Mark 1:40, commentary and pictures

A loathsome outcast barred from home and community as unclean pressed through the frightened crowd to kneel before Jesus in desperate need. His brief plea trusted fully that Jesus had power to make him clean and healthy, yet left the decision to Jesus' will for fear of being rejected as judged of God. Jesus did not shrink from him but laid His hand upon him and with a life-giving command at once restored his decaying flesh to the health of a child. He then sent him to the priest with the offering of Moses as public testimony that He honored the law, and charged him to tell no one lest commotion and opposition hedge up His work. The cleansing stands as proof that Jesus turns away no suffering outcast, and that every helpless sinner afflicted with the leprosy of sin may come to Him and be made whole in body and soul.

The Leper's Desperate Plea

Leprosy was incurable, contagious, and feared, the most fearful and loathsome disease of the East, dreaded for its contagious character and horrible effect upon its victim. Among the Jews it was regarded as a judgment from God for sin and as a symbol of sin. The leper was pronounced unclean and lived under sentence of isolation, barred from entering towns and villages. He was condemned to live apart from home, family, friends and community, cut off from the congregation of Israel, and doomed to associate only with those similarly afflicted. Forced away from friends and kindred, he was compelled to publish his own calamity by rending his garment and warning all to flee with the mournful cry of uncleanness, a living death of exile from home, family and society.

This particular sufferer had once held a high position of distinction. He had been examined by noted physicians who found his disease incurable, and then had been examined by the priest who pronounced it the worst form of leprosy. The priest's decision condemned him to live apart from his family, friends, and community. In seclusion he heard of Jesus' mighty works as He taught by the lake and healed the lame, blind, paralytic and dying by word and touch. He became convinced Jesus was the promised Saviour of the world, authorized of God, sent with God's authority, to whom all things were possible. This strengthened his faith, gave him hope, springing up hope that coming into His presence might bring relief, and made Jesus his only hope of relief.

Longing to be healed moved him to forget the restrictions upon him, the safety of the people, and their horror. Though debarred from entering any city or village made reaching Him seem impossible because His chief work lay among the populace, he pressed forward through the frightened multitude that fell back to avoid him. He ignored efforts to stop him, and even the disciples were filled with terror and wanted to keep their Master from being touched. He drew as near as he dared, with eyes only on Jesus, seeing only the Son of God and hearing only the voice giving life and health. In humility and desperate need he beseeched Jesus for mercy, kneeling and prostrating his foul decaying body before Him. His few brief words comprehended his great need.

His plea expresses confident faith that Jesus has power to cleanse him and to give him life and health. At the same time he leaves the decision to Jesus' will by asking whether Jesus is willing. He hopes for mercy but does not presume Jesus will act, fearing rejection as others had rejected him because his affliction was seen as divine judgment. Yet the healings he had heard about gave him hope and strengthened his faith.

Christ's Touch and Testimony

Jesus does not shrink from the leper's approach or recoil from him, but draws near to him with calm fearlessness even as the people fall back and the disciples are filled with terror and seek to keep their Master from being touched. By the law of Moses he who touched a leper was himself unclean, yet Jesus lays His hand upon the supplicant and answers his petition with the life-giving command to be clean. No sooner are the words spoken than his dying body of corruption is changed to healthy flesh with sensitive nerves and firm muscle, the cure being immediate and complete. The rough scaly surface peculiar to leprosy is gone and a soft glow like that upon the skin of a healthy child appears in its place, so that the eager multitude lose their terror and crowd around to behold this new manifestation of divine power.

Jesus then directs the cleansed man to show himself to the priest and make the offering Moses commanded, and that priestly examination and certification becomes public testimony to the cure and to His divine power while showing that He did not oppose the law of Moses. The healing was not meant for display, so He told the man not to tell what had been done, knowing that news would stir commotion, that others would seek the same cure, that people would fear contamination, and that His enemies could use the case against Him. The command for silence was to keep the priests and rulers from coming right after Him to hedge up His way in every possible way, for they tried to hinder Him. The man's public report of his cure brought crowds that hindered His work and forced Him to withdraw beyond the city, and made His enemies more determined to oppose Him.

Cleansing for Body and Soul

The leper's words give the sick a prayer to use, casting the helpless soul upon the Mighty Healer and putting the hand in His hand by faith to ask to be made whole, adding the plea to take away unbelief. The sufferer may take the Lord at His word and need not lie helpless, but may in faith rise and walk, because the Mighty Healer who is able to save to the uttermost all who come to Him is present to make every whit whole and free from disease, bidding the sufferer rise up and walk.

Applied to heart and mind, the plea teaches that anyone who comes to Jesus for cleansing may receive it, for Jesus is willing to reach out and make the person clean. The cleansing of the leper's body illustrates Christ's power to cleanse the soul from the leprosy of sin, and Christ's servants can lead sinners to Him as the great Physician. The healing stands as a lesson of encouragement to the sinful and helpless who have lost hope of recovery, like the leper and like the paralytic at Capernaum, that they may be encouraged to seek healing from Jesus. Bodily healing for such a sufferer opens the way to reach the mind with light and truth.

The verse shows that Jesus turned no one away, for even loathsome lepers could come into His presence, find access to Him, and be healed. Their healing proved His willingness to receive the suffering and the outcast. Because lepers had come to Jesus and been healed, the paralytic's friends gained hope that the helpless paralytic might also be relieved if brought under His notice.