It’s down to two: a Labradoodle and a Portuguese water dog. Don’t tell me you haven’t been following President Obama’s search for a suitable “First Hound.” On election night Obama promised his daughters that they could get a pet for the White House. It’s turning out to be a “ruff” choice. One thing is certain the Obamas have indicated their willingness to pick a pet from the pound. But there are all kinds of dogs in animal shelters. Some are mangy and disgusting. What would your reaction be if the President picked a dog covered in sores and scabs? “He did what!?!” you’d say. “I wouldn’t touch such a creature with a ten foot pole!”
While I doubt very much President Obama would choose such a dog to run around the White House and play with his daughters, we’re going to hear how Jesus chose to show compassion to a cast-off in a way that made the people say, “He did what!?!” What Jesus did is embrace the embarrassing, and repair the repulsive – something he thankfully still does today.
Large crowds were following Jesus somewhere in Galilee one day when a pitiful cry caught Jesus’ attention. It wasn’t the cry of a child who had scraped his knee; it was the groan of an adult desperate with despair. Jesus didn’t have to look around long to see where the voice was coming from because there was its source – face down on the ground before him. The crowd that had only moments before been jostling to get close to Jesus must have slowly backed away as if the man on the ground were a cobra that could leap up and strike them at any instant. This man, you see, was a leper.
Much has been written about leprosy but I think it’s enough to say that the Greek word lepra means “scabby.” Leprosy was a term used to describe various illnesses that affected the skin. Psoriasis was a form of leprosy but so were more serious illnesses that ended in death. We don’t know what form of leprosy this man had but it doesn’t matter. As a leper he was an outcast. According to God’s law he had to live on the outskirts of town with his hair unkempt and his face covered while crying out, “Unclean! Unclean!” should a “healthy” person venture near. Lepers weren’t allowed to touch healthy people otherwise they would make them unclean. What that meant is such a person could not go up to the temple and worship until he had been sprinkled with the water of cleansing and waited until the evening. This was the same thing you were to do if you had touched a dead animal. God’s message was clear: lepers were the living dead. They were cut off from their families and the rest of society. They were even cut off from God’s temple.
You’d think people would feel sorry for lepers and do something to help them. That doesn’t seem to be the case, however. Rabbis, Jewish teachers, decreed that no less than six feet must be kept between you and a leper. And if you were downwind from a leper, then you needed to put 100 feet between you and the outcast. One rabbi even boasted that he threw stones at lepers to keep them from getting too close (Edersheim)!
It’s amazing then that the crowd that day didn’t turn and run when the leper approached. Perhaps they were following Jesus’ lead. While others instinctively backed away Jesus stood his ground and listened to the man’s plea: “If you are willing,” croaked the outcast “you can make me clean” (Mark 1:40b). This man may have been a pariah but he knew how to pray! He expressed his confidence in Jesus’ ability to cleanse him yet he didn’t presume to tell Jesus what to do. Nor did he demand an explanation as to why he had contracted leprosy. He simply acknowledged that if Jesus wanted to, he could cleanse him and restore him to health, to his family, to his work, to his life! But he left that all to Jesus trusting that Jesus knew what was best for him.
How do your petitions compare to this pariah’s prayer? Are you as trusting? Or are there certain things that you don’t think Jesus can do like fix your marriage or help you let go of a grudge? Are you as humble? Or do you demand that Jesus answer your prayers according to your timetable to prove his love to you? This leper may not have always been as trusting and humble but that must have changed after he was diagnosed with his condition. As a leper he would have been “forced” to rely on the Lord since no one else seemed to care about lepers. It’s just as the Apostle Paul explains: “…we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Romans 5:3-5).
Indeed, this leper’s hope in the Lord was not disappointed. As Jesus looked and listened he was moved to compassion – or as the Greek literally reads “his guts were wrenched.” Just think about this for a moment. When you see a dog covered with open sores your guts are probably wrenched too, not from compassion but from revulsion. Jesus didn’t feel revulsion when he looked at the leper. We know this because he reached out and touched the outcast! There must have been an audible gasp from the crowd. And when those who witnessed what Jesus did told their friends about it they must have responded: “He did what!?!” Jesus embraced the embarrassing, that’s what he did. As a mother is not afraid to cradle her child in her arms even though the child may be covered in vomit and blood so Jesus is not put off by our scabs and sores.
But Jesus’ embrace is better than a mother’s. A mother can try to love a child back to health but her hugs won’t squeeze back together broken bones or stop cancer from spreading. Jesus, on the other hand, not only embraces the embarrassing, he repairs the repulsive. He did that with a simple yet obviously powerful command: “Be clean!” (Mark 1:41b) Immediately, Mark tells us, the leper was cleansed.
Friends, do you see what kind of Savior you have? He’s not afraid to get his hands dirty to help you. It doesn’t matter to him that you’re covered in ugly scabs and sores, no, I’m not talking about the blemishes the world can see. I’m talking about those scabs that are really offensive to God. You know, the way you spoke to your mother this morning. Was that really a loving response or one meant to cut? Or the way you desired that woman on the TV last night. Did you really look at her and praise God for his handiwork or were you thinking about her as an object of your selfish desires? And what about the way you’ve been complaining about your lot in life? Is God really to blame for your marital problems, your poor finances, or your poor grades? Can you imagine what our faces would look like if a pimple popped out for every proud thought we had, or a cold sore broke out every time we weren’t genuine in the words of encouragement we spoke to others? What a hideous sight we would be!
And that is what we once looked like to God who views us in spiritual dimensions. Yet this God was not afraid to get his hands dirty to touch you. He embraced the embarrassing. He repaired the repulsive. He still does this in a real way through the sacraments. In the Lord’s Supper, for example, Jesus touches you with his body and blood. He who is clean and pure absorbs your filth. “Be clean!” says Jesus to you in the sacrament. And you are clean. There’s no doubt about it just as there was no doubt the leper was cleansed, for Jesus told him to go show himself to the priests. They would verify the cleansing.
But now what is your response to this cleansing? The ex-leper’s response was disappointing. Before he left, Jesus warned him strongly not to tell anyone besides the priests what he had done. So early on in his ministry Jesus did not want to be known as a personal health care provider. As our text last week made clear Jesus had come first and foremost to provide spiritual care (Mark 1:29-39). But how do you keep such news to yourself? The cleansed man couldn’t and he blabbed what Jesus had done for him. The man was well intentioned but disobedient nonetheless so that a speed bump had now been placed in the way of Jesus’ ministry plans. He was no longer able to openly go into the towns and villages. It just goes to show how Satan will even try to turn a blessing into a curse but we still see Jesus triumph. Although Jesus could no longer easily go into the towns and villages, the people still came to him from everywhere. And perhaps in the unfamiliar surroundings of the wilderness they were better able to give Jesus their full attention as he taught them God’s plan of salvation.
Jesus took a “risk” in cleansing this leper. He knew very well what would happen but he still helped the man – such is his love. In the same way Jesus has taken a “risk” in cleansing us. Will we really now live for Jesus? Or will we take advantage of his forgiveness and think it’s a green light to sin? May that never be!
You know, I would be more than surprised if President Obama picked a scabby looking dog for his pet. Thank God Jesus made such a pick when he chose us to be his. Through his death on the cross he has embraced the embarrassing and repaired the repulsive and he hasn’t told us to be quiet about it. Instead he wants us to shout out his love from the rooftops. So go, reach out and touch others who haven’t heard this message – no matter how repulsive they may seem to you, for Jesus has already embraced and repaired them just like he did for you. Amen.
