How many of you actually think out how routine your days can be? I know we joke about how kids change everything and bring new excitement to each day but we still follow the same plans and molds that have been placed before us. You get out of bed at a certain time, get ready, go to work, come home and then your real work begins. Kids have their routines too. Get up, eat breakfast, go to school, come home, pester mom and dad, and then play while pulling sisters hair and smacking brother because he took the best toy. I was talking to Tim Lee while he was counting the offering after services with Meagan helping him of course. We were talking about spending time with family and how the kids were helping out since Beth had injured herself. Meagan said she had something very important to do; she had to play! Playing was very important! She knew exactly what she should be doing.
Each day brings its own challenges and opportunities; the routine bills that come and go each month, the routine joys and pains of raising your children, and sometimes the extravagant joys of finding out you are going to have a baby or that your health is perfectly fine. All the routines and even the special occurrences bring a certain amount of regularity to our lives that make us feel comfortable and easy going. However I have to wonder, what would happen if God threw a monkey wrench into our daily routines? He does this from time to time such as running late due to a flat tire or even just having difficulty doing the most mundane things such as getting a glass of water. Maybe he has more of a purpose for your life and mine that living it out in a simple routine performed day in and day out. There are times when we have small windows of opportunity to change something in our own life or in the life of someone else. It may be the opportunity to say a small word of encouragement or even just a 10 dollar bill that may help them make ends meet. Out of the ordinary and regular way we live, an opportunity might present itself where we can choose to obey or disobey God. We can choose to speak about Christ to someone or we can choose to ignore God’s prodding and just keep walking down the street. That one moment could have revolutionized the life of that person. Actually, that one moment could have changed their life and in turn could have changed the lives of many others as he or she acted out of gratefulness to others. Mark 1:40-45 records such an event. Jesus healed many people of many different illnesses and yet for some reason, in the middle of Him healing so many, Mark records the healing and actions of just one single man, a leper. Of all the healings that Jesus had done, why this story? Let’s go through the story and its familiar elements and see if we can discover why God put these fives verses in His Book.
Compassion on the Broken – 40-42
“A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.”
A simple reading wouldn’t present this section of scripture as anything beyond the normal when speaking of Jesus and the miracles he performed. Jesus performed plenty of miracles and had compassion upon plenty of people. The only really abnormal part of this scripture is the way the man asks to be healed. If you read what he says, he really is actually just stating a fact. He basically says, “Jesus since I know you can if you wouldn’t mind could you heal me.” From the description of the man it appears that he is begging and groveling at Jesus’ feet and yet from the words described, the man knew that Jesus was more than capable. Jesus’ compassion led him to heal the man. Again the word “willing” is used which can mean want, wish, or will. The idea is that of a willful desire. Jesus wanted to heal the man. The man came begging and groveling and yet at the exact same time knew exactly who Jesus was!
This story seems all well and good until it hits home that we are much like the leper in the story. Broken by the sin we so easily indulge in each and every day, we come crawling back to God and ask him to bring us out of the pit we have dug. Sometimes we try to bargain with God so that he will do whatever we may wish. Sometimes it is taking away the pain from a hurtful situation, sometimes its financial problems, sometimes its marital problems. In any case, when all other options have failed, we run to God because we know that he can fix anything. I am not sure why we don’t go like this right off the bat. Maybe it’s our tough guy side that makes us try to find alternative ways to deal with life other than God. The leper had probably tried many ways himself and now finally he realized the man who could take care of it all. Each time we try to dig deeper for help, we find ourselves that much further from the God who could provide it.
The key and main point of this first section of the story is found in the compassion of Christ. Do you remember when you started your journey with Christ? Some of you have many years behind you while others have only a few weeks. How about the last time he comforted you through a difficult situation? Helped you or a family member in the hospital? The compassion shown to us by God can be just as easy to overlook as this small section of scripture. Usually we come before God as an absolute last resort to the problems and troubles of our lives. Think of how much we rely on the medical field today or how often we call someone we know to tell them all about our problems. The compassion given to us if we ask changes our lives for the good every time. However, going straight to the source would be a much more productive, efficient, and less painful way of making it through life’s turbulent events.
And then the Instructions – 43-44
“Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: "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."
After every bit of compassion we receive, there is a lesson to be learned and a path to follow. Each time Jesus healed someone or said something he then turned around and instructed the people on what they should do. When you accept who Jesus Christ is, then you follow his instructions to be baptized. You obediently follow what he has told you to do so that your life will follow his example. So, after healing the leper Jesus gives some very strict and specific instructions. Considering Jesus and God both know far more about the world and all that is going on, it might be wise to heed their words. For this man, he is to follow the laws about the cleansing of a leper from the Law of Moses otherwise known as the first five books of the Bible. The process for examination and cleansing could take a while and beyond that the leper would have to sacrifice the proper items to complete the cleansing according to the law. I can’t imagine that the leper understood why he could not tell everyone what had happened but he should have known the truth behind the rest of Jesus’ statement. Jesus’ instructions to him were quite clear.
