When someone asks you to do something, how you decide if you’ll do it or not? In a lot of cases, you’ll probably decide very quickly, almost on impulse, if you’re going to help them or not. So whether they ask you to get something from the shop, or post a letter, or lend them fifty pounds, or whatever it might be, you’ll decide on the spot. Instinctively, you’ll say yes and do it, or no you won’t do it.
But what’s behind your decision? How did you get to that decision so quickly? Whenever someone asks you to help them, your brain very quickly goes through two questions: 1. Do I want to do this?
Am I able to do this?
Now, how you answer those questions depends on who is asking, and what’s being asked of you. So here’s a wee example, to help you see those questions in action:
I’ll happily baptise little Harry later on in the service. But if I’m asked to change his nappy, then I’ll probably think - I don’t really want to do it, and actually, I’m not really able to do it either. So I’ll leave it to the experts in the front row!
So, for some things, you might well want to do something to help, but you know that you’re not able to do it. Maybe you’d love to be able to help clean out your neighbour’s guttering, but you don’t have a head for heights. So you (wisely) say no.
But for other things, you could very well do it, you’re able to do it, but you just don’t want to do it. You’re able, but not willing.
That’s the grid that you use, maybe even unthinkingly, just instinctively - asking yourself: am I willing? am I able? And when you ask someone else if they will help you, you might have worked this out in advance - might they be able to help me? And could they be willing to help?
In our reading from Mark’s gospel this morning, we find a man who thinks in these categories - willing and able. But before we even come to his request, we see that he is a man in great need. Look at the first four words of verse 40. (p1003) A man with leprosy.
You know the way people dread sitting in the doctor’s office to be given a diagnosis? Nowadays, it’s the ‘c’ word (cancer) that’s dreaded. In those days, they dreaded the ‘l’ word. Leprosy. The word covered a variety of infectious skin diseases (not just modern-day Hansen’s disease), but the end result was the same. The person diagnosed with leprosy would be an outcast. They couldn’t live with their family, or in the town, and everyone was afraid of them. Leprosy was feared, so they were shunned. Lonely. Isolated.
This man with leprosy comes to Jesus. He’s so desperate that he gets down on his knees in front of Jesus. He ‘begged him’ on his knees. And do you see what he says to Jesus? “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”
Do you see how he has worked through that willing and able set of questions? He must have heard about Jesus, heard about all the things that Jesus has already done - look back to verse 25, casting out an evil spirit. Verse 31, healing Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever. Verse 34 healing lots of people from various diseases. He knows that Jesus is able. He is sure that Jesus can do it.
He’s just not sure if Jesus will want to do it. “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” He’s sure Jesus can do it, he’s not sure if Jesus will want to do it. Perhaps you’ve had a similar experience. You know all about Jesus, you’ve heard about his power, his miracles, even his salvation. You know that Jesus can do all things. The thing you’re not sure about is if Jesus wants to help you or save you. It’s not could he, but would he?
Picture the scene. The leper has asked for help. He has made himself vulnerable. And he waits for the answer. Maybe you’ve been in the same place. You’ve asked someone for help, and then you wait, to see what they say, how they’ll answer, what they’ll do. Will Jesus help this leper?
We see the answer in verse 41. ‘Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said, “Be clean!”
The man wasn’t sure if Jesus would want to help him. So while he knew some things about Jesus - his power and miracles; he didn’t know everything about Jesus. He didn’t know that Jesus is filled with compassion and love. Our word compassion means to suffer (passion, like patient) with, alongside (com- as in comany/companion). Jesus looks at him, and feels pity for him. He suffers with him - and does the unthinkable.
Everyone knew that you didn’t touch a leper, because you would also be unclean. Leprosy was contagious. If you touched a leper, then you would catch it, and you too would be unclean. Yet Jesus reaches out to him and touches him. The first touch since his diagnosis.
With Jesus, cleanness is contagious. It’s not that the man will make Jesus unclean, but Jesus makes the man clean, whole, pure, and healthy.
And how long did the cure take? Was it a case of take three tablets twice a day for a week? No, Jesus was willing and able, and the cure was immediate! ‘Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.’ (42) Jesus was able to cure him, and willing to cure him, and so he was cured!
So why does Jesus go on to say what he says next, in verse 43? ‘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 sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”’ Why would Jesus not want anyone to know what had happened?
After all, the whole of the first chapter is about Jesus doing mighty deeds, and spreading the good news that God’s kingdom is here. So why does he tell this man not to tell anyone? And, the only person he does want him to tell is the priest!
Back in the Old Testament law, in Leviticus 13-14, there are the details of how Israel was to deal with people who came down with any infectious skin diseases like leprosy. Essentially, it was like an early Public Health Authority, or the NICE guidelines that doctors follow. (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) And the priest was the public health officer.
The priest would diagnose the problem, and banish the infected person - in order to prevent the spread of disease. It’s a bit like the measures to prevent the spread of Ebola. That’s what Lev 13 was all about. And Lev 14 outlines the sacrifice made when a priest declared that someone had been healed from their disease. It’s not that the sacrifice healed the patient - the sacrifice was only made if someone had been healed, as a sign that they were well again.
Jesus sends the man to the priest ‘as a testimony to them.’ The man is a witness to the priests that Jesus is willing and able to heal. It seems that the priests probably didn’t do these particular sacrifices often. When people had leprosy, that would have been it. but now healing is possible. And Jesus sends the man to the priests as a testimony to them.
Instead, the man went and told just about everybody else, apart from the priest! He ‘went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news.’ And you might think, what’s the problem? Surely it’s good for people to know what Jesus has done?
But here, Jesus had told him not to tall anyone. Jesus is filled with compassion, he is willing and able to heal. But his miracles weren’t his primary focus. Jesus came (v38) to preach the good news of the kingdom. But now, Jesus isn’t able to enter towns openly. Even when he stays out in lonely places, people are coming to him. But they aren’t coming because they want to hear the word about the kingdom. They’re coming because they want to see a trick. They’re wanting entertainment!
This little incident tells us a whole lot about the Lord Jesus. We see the compassion of the Lord Jesus - that he feels for the man in need, that he pities him, but more than that, that he suffers with him. In that touch, the man received from Jesus health and wholeness. At the same time, Jesus took his uncleanness. Because this little incident is a picture of what Jesus came to do - it’s a picture of what Jesus would do at the cross.
At the cross, Jesus takes our sins, but he also takes our sorrows. As Isaiah 53 puts it, ‘Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows... by his wounds we are healed.’ He takes our sins and our sickness; and he gives us his holiness and healing.
And you could know all that, you could know that Jesus is able to save. And yet you might wonder is Jesus willing to save - willing to save even me? His answer is still the same today. Jesus is both willing and able. He is able to save you. And he wants to save you. You just have to ask him. ‘I am willing. Be clean!’
This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 25th February 2018.
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