15 Jan 26 | Mark 1:40-45
Jesus restores a “living dead” outcast to covenant life by bearing his uncleanness through touch, then “goes outside” as the healed man re-enters the community.
Today’s Takeaway
This miracle is not only compassion; it is a priestly, covenant act. Jesus does what the Law could only diagnose: He conquers impurity at its source, reintegrates the person into worship, and foreshadows the Cross where the Holy One “goes outside” to bring the unclean home.
The Gospel
A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said,
“If you wish, you can make me clean.”
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched the leper, and said to him,
“I do will it. Be made clean.”
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
Then he said to him, “See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them.”
The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.
He spread the report abroad
so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.
He remained outside in deserted places,
and people kept coming to him from everywhere.
In the Margins
This is most likely the same leper we see in Luke 5. To recap, leprosy could mean many things. The word that is used, often tzaraʿat, in the Old Testament is a category of visible skin conditions that renders someone ritually unclean according to Leviticus 13-14. We must remember that Leviticus makes it clear that anyone who touched a leper would also become ritually unclean. In this Gospel account, we again see the leper kneel to the Lord, beg if the Lord wills it, and is then cleansed. Jesus, in keeping with the Law, commands the leper to present himself to the priests for verification of the cleansing.
If you know the story of the Roman who says “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed”– we can see some similarities! The leper says, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” It is another account of someone having such humility to recognize that it is only done by the will of Him. What we know from the other account is that Jesus did not have to touch the leper. In both accounts, faith recognizes that healing is not forced from Jesus but received according to His authority and will. He could have simply said, rise and you are clean, or something like that. He doesn’t though, he places hands on the unclean, and in doing such, makes the unclean clean – while not becoming unclean himself. The fact that he tells the leper to follow the law shows he is not just dismissing the law. He would have considered Himself unclean had He been such. He was keeping the law by having the leper return to the priests, he was not trying to subvert it in any way, rather showing its limits.
What really stands out is that Jesus tells the leper to tell no one. Instead, the leper, probably overjoyed and grateful tells everyone. The impact is a great reversal in roles. The leper is now accepted in the town he was once in, but at the same time, Jesus cannot get in. It also tells of another impact, even if unintended. We see a leper do what Jesus told him not to do. The impact was that Jesus was not able to enter and had to remain in deserted places. It is not a major stretch to say this may have limited the impact of Jesus’ healing. While people still came to him in the deserted places he stayed, there were certainly those who could not make the trip.
How often do we see something like this in our lives? We do something we think is right, but there is an unintended consequence that we did not anticipate. If we let God guide our hearts and our actions, we are more likely to be on the right side of outcomes. It is when we take things into our own hands that we often find ourselves getting into trouble. We didn’t hear that Jesus, very upset by this, made the man a leper again. God is love and is a God of mercy. The man remained cleansed despite his disobedience, just as God’s mercy toward us is not revoked each time we fail…though obedience still matters.
Reflection Question
Where do I do things my way instead of the way God is calling me to handle them?