Mark 1:40-45 (43-45) 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 sacifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing,
as a testimony to them.'  Instead he went out and began to talk freely,
spreading the news

        I must confess that I am often at a
loss in trying to grasp what people think God should be.  What do you
think people want in their God?  What kind of response would you get if
you said to people, "Okay, tell me what you think God should be?"
  
     I think the majority of people would say, "Well, I think God
should be powerful and ready to help mankind whenever man needs it.  I
think God should be kind and willing to overlook our mistakes and
faults.  But God shouldn't be too demanding on us but allow us some
leeway in how we do things."
        Don't you think that's what
people would say they want in their God?  So why aren't the vast
majority of people Christians?  The God I just described is the Triune
God and how he has carried out his work in this world.  God is there
and does help man every step of the way.  I can't help it that man
fights against what God says is best.  God is kind and willing to
overlook our mistakes and faults.  He even sent his Son to pay for our
faults and give us the gift of the forgiveness of sins.  Nor is God too
demanding on us.  He simply says, "Believe in my Son and his work and
all things in heaven and earth are yours!"  He doesn't tell us how we
are to worship or how much we are to give or what our churches are to
look like and so on.  He gives us tremendous leeway in these things.
 Yet the majority of the world wants nothing to do with this God of
ours.  The majority of the world thinks the God of the Bible nothing
but foolishness.
        Yet the truth of the matter is that our God
is wonderful, loving, caring and kind.  Our God has nothing on his mind
but our gracious good and salvation.  Our God, as I said before, was so
intent on our redemption that he sent his Son to take care of the
problem.  Our God is a God to hear and learn about.
        That's
what we will do today.  We will hear and learn more about Jesus.  This
instance of Jesus healing the leper teaches us a lot.  Our theme will
be: WONDERFUL JESUS.  1st. He heals.  2nd. He upholds the Law.  3rd. He
evokes response.
        On the outset of this miracle there is
nothing that seems extraordinary, that is, at least for Jesus.  Jesus
has already in his ministry clearly shown that he has miraculous
powers, so miraculous that he has yet to run up against any kind of
disease that he can't heal.  People, because of his powers, flock to
him.  So it is with the man who comes to Jesus on this day.
      
 This man's life has been one of disease.  I know that our English
texts call what he has "leprosy" but that may not be the case.  This
man could have been afflicted with any number of infectious skin
diseases and if you want to understand just how this was dealt with you
need to turn to Leviticus 13 to learn more.  What is clear from our
text is that this man had shown himself to the priests and had been
pronounced "unclean", a person with an infectious skin disease.  In
this case God's command said, "The person with such an infectious
disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the
lower part of his face and cry out, "Unclean!  Unclean!  As long as he
has the infection he remains unclean.  He must live alone; he must live
outside the camp." (Lev. 13:45-46).
        One can tell by that
section of God's Word that being pronounced "unclean" would not be a
pleasant way to live.  It is for this reason that the man before us
does something rather bold.  Instead of standing at the side of the
road yelling, "Unclean!" to the passersby, this man boldly approaches
Jesus and the crowd with him, bowing and asking for help.  His words
are humble and direct, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."

       Please note that this man makes no statements of faith.  He
doesn't proclaim Jesus, "Lord," or "Son of David" or anything of the
like.  He makes no presumptions about Jesus other than the simple
confidence that if Jesus were willing he could be made clean.  I like
this guy!  He is willing to trust in Jesus' goodness.  He is willing to
put himself at the mercy of Jesus and it is clear from his statement
that any healing or action on the part of Jesus was to be the decision
and action of Jesus.  Without ever making a statement of faith this
man's faith in the power and wonder of Jesus is clear.  He is willing
to trust whatever Jesus would do.
        Needless to say, this
man's faith is not misplaced.  Jesus says to him, "I am willing."  One
can hardly blame the Savior.  Here was this man of pitiable condition.
 If he had this disease since his youth, he was an outcast with no hope
of a family life or any kind of a normal life.  If he got this disease
after his family was begun, he was now separated from them and living
miserably apart from them.  Our wonderful Savior sees this poor man
beset with the ravages of sin in this world and we are told he was
"filled with compassion."  So moved by this man was Jesus that Jesus
reached out and touched him, not the act of healing but the touch of
compassion and care.  That action of Jesus says much of Jesus.  It is
part of what makes the wonder of Jesus so awesome.  Jesus cares.  Jesus
reaches out.  Jesus wants to help.
        Thus the simple words,
"Be clean."  Such awesome power.  Just the utterance of words by Jesus
causes the healing of this man.  What an awesome thing it must have
been to be there.  To see this man with some clear and serious skin
disease visibly healed while everyone watched.  Raw power.  Pure power.
 God's power.  Compassionate power for man.
        Of course if
that were all there were to Jesus was the ability to heal, it would
leave us just a bit short of a Savior.  Thankfully Jesus' power is
complete.  He could not only heal the diseases that strike man, he
could also heal the greatest of the diseases: sin.  He did that by his
atoning sacrifice.  He paid for our sins, granting us forgiveness and
the adoption as God's children.  In Jesus we find the wonder of a
Savior.  In Jesus we have Him who came back to life and who lives and
reigns eternally.  In Jesus we have our mediator before God now and
eternally.  Complete and eternal power in our wonderful Savior.
    