Now, to pick on the guys, how many of you actually read the instructions before trying to build, fix, or otherwise do most anything? I don’t. I would just as well like to figure the problem out on my own. “I don’t need no stinking instructions.” I probably waste more time on trying to figure out problems that I do most any other activity I do. I seriously believe that the whole reason why they started the “some assembly required” stuff began when a woman wanted to get her husband back for not fixing the sink correctly. She probably told him he needed to read the instructions but he wouldn’t and so she would help make even the simplest objects so complex that the man would have to use the instructions to get it together. I mean how complex can a bicycle be and yet it may take four hours to realize the bolt numbered A4762 is actually in bolt B4321’s spot. If only the instructions would be followed, the whole mess would have been a whole lot simpler.
You know where I am going with this. We have an instruction booklet called the Bible. We know what it looks like and know where we can find one. The matter is whether or not we read it. We also have another instructor named the Holy Spirit. Sometimes he may prod us to do something out of the ordinary like speak to someone about who Jesus Christ really is or maybe just say something encouraging to a person who may be struggling even if we don’t know it. I can’t say whether or not I have had absolute directions on what I believed I should do but I know that at times I was pushed and compelled to make certain decisions, coming here was one of them. We have instructions we should follow and know where to find them; just like the leper had. One more section remains…
And the disobedience – 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.”
And now we see the twist in the story and may very well find why the story was included in the first place. The leper goes on his merry little way and ignores all the instructions he was just previously given. He didn’t keep quiet and he most definitely did not go directly to the priests so that they could declare the man clean. After the man went around telling everyone what had happened, three little words appear in the text “as a result.” Again a very simple set of words to miss, three words which I missed until I read it for the fourth time. Because the man disobeyed the instructions of Jesus, he could no longer stay in the towns and teach at the synagogues but had to live in the wilderness and let people come to him. The man’s actions weighed more heavily than he himself realized but Jesus knew exactly what would happen if the man didn’t obey. Jesus knew that he would be run out of town and would not be able to return. That is why he told the man not to say anything but to do exactly as the Law of Moses said to do. Jesus had a reason for his instructions; both to protect him and also to make sure the man did everything in the right order.
It had been a wearying day, and I asked Emily to hold all telephone calls while I had a nap. Shortly thereafter the phone rang. Lyndon Johnson was calling from the White House. "Get me Ken Galbraith. This is Lyndon Johnson." "He is sleeping, Mr. President. He said not to disturb him." "Well, wake him up. I want to talk to him." "No, Mr. President. I work for him, not you. When I called the President back, he could scarcely control his pleasure. "Tell that woman I want her here in the White House." (John Kenneth Galbraith, A Life in Our Times, Houghton Mifflin, Reader’s Digest, December, 1981.)
Even in this small example, obedience to the instructions given makes a difference in someone’s life. We often misunderstand our importance in the world we live in today. We devalue the effects we have on other people, on society, and even on the plan God has for saving mankind. Because of what the leper did, Jesus could no longer do as he was going to do. Jesus gave him the instruction so that he wouldn’t make it harder to do ministry in the area. Think for just a minute about what I said earlier about that single moment you may have. Just one single moment to change the life of someone by giving a kind and gentle word. How do you know you won’t end up changing their eternal destination? Isn’t it worth 30 seconds of anxiety to have the hope of helping them meet Jesus? God has given each and every one of us a key to the kingdom of heaven so that we may lock and unlock so many doors to and from peoples lives. The power sits in our hands and in our hearts to reach out and love other people, to be obedient when God urges us to speak and when he tells us not to.
If we are obedient to the word of God and to the urgings of the Holy Spirit, we will find ourselves immersed in a whole new world of telling others about Jesus and helping them through their problems. We will find our purpose in God’s massive plan both amazing and incredible that we can be such an integral part of it. Yet, at the same time, if we choose to disobey as the leper did, we may cause more problems and trouble along the way. We may even be interfering with God’s plan. I would like you to do this for me. Take a moment and think of all the relationships you have; family, friends, and co-workers. Write them down if you need to. Now, think of the effect you have on each of those relationships when you are angry and take it out on someone. How about if you are depressed even though they know you have Jesus? What does that tell them about you and about Jesus? You have an incredible impact on peoples lives regardless of what you think or how you feel. Take responsibility for those relationships and be obedient to God when he tells you how to handle them. Take some time at home to think these out. The leper didn’t obey and interfered with Jesus’ plans. Jesus had compassion on you and instructs you to do what is right. Will you obey? Remember this as you go home; You could change someone’s world if only you would obey when God calls you.
