the way that it is, but they can't find any hope.
:Speaker 1 00:11:04 It affected me physically, mentally, emotionally, um, it, it, you know, caused a lot of my relationships to be broken. Um, my spiritual life, I didn't really have one at the time. And so, uh, stuck in my sin. Um, there were all kinds of circumstances that you could say in a sense that I was like, this leper, you know, I, I was, wasn't a productive member of society and part of my community. And, and maybe when people looked at me, they felt sorry for me. And maybe I tried everything and, and nothing worked. And so that's the, the beauty of this story, because then we get to this point where he actually, um, sees Jesus. He must have been walking around or walking past or whatever. And
:Speaker 0 00:12:47 It's really easy to be an agnostic. It's really easy to think that you're in control. It's really easy to ha to sort of have the illusion that you do not have an infection. Cuz you've got everything under control. But when you get hit by leprosy, Hmm. You can't, you can't help but understand your desperate place. So it's not surprising that it was the leopards, the leopards and the drunkards and the, and the, the, the lame and the blind and the sick. It's not surprising that all throughout the gospels, those are the ones that we see seeking out Jesus. And not just them, but sometimes they're friends for them like we're gonna see next week. Yeah. It's not surprising because there's a, there's a gift. There really is a gift to understanding your condition. Like that's a gift. It's a gift to be able to be sens sensitized to your need.
:Speaker 0 00:14:37 This is where Jesus can show up. This is where the cure starts to take place. Mark 1 41 and 42, it says, moved with compassion. I love that. Moved with compassion. Jesus reached out and touched him and he said, said, I am willing be healed. And instantly the leprosy disappeared and the man was healed. Again, this, these are two simple verses. Mark is so good at just being really to the point, but there's so much to unfold in this passage right here. Right. The first thing, Eric, is that he's moved with compassion. I love that. He says, I am willing, remember the leper said, if you're willing mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 00:16:44 And same way as we're we're comparing this infection to sin, only Jesus can take away our sin. And it's, he's not just powerful enough to heal, he's also willing, because that's who Jesus is. Jesus is powerful and yet loving at the same time. And he comes and he, and he heals this man. And, and it's amazing actually. He touches him. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 0 00:18:14 He touched him. Mark made sure to say that Mark is short, you know, he is really concise with his words, but he included that. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 00:19:49 He can give you, he can give you mental health and physical health and emotional health. He can heal you from the past, hurts and pains of your life. Um, where maybe you're lacking relationship. Well sometimes the only relationship you, you need is Jesus. And when you finally understand that you have a relationship with God, then maybe you can start to become healthy enough to start having other relationships. But it's beautiful to me. Um, and one of the other things that you said, I really have to just, uh, share it because this cure, the cure for our sin then as, as metaphorical lepers for all human beings, the cure for our sin is, is Jesus's not, not just willingness, but his fulfillment of the act to, to come down to us, to be like us, to be in our world, to touch us and to ultimately die for us. And, and that there's a visual I got while you were talking about him reaching out and touching, touching the leper at the risk of actually harming himself. Right. And he did that mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 00:22:41 So I love how we put it in, in topics four, five, and six in the pursuit. It, it makes it easy. It makes it clear. Um, it starts out with talking about what sin is. Sin is all of humanity's problem. We've gone against God, um, we've been born in, in this nature that is opposed to God and, and fallen. Um, and so the only solution to that sin problem that humans have then gets into topic or topic five is Jesus. And so we gotta understand who is Jesus. Well, we've been talking about He is, he's the son of God, he's the Messiah. He was God in the flesh who came down to earth to start his ministry. That's what Mark's recording, right? So we talk about sin is our problem, uh, Jesus is the solution. Um, and then we get to topic six, six, which is having our faith moment.
:Speaker 0 00:24:26 Yeah. So if you're listening to this and you, you know, you'd say, I don't know if I've ever done that before. Even if you grew up in the church, you know, there are a lot of people who go to church every Sunday who have never personally responded in faith to Jesus. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian anymore. That's then sitting in your garage makes you a car. So you can go to church all you want. But a personal relationship with Jesus starts with recognizing your sin. See, knowing who Jesus is and coming to him, um, like it says in Romans 10, nine and 10, that if we believe in our heart, we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, then we'll be saved. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 0 00:25:57 But there's actually, you know, we've talked about the infection. We've talked about the cure, and now to kind of keep along with, uh, that line of reasoning. Let's talk about the prescription. It's like Jesus writes out a prescription for the leper now, and it's, it's in verses 43 and 44, it says that Jesus then sent him on his way. So he is, he's healed now. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 00:27:50 You know, this is the testimony. I want you to do it the proper way, the right way to, to, to have a good testimony of me so that these guys, because Jesus has a heart for even the religious people too. I mean, remember this is the nation of Israel whom, uh, God had favored and whom he came from, uh, you know, and that he was sent to actually save in the first place. And so Jesus was trying to reach them in a way that, that they would understand and he wanted to use this guy specifically to do it.
:Speaker 0 00:29:16 But all these other ways as well. Like sin breaks every single part of us. And leprosy did the same thing for this leper leprosy was, you know, again, we don't even see on the surface the sin problem here on the surface it's the physical problem, and then it's the relational problem. So it's a societal problem. So the other part that's really cool here is that Jesus cares so much about this leper. He doesn't want want to just heal him physically, but he wants to restore him even to society. And the leper couldn't have been restored to society unless he sort of followed these steps and went to the priest. It's kind of like going to your doctor to get a, to get a Yeah, this is, look, I got it. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 00:30:53 Yeah. I've had many relationships that were broken. They weren't all fixed and, and probably be in God's will. I didn't need a lot of these other relationships that maybe I had lost. And a lot of those were, you know, lepers as well.
Speaker 1 00:33:05 And he's still doing that work here today. And the, the other beautiful thing about this is that he's, he's prescribing a way to, you know, to, to start being able to share this testimony. Now, a lot of you guys are probably thinking about the weird part about it. It's like, why, why can't he tell anyone? Um, and, and the last verse we'll read kind of helps us understand it says in verse 45, but the man went and he was a little bit disobedient, and he says he went and spread the word proclaiming to everyone what had happened. As a result, large crowds soon surrounded Jesus. He couldn't public publicly enter a town anywhere. He had to stay out in the secluded places, but people from everywhere kept coming to him. So it's,
:Speaker 0 00:34:37 Right? Yeah. He wasn't ready for this much fame and, and in, you know, in information out there about him yet, but it's funny that the guy couldn't help it. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 00:36:31 You know? And we call that honoring God. Mm-hmm.
