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Jesus Makes Us Clean

FEBRUARY 15, 2009

Mark 1:40–42
And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.

2 Kings 5:9–14
So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

 

 

Leprosy: You don’t want it; but the man in our Gospel text had it. And because of it, his life had become a kind of living hell. Like all lepers, he was a social outcast. He was cut off from his wife, children, family, and friends. The only human contact he had was with other lepers. Imagine, if you can, what it must be like to watch your body slowly develop bloody, pus–laden sores that never heal but only decay and rot away. Alas, even the rats came by night to feed on the benumbed extremities of such unfortunate souls as these.

In Leviticus 13, God’s Word says, “The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes … and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. … He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.”1 So it seems that even God recognized the horrible nature of this terribly contagious disease.

Spiritually, lepers were forbidden to enter into Jerusalem or go into the temple.2 They were, at times, permitted to attend the synagogues so long as a screen was provided to isolate them from the rest of the congregation.3

But, perhaps, the most painful aspect of having the disease was the moral shame that came with it. You see, the rabbis of the day taught that the sufferers were being directly punished by God for some great, but unknown, sin in their lives.4 Yes, lepers were the scum of Jewish society. They were unclean physically, ritually, and, according to the rabbis, morally. Whenever people passed by, they had to cry out at a distance, “Unclean! Unclean!”

Let’s look at the leper in our Gospel text more closely. Somewhere along the line he must have heard about our Lord’s miracles. Courageously, he believes that Jesus will not only receive him, but also help him. Thus, he does the unthinkable. He comes near and prostrates himself before the Master. Please notice: He doesn’t cry out, “Unclean! Unclean!” as the Law required him to do. He doesn’t stay at least four cubits, or 6 feet, away as the rabbis mandated.5 (Indeed, an orthodox rabbi may have had him stoned to death on the spot)! But he knew there was something different about Jesus. . . . Very different! . . . Trusting that Jesus would help him, he falls to his knees and beseeches the Lord, saying, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”6 He truly believes that Christ can do what no one else can! He sees the rays of Christ’s deity shining through his humanity!

So what do you think Jesus is going to do for this leper? He will heal him. But before he does so, the Savior does something that nobody else would have ever done. We read, “Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him.”7 Yes, he actually touches a leper. He touches the untouchable. To a Jew of that day this must be one of the most amazing things Jesus ever did!

But it wasn’t the touch that healed him. It was the two words that came from his lips. When Jesus said, “Be cleansed!” the leprosy left him instantly. Yes, the same mighty Word that had created the universe spoke again. The words, “Be cleansed,” had to be obeyed. The mighty God had spoken; the disease had to depart. Indeed, Jesus creates what he commands. Do you see Christ’s deity shining through his humanity? Indeed, we must see it or else we are blind. If we don’t see it, we are as blind as the impenitent Jews who beheld what Jesus did but saw in it and in him nothing . . . nothing at all!

This cleansing points to a greater one. We were all born with the leprosy of sin. Please understand: Sin is not merely something we do; it is something we are. It is the human condition. It causes a far greater problem than cancer or heart disease. It makes us spiritually unclean. It separates us from the God who created us. Indeed, because of our spiritual leprosy we must all cry out, “Unclean! Unclean!” in the sight of God. He who is holy, pure, and clean demands that we be the same, for he says, “You shall be holy unto me, for I the LORD am holy.”8 The trouble, of course, is that we are not holy. We’re unclean. We need forgiveness or else we perish.

By nature, we don’t think sin is a big problem because, after all, everybody does it. Suppose somebody does us dirty. And we bear a grudge. So what happens?

• The teenager says, “I won’t forgive my dad until he lets me take the car.”
• The wife says, “I won’t forgive my husband until he takes me out to dinner.”
• The husband says, “I won’t forgive her until she stops nagging me.”

Indeed, we are infected with the leprosy of sin! We are unclean! What if God should say to us, “I won’t forgive you until you have suffered what I have suffered?”

