Advent 2025: Fri 12 Dec
Mark 1.40-45 Cleansing
40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, ‘If you are willing, you can make me clean.’
41 Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ 42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.
43 Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44 ‘See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.’ 45 Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.
Why would Jesus be indignant at a man who asks for cleansing? Could it be that the man’s question carried with it some uncertainty as to Jesus’ willingness to make him clean? How did Jesus express, “I am willing”? I suspect that it was more like, ”Of course I’m willing! Why would you ask that?!”
Jesus touches the man. That could be seen as a dangerous thing to do, as no-one in their right mind would touch a leper. Jesus knows better. His touch and his words are enough to bring cleansing in an instant. In an instant. The leprosy faded from the man’s body at the command of Jesus, “Be clean”.
When Jesus cleansed the man in the synagogue, he commanded the impure spirit within him to leave him – it obeyed Jesus, and the man was made free. Leprosy is a condition. At Jesus’ word it simply was no more. The man was totally healed. Jesus still sends the man to be checked out by a priest, as the man would not be publicly declared clean until a priest had inspected his body – that was one of their roles under the Law.
Did Jesus also heal the physical damage that leprosy can cause, or did he stop it in its tracks? The answer may revolve around what you think Jesus meant when he said “Be clean”
Should the man have kept quiet about his healing, or was Jesus naïve to think the man could keep it to himself?
Father God, I sing a Hallelujah for broken hearts that are mended, for lives made whole, for spirits cleansed because of Jesus. In Jesus you are willing – increase my faith to match your willingness. Amen.
If you ever felt that Leonard Cohen’s song didn’t go far enough.
Paul