The Cure of a Leper
J.J. Given Mark 1:40-45 And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying to him, If you will, you can make me clean.… I. THE DISEASE OF LEPROSY REPRESENTS THE DISEASE OF SIN. Of all the diseases that have found their way into this world in consequence of sin, and which have afflicted the human race, there is, perhaps, none more dreadful than that of leprosy. It was peculiar to Egypt, and native in that country, but passed into Palestine, and prevailed over Syria and Arabia also. It was common among the Jews, as we learn from several passages of Scripture, thus, in the Gospel according to St. Luke we read, "Many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet." The Hebrew name tsaraath is from a root which means to strike, smite, also to roughen; and thus it may mean either a stroke or a rough swelling; while the English name of leprosy, coming from the Greek λέπρα, and that from λέπις, a scale, signifies "the scaly disease." The two sure signs of leprosy were the whitening (where it reached) of the usually dark hair of the Oriental, and the deepening of the disease below the skin. It was usually denominated nega, stroke, or hannega, the stroke or wound; this implied that it was directly inflicted by and immediately proceeded from the hand of God; it was also always considered as a punishment for sin. It need scarcely be added that it was a disease of the most virulent kind, and was a striking emblem of sin. 1. It was hereditary; so with sin. That leprosy was hereditary, we may infer from the punishment of Gehazi, concerning which it is written, "The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee and unto thy seed, for ever." So also we read of David's imprecation of leprosy on the descendants of Joab, on account of his murdering Abner, saying, "Let there not fail from the house of Joab one that hath an issue or is a leper." In like manner, the leprosy of sin has been inherited from the first parents of our race, and has continued hereditary throughout every succeeding generation. This remains true, whether we hold the doctrine of immediate and antecedent or mediate and consequent imputation in reference to the guilt of Adam's first sin; that is to say, whether we hold with the generality of the Reformed Churches that, in consequence of Adam having been the covenant head and representative of his descendants, the guilt or punishableness of his first sin was incurred by them, antecedently to their own actual transgressions, and that the corruption of their nature was the first part of that punishment - which is known as the doctrine of antenatal forfeiture; or whether we agree with Placseus and the New England root theory, which, denying the doctrine just stated, affirms that, while Adam was punished for his own sin, his descendants are not punishable for it, but derive from him corrupt natures by ordinary generation, and so, sinning after his example, are punished for their own sin, their progenitor's sin being thus punished "mediately through, and consequently to, their own sin in compliance with his example." Even this modified view refers the origin of man's sin to the natural descent from Adam, the organic root, so that, as the sap of a tree passes from the root along the trunk and through the branches and on to the smallest twigs, inherited corruption or derived inherent depravity is traceable, not as a penal consequence of Adam's sin, but a natural consequence of generation by or descent from him. Even on this low ground, according to which the imputation of Adam's first sin is denied, it is admitted that original sin is the inherent hereditary corruption of nature or depravity derived from Adam, just as leprosy, its sorrowful but striking symbol, was hereditary to the fourth generation at least. An exceptional view, it must be acknowledged, was held by Pelagius and his followers, who denied that man's moral character had suffered any injury from the Fall, or that men were born with less ability to do the will of God or discharge their duty to him than Adam; and by consequence denied the necessity of Divine grace or any special Divine agency, except indeed to enable men to perform more easily what they could accomplish, though less easily, without it, being thus capable of and by themselves of attaining to a perfectly holy life. Such doctrines, being evidently opposed to the whole scope and many plain statements of Scripture, were condemned by the Council of Ephesus, A.D. 431, having been vigorously combated and confuted by Augustine till his death in the preceding year, A.D. 430; and thenceforth they disappear till after the Reformation, when they were revived by the Socinians. But even the semi-Pelagians admitted original sin to the extent, at least, that man's moral nature is more or less corrupted by the Fall, and by consequence stands in need of special Divine assistance. Two facts in connection with the introduction of sin, or the entrance of moral evil, into our world are undeniable: one is the painful fact that the leprous taint of sin is found more or less on every human being; the other is equally unquestionable, namely, that man at his creation could not have had that taint, for a polluted creature could not have proceeded from the hands of a pure and holy God. The truth of revelation, then, remains unassailable, when it teaches that man, by disobedience to his Maker, introduced sin, and by sin destroyed himself. 