In response to those who are unable to attend my
weekly Bible study on the Gospel According to MARK (Sunday’s at 10 am at
Hollywood United Methodist Church), I share my thoughts and notes from previous
sessions. While I’m not a scholar, I am an enthusiast. Enjoy!
Off they go – Jesus and
his four fishermen – to spread the good news along Galilee.
Question MARK
How large was Galilee? How
many towns were there in the area?
The northern-most region
in Israel was Galilee – about 60 miles long and 30 miles wide. Reports indicate
there were as many as 300+ villages in this area. [i]
As noted in an earlier
blog post, there was a synagogue in every town that had 10 or more Jewish
families. To put this knowledge into perspective, a “preaching tour” would’ve
taken months to cover that amount of territory.
Along the path,…
Leper!!! Talk about an
area clearing.
In actuality, lepers had
to keep their distance. That was the
Law. If you want an eye-opener, read Leviticus
13 to see how these outcasts were dealt with. If
anyone came into contact with this diseased person, they would be unclean as well.
It was “dead man walking.”
Yet look what happens. Jesus
is doing his thing when a man with leprosy had the chutzpah, the audacity, to
approach Jesus. I love this next part – what comes out of the outcast’s mouth –
“If you want to, you can cleanse me.” [ii] Take what he says however you want..., the sheer faith of this man who has been ostracized
by everyone is strong.
This next part though I’ll
share is harsh – describing what the lepers actually went through. These persons of
unclean, diseased skin were banished from any type of fellowship (though there
was a leper “squint” if they wanted to watch a worship service), had to live in
a leper-house, had to wear a black garment, had to have a bared head with a
covering on his lip, and wherever the leper went, he must give the warning of
his “polluted presence” with the cry, “Unclean, unclean!” [iii]
So it is with verse 40 where there was absolute disobedience to the Law. What Jesus did sent the Law
spinning. Because of the leper’s faith, Jesus was moved to act. “Be clean!” [iv]
And he was!
Excuse me? The man who was
diseased is suddenly not diseased anymore?!? With mere words? C'mon! Who was this
Jesus? I can work my way around the demon-possessed man at the synagogue in
verses 23-26 by claiming it was mental illness. I can somehow look past Peter
wanting to believe his mother-in-law was cured, so she was – in verses 30-31. People
were healed and demons were driven out in verses 32-34. Yeah, okay. Folks just
want to believe in a good story. They’ll believe anything. “You’re healed!” Right?
The leprosy story though
hooks me. For a man who had no right to speak to Jesus and did so anyway
because he believed in a higher power/authority; for Jesus to touch this
unclean man – a human being desperate in his need – and to heal him when such a
thing was next to impossible; you’ve got me. Why? Because of what happened
next.
Jesus tells the man to
“Say nothing to anyone. Take the offering for cleansing that Moses prescribed
and present yourself to the priest. This will validate your healing to the
people.” [v]
So how does that convince
me of the “truth” of Jesus?
Because the man didn’t
follow Jesus’ orders. Jesus wanted this healing to be on the down-low. Hush,
hush. Jesus wanted to follow the Law so that the man would be “not only free of
the repulsive skin disease but also ritually clean – tahor.” [vi]
Two reasons come to mind – 1) to keep this amazing healing in check (not
sending folks in a frenzy) and 2) to have the priest examine the man and
announce him as clean after a complicated ceremony of restoration (Leviticus
14) – when the priest would realize the Messiah was in Israel.
Did You Know?
“Judaism had developed a
list of major signs the true Messiah could be expected to give as proof of his
identity. Healing a leper was one of them.” [vii]
When the man couldn’t hold
back from sharing the good news of his healing, word of this miracle had to
have spread like wildfire. And… the proof was in the pudding. “Unclean,
unclean” were the words leaving his mouth so that people would know. Do you
think the leper wasn’t bullied? Forget taunts; how about sticks and stones that
would break one’s bones? Everyone knew who the lepers were. You could see them;
you could smell them. You can’t deny those facts.
Here’s Jesus – yet again
having to hit the road, but this time, “Jesus kept to out-of-the-way places, no
longer able to move freely in and out of the city.” [viii]
Did that stop people from seeking Jesus’ touch, wanting to be inspired by
Jesus’ words? Absolutely not.
One last thing before the
conclusion of Chapter 1 in MARK. Consider those who have less than us. Consider
the poor. Consider the mentally ill. Consider the spiritually challenged.
Consider those with health challenges, who have been born different than us,
who have been afflicted by some horrific disease or injury. Consider the
condemned. With all of this, is anyone beyond redemption? Is anyone beyond
love? Is anyone beyond “healing” – whether it’s emotionally, spiritually or
physically?
What would Jesus say? What
would Jesus do?
NEXT…
Ruffling feathers by
forgiveness (posting May 10)