   But there is something else that stands out in this history that is
important to grasp.  Notice what Jesus' concern was after the healing?
 He says to this man, "Go, show yourself to the priest and offer the
sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to
them."  Did you catch that?  This man was not to go here or there, not
to go home and elsewhere first, but rather first go to the priest,
first go and keep the law, first go and make the sacrifices for his
cleansing.  Why?  As Jesus said, "as a testimony to them."
      
 In other words, Jesus was concerned with doing what was right
according to the Law of God.  He was not about rebellion, not about
opposing established authority as some would say.  Very sternly Jesus
warned this man to do things according to the Law.  Jesus does this
that people might understand he is not opposed to the law nor does he
suspend the law and what it is about.  As is said so many times in
God's Word Jesus came to fulfill the Law.  The actions of Jesus here
clearly show what Jesus thought of the Law.  It was God's Law to be
fulfilled and kept.  It is only after Jesus himself completely fulfills
the law that the ceremonial laws were to end.  Don't ever let someone
tell you that Jesus didn't obey the law of God.  In truth, he took
every step to make sure it was kept.  Our wonderful Savior shows us the
importance of the Law.
        Then finally one more thing to note.
 Our text says, "Instead he went out and began to talk freely,
spreading the news."  I consider that to be a rather wimpy translation.
 I would prefer to translate, "Instead he went out and began to preach
openly, spreading the Word around."  The Greek text uses the word for
preaching and then clearly uses the term logos to tell us what he
preached.  He was preaching Jesus.  He wasn't running around telling
about the miracle, speaking of how it felt and how cool it was the he
was now healed.  He was preaching Jesus as the Savior, preaching Jesus
as the Word of God, the very Word, as the Gospel of John says, that
"was with God and was God."  This guy was doing more than spreading the
"news" he was actually proclaiming Jesus the Christ, our God and Lord!

       Because of what this man did people came flocking to Jesus all
the more.  It made the ministry of Jesus a bit harder because now
people were coming to him for healing rather than coming to him to hear
the forgiving news of salvation.  All this action brings two comments.

       First, notice how Jesus evokes response.  When Jesus truly
touches your life and heals you, be it physically or spiritually, when
Jesus and what he is about as our Savior is in your heart you can't
help but speak of Jesus.  That's why the message of Jesus is called the
"good news."  We want to share it and declare it.  We want people to
know it and believe it.  We want this because we grasp and understand
the complete importance of Jesus as the Savior.
        Second, the
reaction that Jesus evokes is the message of salvation and sins
forgiven by the Son of God.  We don't go around proclaiming "the power
this, the power that...or...We can this or we can that.  We go around
preaching Jesus as the Son of God and the Savior of the world.  That's
the heart of it.  To talk about the wonder of Jesus himself, not to
talk about the wonder of Jesus in me or you.  The message is to be the
message of the Word.  To get you to think on this all the more, think
about the disciples of Jesus and how much is actually said about them
in the Bible.  In truth, these men said nothing about what they did or
how they did this or that, they simply spent their life proclaiming
Jesus.  It is a good lesson for the church to keep in mind.
      
 My people, we have a wonderful Savior.  He has the power to heal.  If
he so desires, to heal our physical ailments but especially Jesus has
the power to heal our sin sick souls and proclaim us righteous and holy
before God.  That's the real purpose of Jesus and that's what makes him
the most wonderful.  Jesus is God's son who came to fulfill and uphold
the Law.  To fulfill it by being our Savior, to uphold it by his
example.  Finally Jesus came that we might share his wonder with
others.  We share because we can't help it.  Jesus has healed our lives
and shown what a wonderful Savior he is.  Amen.