2. The leprosy was (according to some authorities) fearfully contagious; so is sin. It has not only passed, as already intimated, by inheritance from generation to generation, but it passes by contagion from one individual to another individual, or to a number of individuals, for one sinner destroys much good. It spreads from family to family, from house to house, from one homestead to another, yea, from country to country; for "evil communications corrupt good manners." In its transmission through the generations from the Fall to the Flood, it propagated itself so rapidly, and spread so fast and so far that its violence became uncontrollable, and nothing could check or stay its virulence; the only remedy that remained was to sweep away and swallow up in the waters of the Deluge that race of moral invalids, tainted as they were with this inveterate and deadly distemper. And even the waters of the Flood were powerless to cleanse from this moral corruption, or to wash away the stain of this sin-leprosy. Again, soon after this great catastrophe the taint of this old leprosy exhibited unmistakable symptoms, breaking out afresh, and reappearing even in the head of that privileged family which the ark had saved; for Noah, we read, having planted a vineyard, "drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent." We are aware that the contagious nature of leprosy is disputed by some, but we prefer the view commonly held on the subject. 3. Leprosy was small at its first appearance; so, too, is sin. Leprosy commenced with a rising in the skin of the flesh, or a single bright spot. It was so small at the beginning as to be barely perceptible. A few specks or reddish spots on the skin were all that appeared at the outset. These spots became more numerous; they grew larger, bleaching the hairs that came in their way; they overspread the body, crusting it with leprous scurf or shining scales; sores and swellings ensued. For a long time it seemed only cutaneous. But it did not stop with the skin; it penetrated deep down. It ate its way to the bones, it attacked the joints, it reached the marrow. The blood is corrupt, portions of the extremities mortify and drop off, a wasting away supervenes, till the poor leper, mutilated and disfigured, presents a shocking sight - a hideous spectacle, when dissolution at last brings him to a welcome grave. How dreadful was all this! And yet how like the leprosy of sin! It also is little in its beginnings, but it makes gradual, sometimes rapid, progress. No one has become entirely vile all at once. At the first appearance of the leprosy of sin in childhood, it is a mere spot - a small speck. The beginning may be some slight evasion of parental authority, some trifling act of disobedience; or it may be some small departure from strict truth; or it may be, perhaps, a petty act of pilfering, an insignificant instance of dishonesty; or it may be a little outburst of childish passion. It appears so small a matter that the indulgent parent or guardian overlooks it as unworthy of notice - at all events, undeserving of punishment; or the kind friend laughs at it as a mere childish trick. But oh! let it never be forgotten that that trifling disobedience, or small fib, or petty theft, or little ebullition of passion is the first breaking out of a spiritual leprosy - the first manifestation of the plague-spot of sin. And who can set limits or bounds to a seemingly small transgression, once it has been repeated and repeated until it has grown into a habit? Who can tell where that single sin will end? Who can check its onward progress? What can resist its downward sweep when, like the rushing of the roaring torrent, or with more than the impetuosity of the mighty waterfall, it overbears and overcomes all resistance, hurrying its hapless victim downward to perdition? 4. Leprosy separated those afflicted with it from society; so does sin. As might be reasonably expected, leprosy, from its loathsomeness, the ceremonial uncleanness which it produced, as well as its infectious nature (if rightly judged to be so), excluded from society and rendered its victims a terror to all who saw or met or came near them. Thus we read in Leviticus 13:45, "The leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Tame, tame, Unclean, unclean." Here there are four unmistakable signs, which, when combined, served as a sufficient deterrent to any wayfarer or unwary person that might through ignorance or inadvertence approach the leprous person, and thereby catch infection, or at least contract ceremonial defilement. The bare head, with locks dishevelled; the garment rent from the neck to the waist; the beard, man's ornament, covered in token of grief; - were the ordinary signs of mourning for the dead or any great calamity; while the bandaged chin, and muffled lips uttering in doleful accents the melancholy cry, "Unclean, unclean!" was a warning which the most unwary passers-by were not likely to neglect at the time or ever after to forget. But it is further added, "He shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be." From other passages of the Word of God, we learn that they were not only separated from intercourse with others, but dwelt in a separate house, companied together, and were cut off entirely from the house of God. What