Aren’t you glad that God doesn’t play that “game” with us! Instead, Jesus has compassion on us and comes to take our uncleanness onto himself. Laden with all our sins, he is nailed to the cross. In him is no sin at all; but on him are the sins of all! What, then, does the Father see when he looks at his crucified Son? He sees nothing but sin. So he cries out, “Unclean! Unclean!” And if God calls him unclean he is unclean indeed! And because God has charged all sins to Christ’s account, he has become, by imputation of our sins, the greatest sinner ever. And God is angry at the unclean sinner on the cross.

See what God does to his only–begotten Son. He casts him into hell9 and makes him suffer our death. But when he breathes his last, our forgiveness has been won. All our sins are atoned for. They are paid–in–full. But will you receive his pardon or spurn it?

Jesus once said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Do not cast your pearls before swine.”10 What he meant was this: Don’t preach the Gospel to impenitent sinners. Indeed, do not take the precious news of forgiveness through faith in Christ and preach it to people who are unrepentant, to people who are not sorry for their sins and have no intention of changing their lives, to people who refuse to admit their need for salvation or for Jesus Christ. To preach the Gospel to people like this is like taking some precious pearls and putting them in front of a pig and asking the pig to appreciate them.

In our Old Testament text for today we are told about the Syrian general Naaman. Like the man in our Gospel text, he also had leprosy. The general heard about a prophet in Israel who had the power to cure leprosy. So Naaman and his military contingent came to see Elisha the prophet. When they arrived at his house, Elisha didn’t even go outside to greet this powerful man. Instead, he sent a messenger to tell Naaman to wash himself seven times in the river Jordan. If he will do this, he will be made clean, i.e., healed.11

Predictably, the general was furious. If all it took to heal leprosy was to wash in river water, he knew of rivers back home that would do the job. Besides, the whole idea of doing something so simple seems a bit silly. It seems too easy.

He probably expected Elisha to call upon the name of the LORD to send down a mighty display of lightning or fire. That’s the kind of miracle that’s needed to heal leprosy!!! Right? But to wash in river water is just too simple.

But as the old saying goes, “Beggars can’t be choosers.” Naaman can’t afford to choose the way for God to heal him. It seems that he wanted to be healed his way or not at all. In this regard I’d like to borrow an illustration from Pastor Daniel Preus. He recalls an old ‘80s commercial for Stroh’s beer. Perhaps some of you will remember it.

There is a man crawling through the desert, dying of thirst, obviously in great need of something to quench his thirst if he is going to remain alive. And a man discovers him in this terrible condition and runs up to him to see if he can help. The dying man looks up at this savior–of–a–friend and gasps, “I’m really thirsty. Do you have any Stroh’s Beer?” The other man looks down at him a little surprised and says, “No, but I’ve got some nice, cool water.” And the dying man says, “No thanks, I really had a hankerin’ for a Stroh’s.” And so he staggers off once more into the wilderness, presumably to die, not content to have his burning thirst quenched. His thirst had to be satisfied his way or it wouldn’t be satisfied at all. A classic example of another beggar who was a chooser but couldn’t afford to be one.12

We, too, are beggars who can’t afford to be choosers. Our predicament is worse than Naaman’s or that of the man in the beer commercial. God’s solution for our sins is Christ and his bloody cross. The cross looks like defeat and failure. But it’s not. It’s the only way we beggars are reconciled to God.

But God will not dispense his forgiveness to us if we are impenitent swine. But to the repentant, to you and to me, we can be certain that God will pardon us. And so, with the leper in our text, each of us can say to Jesus, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean!” And to us Jesus replies, “I am willing. Be cleansed!

And if we but trust this promise, we are clean, for Jesus delivers what he speaks, commands, and declares. And since Jesus has declared you clean, you are clean. You are clean before the same God who spoke all creation into existence. There is no higher authority in heaven or on earth. You are clean!13

May God grant us the conviction born of divine certitude that we are, indeed, clean, pardoned, and forgiven. In the name of Christ, the crucified, Amen.

 

 

Soli Deo Gloria!

 

 

 

Endnotes

 

 

 

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