Mark 1:41 (KJV)
And Jesus, moved¹ with compassion,
put forth his hand, and touched² him,
and saith unto him,
I will; be thou clean³.
¹) An additional detail to Matthew 8:3, (Matthew 9:36)
²) Matthew 8:3
³) Clean = cleansed
From other translations:
And being moved with pity and sympathy, Jesus reached out His hand and touched him, and said to him, I am willing; be made clean! [AMP] Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, "I will; be clean." [ESV] Deeply moved, Jesus put out his hand, touched him, and said, "I want to. Be clean." [MSB] Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" [NIV] Moved with pity, Jesus touched him. "I want to," he said. "Be healed!" [NLT] Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed." [NKJV]
Now let us see what this verse is telling us.
Being moved with compassion
Only in Mark.
Touched him
It was unlawful to touch any unclean person as it made the one touching also unclean(Lev. 5:1-14; 15:5-27).
There is no record of the Christ going through ceremonial cleansings every time He touched sick people. This would be an impossibility, for it took a day to become clean. (Leviticus 15:5-27). In this case, as He healed people every day He would be going through ceremonial cleansing all the time. In many things the Christ set aside the law, proving that He considered it a dead thing. (Romans 10:4; Galatians 3:19-25; 4:21-31; 2 Corinthians 3:6-15)
I will
The reason that the Messiah healed this man, and all others, was because His will was the same as the will of God! He did nothing that was not the will of God (John 8:28)
God never said “No” to any child of His who came to Him in faith and who asked according to the promises, and He never will. Every case of unanswered prayer in Scripture was one which could not be granted for reasons always given.
It was something which did not concern anything God had promised, or could have done and be just
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The Lord Jesus has a deep compassion for this leper. It is more often said of the Lord Jesus that He was moved with compassion towards people (cf. Mark 6:34; 8:2).
Then Jesus stretches out His hand. This gesture is an expression of divine authority (see Acts 4:28, 30, compare Exodus 3:20; 7:4,5).
With that hand Jesus touches the leper. (So close the leper had come to Him!) By this touching He calls on the power of God to break the power of the disease. Jesus often uses His hand in healing (e.g. Mark 1:31; 5:23, 41; 6: 5; 7:32; 8:23, 25).
It was unheard of, for the Jews, to touch a leper. Through the physical contact, the person would share in the leper’s uncleanness, so that the uncleanness was expanded. But now it appears that by consciously touching the leper, the Lord Jesus removes the uncleanness. The uncleanness cannot harm Him. He is more powerful than the leprosy and the uncleanness associated with it. Therefore He can also cleanse the leper.
Jesus touched him. Jesus’ love, mercy, and power are such that through His touch the leper is cleansed, instead of becoming unclean Himself.
He also gives a short and powerful answer to the indirect question of the leper (“if you will …”): “I want it, become clean”: This “I will” speaks of divine authority.
Why did the Lord Jesus come on earth? I think the children even know how to answer this. The Lord Jesus came to earth to seek and to save that which was lost.
This is also clear from what we read today.
A leper has come to the Lord Jesus.
That was someone in those days who was excluded from everything.
▪︎ He was not allowed to enter the temple.
▪︎ He was not allowed to interact with other people.
▪︎ He was an outcast, a pariah.
Yet this outcast had the courage to go to Jesus.
In one way or another he knew that healing could be obtained for him, only from the Savior (Someone must have told him! See how important it is to share the Gospel?) He therefore says: “If You wish, You can cleanse me”.
From this text it is clear that the Lord wants to cleanse him.
This man was totally unclean, but after his meeting with Jesus he was cleansed and became a new man.
Isn’t he a picture of us all?
Because of our deep fall into sin, we too have become unclean before God.
Have you really understood that yet?
That man knew he was a leper. You too?
▪︎ Do you realize that your sin doesn’t make you not just as bad as this leper, but even worse?
▪︎ Do you realize that because of your sins you are not even allowed to get near to God?
Just as this man was separated and not allowed to come near people, our sins have also separated us from God.
But now there is a way back. God gave his son Jesus! Through Him, and only through Him, can we come back to the father again. There is only one way to the Father, and only one way to get rid of our evil and our sin. That way is He who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
We must go to him.
He wants and can cleanse us!
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