a dreadfully deserted condition! Their nearest relatives shunned them, their dearest friends dreaded them, the tenderest ties were sundered by this loathsome disease of leprosy. Their touch was feared and fled from, for it was the touch of contagion; their company was shunned, for it imparted uncleanness and defilement; their very breath was dreaded as the pestilence, for it was the breath of disease and death. Here, in all this, is a sad symbol of sin. It separates between us and our God; it excludes us from his presence and privileges, from his friendship and family; it shuts us out from the society of his saints, from their benefits and blessedness; and, unless cleansed in God's own way, it will shut us out at last finally and for ever from his heavenly temple, for "without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." When King Uzziah became leprous in the house of the Lord, "the priests thrust him out from thence, yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the Lord had smitten him." If we could suppose the possibility of an unrenewed sinner being admitted into heaven - if for a moment we might suppose the occurrence of a thing impossible, for the unclean shall never enter there - would not the pure spirits of that upper sanctuary rush upon that unholy one with deepest indignation, thrusting him out at once from thence, and hurling him over the high battlements of heaven? Yea, would not such a one himself, Uzziah like, haste to get away from so pure a place, and to escape from such holy companionship? for heaven would not be heaven, and could not be heaven, to an unregenerate soul. How terrible the sinner's condition, shunned as he is by the saintly, dreaded as he is by the pure and holy, separated from fellowship and communion with God on earth, shut out from the enjoyment and glory of God in heaven, secluded from all that is holy and happy both here and hereafter, and last of all and worst of all, shut up with the spirits of the lost - shut up with the filthy, the fearful, the unbelieving and abominable; shut up with the devil and his angels; shut up with companions in misery, whose very companionship, apart altogether from "the worm that dieth not and the fire that is unquenchable," would be in itself a hell! 5. Leprosy was incurable by human power; sin is so likewise. The disease of leprosy, as we have seen, proceeded immediately from the hand of God, and so it was the hand of God alone that could remove it. No human power, no means that man might use, no medicines of any kind could avail aught, either for the relief or removal of this fatal malady. This will, perhaps, account for the circumstance of St. Matthew giving such prominence to our Lord's cure of the leper by recording that miracle first. The first miracle publicly performed by our Lord was the changing of water into wine, as we read, "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee." But St. Matthew, writing immediately for the Jews, records this miracle of our Lord's curing the leprosy first: though not first in the order of time, he gives it the precedence notwithstanding, because it was best calculated to impress his countrymen with the possession by Jesus of Divine power, and so of a Divine commission, since it was their fixed belief that none but God could effect a cure. Hence the King of Israel said, "Am I God, to. kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy?" In like manner the miracle which St. Luke, writing for the Gentiles, records first, was the cure of a demoniac, which proved the power of Jesus over those demons or deities which the Gentiles worshipped. Hence, too, as may be observed in passing, it is that because the word demon was equivocal in its meaning among the Gentiles - sometimes denoting a good and sometimes an evil spirit - St. Luke restricts the meaning to the latter by the epithet "unclean" (ἀκαθάρτον); but St. Matthew never so employs it, and does not need to employ it, as the term had only the one sense of evil spirit among the Jews. Now, it is the same with the disease of sin. It never gets cured of itself; no mortal man can recover himself from it; no human being can restore the individual suffering from its pollution; no created power can heal this leprosy of the soul. God alone can deliver from this spiritual disease; the blood of Christ alone can cleanse from its defilement. II. THE CLEANSING OF LEPROSY REPRESENTS THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN. There is a remarkable and instructive contrast between the cleansing of a leper, recorded in the Old Testament, and the cleansing of the leper mentioned in the Gospels. That contrast holds both between the respective applicants and the different means of cure adopted. Naaman's conduct - for his is the case referred to - presents a true picture of the natural heart proud and unhumbled. Had he been commanded to do some great thing, he would have readily complied; but the process prescribed by the prophet was too simple, the mode of cure too easy, and Naaman too proud to descend to it. He became wroth, and went away. The leper in the passage before us is determined to dare or die; he defies the law of limitation which prohibited his approach or address to his fellow-men, and restricted him within certain bounds to prevent his contact with the living; thus, breaking through the cordon sanitaire, he makes his way to Jesus. Again, the prophet in the former case prescribed certain means, saying, "Go and wash in Jordan seven times." Here Jesus simply speaks the leper into health. 