Mark 1:40-45 And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying to him, If you will, you can make me clean.… The work and wonders of the previous day created so great an excitement that he early rose, "a great while before day," for calmness and the refreshment of solitude and prayer, and finding "a desert place," he there "prayed." O hallowed ground! Simon and his companions follow, and finding him, say, "All are seeking thee." But he "came forth to preach," therefore he would go "elsewhere," and the marvellous account given is, "He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out devils." In the course of his tour "there cometh to him" one of the many in whose bodily infirmity preachers and teachers have always seen the type of the spiritual sickness; "there cometh to him a leper." He is alone, for the multitude avoid him. Attention must not be diverted from these two - the sufferer and his Saviour. I. THE SUFFERER AND HIS APPEAL. Leprosy is thus described: "The most terrible of all maladies, a living death, a poisoning of the springs, a corrupting of all the humours, of life; a dissolution little by little of the whole body, so that one limb after another actually decayed and fell away. The Jews called it 'the finger of God.'" They knew no cure for it. His "beseeching" cry is heard as he draws near, and ere he falls, kneeling, where so many afterwards knelt, at the feet of Jesus. He has heard of the fame of the Rabbi, for it has spread afar. With piteous words he cries, "If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." What an inversion of this is much of the faith of to-day! The goodness of Jesus all acknowledge, but many deny his power to heal. This man knew only what had been reported to him - the power. He had not yet gazed into the tender eyes that beamed upon him. He had not yet heard the calm and gentle voice that breathed the tenderest love of the tenderest of all souls. But he will hear it. He had not felt the pressure of that hand of power; but, strange to say, he on whom no friendly hand has rested for long, will feel its healing touch. It needed not the cry to pierce to the heart of the great Healer; the sight was enough. But the words "thou canst" denote a faith which indicates the needed preparation. But the appealing "If," and "If thou wilt? Oh, if all depended upon that alone, how many more would be healed! Once it was said "If thou canst;" when the quick reply, "If thou canst," both rebuked the doubt (pardonable under the circumstances) and threw back upon the questioner the sense of weakness. Here is no doubt of the power; but "wilt" thou? So the unclean, corrupt, slow-dying sufferer appeals to the Lord of life, and love, and power. It is not wrong to say "If thou wilt." It is a lower form of "Thy will be done." II. The humble cry turns us from the sufferer to THE SAVIOUR, to learn his compassion, to see his touch, to hear his word of power, and to witness its instant effect. 1. Jesus was "moved with compassion." What had not the world to hope from that "compassion"! What may it not still hope from it I We could hope much from compassion such as many good souls would show; but what from his compassion! What depth; what tenderness; what yearning; and what power! Happy he who commits himself to the compassion of Christ. 2. With quickness" he stretched forth his hand, and touched him." There was comfort in that, for all others fled from him. But it was a touch of acceptance and assurance, having many moral lessons. "I do not despise thee." His touch had compassion in it, perhaps more than power, though "power" went forth from him when others touched even his garments. 3. The true power, however, is in the word, "Be thou made clean." It is a command to that body and to disease. The disease, Christ's servant of judgment, obeys: "the leprosy departed from him;" and the body obeys, putting on its new robes of health, the flesh as of a little child - "he was made clean." Can faith desire more? He who would learn to have faith must stand near and see, and let the "works bear witness." Faith is God's gift, like the dew of the morning, as silently, as wondrously given. Again let it be said, if men would have faith they must come to the Word; the air is full of blessing when the word of Christ is vibrating in it; and it will distil as the dew upon the chill, sad heart. How great a miracle! yet typical of "greater works" yet to be done. It is easier to say to the body, "Be thou made clean," than to say it to the soul. But now a command, having within it a touch of sternness, "He strictly charged him,... Say nothing to any man: but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing the things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them." Alas! even gratitude could not conquer joy. His new life, his whole flesh, forbade silence, and he "began to publish it much." It was almost excusable, yet not entirely. For Christ's words must be obeyed at all cost. The Lord's ways are best, as is here proved. Disobedience brings its inconvenience. The cities suffered by the man's error. Ah, every city suffers by every man's error. Jesus could not "openly enter;" he must hide "in desert places." But "they came to him from every quarter." Thus may all afflicted in body or soul learn: 1. To offer their cry to him, who, even if they err in their methods, will not despise their prayer. 2. That Christ willeth to heal all, and is able. 3. That his compassion is never unmoved in presence of human woe. 4. That the humble appeal to him will surely meet with a helpful response. 5. That the best return is to suppress their own inclination, and, even with crushed feelings, obey his minutest word; for so is his purpose best answered. - G. Parallel Verses KJV: And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. |
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