St. Mark 1:40-45
February 12, 2012
Dear Friends in Christ,
Valentine’s Day is coming this Tuesday. Where is the love? It will be found in the cards that are read, the special dinners washed down with good wine, in the aroma of flower bouquets and in the sparkle of jewelry. February 14th elicits much discussion on the nature of love.
Love is characteristic of humans. Love is an expression of deep emotions. Love has a commercial angle.
On a higher plain God is love. Holy Scripture declares that God so loved the world that he gave us his Son Jesus Christ that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus loved all types of people during his ministry on earth. Jesus’ love was God’s love and the perfect love of one human for another. His love was genuine as it flowed from emotions untainted by sin and with no commercial angle, i.e. no thought of recompense.
When Jesus and the leper met, Jesus’ Love is Ready, Willing, and Able. Jesus is ready with compassion; willing to help; able to cure.
Jesus was traveling from place to place in Galilee early in his ministry. He was busy preaching the gospel and doing miracles. On one occasion a man with leprosy who apparently had witnessed Jesus’ divine work “came to him and begged him on his knees.”By doing this the man broke Levitical law and social custom that required him to stay hundreds of feet away from everyone. He also was to keep crying out, “Unclean.”
Did our Lord attempt to stop him from coming near? Did Jesus rebuke the leper for breaking the law? No, Jesus is ready with compassion. “Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched him.”The compassionate Christ loved the leper right down to his deepest being. It is that feeling of your heart going out, being sick to your stomach, and the churning deep down by your insides when you see someone lonely, hurting, and hopeless.
Jesus showed the true nature of the law of love by reaching out and touching the man’s rotting flesh. Love divine is love excelling as we shall sing in one of our communion hymns. We come to Jesus and beg him on our knees to take care of us in our loneliness, in our hurts and infirmities, and in our feelings of hopelessness. What do we always discover? Jesus’ love is ready with compassion. It is one of Satan’s greatest lies he whispers in our ears that God does not love us or that Jesus does not care. Jesus cares from the deepest recesses of his eternal love, and from the most genuine feelings of his perfect human heart.
The leper did not know what Jesus had in mind for him. Sound familiar? If only we could see into God’s mind and know exactly what he wanted for me. We do know one thing for certain. The leper trusted it also. Jesus is willing to help. The leper’s request was not directed as a question of Jesus’ willingness to help in general. He just did not know if healing was to be his at this particular time. It certainly was what he desired but he left it up to Jesus. “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”
Jesus’ love is willing. Our Savior said, “I am willing.” The leper’s trust in Jesus willingness to help was not misplaced. Willingness is characteristic of the Lord. When the Father in eternity determined to send his Son into the world, the Son was willing to come into the flesh. When the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted, Jesus willingly went along with him. Most of all when it was time, Jesus willingly set out for Jerusalem. There he was willing to be arrested and crucified. On the other hand, when during Jesus’ ministry the disciples tried to push needy people away from Jesus, he was not willing to have that happen.
When it comes to confession of our sins, we know God’s will in Christ. His only will is to absolve us from our sins on the basis of Jesus’ saving work. When we hear God’s Word, we know God’s will is that his Word accomplishes the purpose for which he sent it, to strengthen our faith. When it comes to curing my illness, extending the days of my life, giving me material blessings, or escape from persecution and temptation, we do not know precisely what is on God’s mind. We echo the leper’s word, “If you are willing.”Jesus’ willingness to help is there. It may come in a different way and at a different time than we wish or suggest to him.
Jesus’ love is notonly ready with compassion and willing to help. It also is able to cure as we see in this leper’s circumstance.
Love is able. Jesus was able to cure the leprosy because he is God with all power over life and death. We are still in the Epiphany season; the season of Jesus’ miracles to manifest his deity before men. Jesus powerful healing word to this leper is, “I am willing, be clean. See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices Moses commanded for your cleansing as a testimony to them.”
Why didn’t Jesus want word of this miracle to get out? Jesus did not want to become known as only a miracle worker apart from the context of his preaching that he is the Savior from sin. Our Redeemer wanted the priests who were among his enemies to know what happened. But the danger among the people of Galilee was that they would seek out his miracles for their own sake rather than seeking the power and love of the Savior for the powerful cure of their sin and guilt.
Therein lies the danger today as people seek Jesus out only for a miracle to make their physical life better in some way apart from saving faith in Jesus as the One who paid for their sins. Jesus healed my disease. Jesus took away my addiction. Jesus has made me successful and rich. Such wonderful blessings under God’s power to cure some problem are great. But they are not as necessary or great as trust in Jesus who has taken away the power, guilt, and punishment of my transgressions of his holy will.
The newly healed leper could not contain his joy. He spread the word about his healing. The crowds came to Jesus for miracles not to hear his Word. Jesus could not travel freely without mobs following him. While Mark does not say so, we know from the other gospel writers how Jesus acted towards these crowds. Once again Jesus’ love is ready, willing and able to help them also.
Amen. <SDG>