1. The respectful application of the leper to our Lord. This is clearly seen when we combine the expressions in the different narratives. St. Matthew states generally that he worshipped him (προσεκύνει). The word employed, coming from a root which means to kiss, kiss the hand to, as a mark of respect and homage, conveys the idea of obeisance or reverence to one greatly superior. St. Mark further informs us that he fell on his knees to him (γονυπετῶν); while from St. Luke we learn that, in his extremity and earnest entreaty, he fell on his face prostrate before him (πεσὼν ἐπὶ πρόσωπον). With like humility, reverence, and earnestness must we come to Jesus. Like the leper, we must come in humility, feeling that we are nothing and that Christ is all. We must come in earnest, feeling the desperate nature of our disease and our hopeless, perishing, and lost condition without him. The lepers of Samaria ventured at all hazards to fall into the host of the Syrians, "If they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die." We must also with like reverence and decision approach. It was an act of profound homage, as to a superior, on the part of the leper, not yet perhaps of worship in the higher sense as to a Divine being; but we, with superior knowledge of his claims, must acknowledge him as our Lord, worship him as our Messiah, bow in homage at his feet, and embrace him as our Saviour. Thus approaching him as lowly penitents, humble suppliants, and polluted transgressors, we, too, shall experience his power, and realize the preciousness of his salvation. 2. The reception of the leper by our Lord. St. Luke, with his customary medical exactness, tells us that this was a leper of no common kind, but one afflicted with the worst type of the disease, the sorest stage of it - he was full of leprosy (πλήρης λέπρας). St. Mark, again, makes us acquainted with our Lord's deep feeling of compassion for this poor sufferer (σπαλαγχνισθείς). "He stretched out his hand to him and touched him." By that touch he inspired the man with confidence, who believed in his power to cleanse, but doubted his willingness to risk contagion or ceremonial defilement; by that touch he proved himself "Lord of the Law," and exempt from its ritualistic restrictions; by that touch he broke through the ceremonialism which had usurped the place of true religion among the degenerate Jews of that time; by that touch, perhaps, he gave a sensible sign that healing virtue had already proceeded from him, and that the leper was virtually cleansed; by that touch he showed, as if by symbol, that he himself was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, and yet remained unsoiled by sin. 3. The response of our Lord to the application of the leper. The application of the leper shows (1) the prevalent opinion about this malady, that it was not a mere disease, but a defilement; and therefore he speaks of cleansing (καθαρίσαι) rather than cure. But (2) the application implies faith in the Saviour's power. He did not question the Saviour's ability, he only doubted his willingness to exercise that ability on his behalf. He did not say, "If thou canst," but "If thou wilt, thou canst." The form of conditional sentence by which the leper expresses his mind of the matter is that of probable contingency (ἐὰν with the subjunctive), and so not a mere supposition. This unquestioning faith in Christ's power was faith of no ordinary kind; it was faith in his power as something more than human. This leper was painfully conscious of his disease; he knew that the "finger of God" had touched him; he must have been convinced that no earthly power could cleanse or cure him, and therefore, when he confessed his belief in Jesus' power to effect it, he must have attributed to him vastly more than human potency - in a word, not less than power Divine. The term of address, Κύριε, is more than respect - it is belief in his Messiahship. True, he doubted the will; he feared, and no wonder, lest the foulness of his disease, its loathsomeness, its extremely disgusting nature, its thorough repulsiveness, might act as a deterrent, and prevent the much-desired relief. But no, Jesus meets him on his own ground; he responds to him in his own chosen terms; he employs in reply the very words. And thus, by his hand outstretched in kindness, by the touch of tenderness, by the look of compassion, and now by the words he uses, and the tone, perhaps, in which he utters them, he at once reassures the sufferer, and at once and for ever removes his suffering. The leper had said, "If thou wilt;" Jesus replies, "I will." The leper had said, "Thou canst cleanse me;" Jesus responds, "Be cleansed." He spake the word, and healed him; he gave the command, and the leper was cleansed. The scales fell off, the swellings subsided, the sores were healed, the unnatural whiteness gave place to the hue of health, his skin became fresh as that of a chubby child. The words of Ambrose (3) have been often repeated; they are worth remembering, and are as follows: - Volo dicit propter Photinum; imperat propter Arium; tangit propter Manicaeum; Photinus held Christ to be a mere man; Arins maintained his inequality with the Father; and Manichaeus asserted he was only a phantom without human flesh. 4. Relation of this to ourselves. In coming to Christ we must (1) have faith in his power. All we can expect from an earthly physician is that, with his knowledge of the healing art, he will do the best he can; that he will exert his medical skill to the utmost; that he will leave no means or medicines unapplied. But, with all his skilfulness and integrity of purpose and earnest desire to effect a cure, the appliances may be unavailing, the utmost exertions unsuccessful, and the disease may prove fatal. The soul's leprosy is beyond the power of any earthly physician; it baffles all human skill, and, if uncured, it ends in eternal death. We bless God there is one, though only one, Physician in heaven above or earth beneath that has power to cleanse and cure. In coming for cure we must (2) acknowledge our dependence on his sovereign will. We have no claim on him, nothing to recommend us to him, no merit to plead; we must refer all to his will, depend wholly on his mercy, trust his unlimited grace, cast ourselves at his feet, saying with the leper, "If thou wilt, thou canst." But (3) no one ever applied to him in this way whose application was in vain; no one ever came to him humbly and sincerely that was sent away uncured; no one ever came to him for cleansing that went unblest away. "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." Once more, (4) while at the first we refer everything to the will of the Physician, we must ever after in everything yield obedience to that will and follow his directions, however mysterious or humbling they may be, whatever self-denial or self-sacrifice they may require. "See thou say nothing to any man; but go thy way, show thyself to the priest;" such is the direction given to the leper, now cleansed and cured. It has been well said, in reference to our Lord sending the leper to the priest, that "though as God he had just showed himself above the Law, yet as man he came to fulfill the Law." But why command him "to say nothing to any man"? To teach the avoidance of boasting and of ambition to his followers, according to Chrysostom; lest the crowd, attracted by and astonished at his miracles merely, should not allow sufficient opportunity for teaching, according to Beza; lest the report of the miracle might outrun him, and the priest, through ill will or envy, refuse to pronounce him cleansed, according to Grotius and others; other reasons have been assigned, e.g. the avoidance of tumult and excitement, or the subordinate place of miracles in his ministry; it was rather to lose no time in conversation about the cure, but to regard it of prime importance and claiming first attention to get his cleansing attested by the priest and to prove his gratitude by works rather than words, presenting the offering enjoined in the Law recorded in Leviticus 14:4-10. "The customary salutations were formal and tedious, as they are now, particularly among Druses and other non-Christian sects, and consumed much valuable time... Another propensity an Oriental can scarcely resist, no matter how urgent his business, is, that if he meets an acquaintance, he must stop and make an endless number of inquiries, and answer as many." But (5) the testimony desired was official proof of the reality of the man's cleansing by the scrutiny and certificate of the priest; or it was to prove the Saviour's reverence for the Law; or perhaps even for a testimony against the people, because of unbelief in not acknowledging his Messiahship, notwithstanding all his mighty works. LESSONS. 1. No bodily disease is one-millionth part so terrible in its ravages as sin, of which leprosy is such a special and striking type; none so dreadful in its results, or so destructive in its consequences. It darkens that spirit in man that once reflected so purely and perfectly the image of the Creator; it defiles the fountain-head of thought and feeling; it destroys the health and happiness of the soul. 2. Our Lord is able to deliver from this disease and save from sin. This miracle, as a sort of acted parable, plainly and impressively teaches this. He spake the omnific word that cleansed the leper though the exercise of his volition was all that was needed, for he had already touched him, to showy, perhaps, that the foul disease was gone. He is as willing as he is able, he is as ready as he is powerful, his love being great as his power. He is more willing to heal than we are to seek and accept the blessing. 3. He is not only willing, but waiting to bestow on us present and immediate blessings. Present pardon and purity and peace, immediate grace and instant loving-kindness, instantaneous spiritual health, as well as future everlasting happiness, are among the boons which he stands waiting to confer. 4. Present application is our duty as well as our privilege. The present is his accepted time; he is willing to receive us now, he is waiting to cleanse us now, he is ready to bless us now. Present opportunities may not return, present impressions may be effaced and never renewed; his spirit will not always strive, his salvation will not be offered evermore. - J.J.G. Parallel Verses KJV: And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. WEB: A leper came to him, begging him, kneeling down to him, and saying to him, "If you want to, you can make me clean."