Mark 1:40 - Meaning and Application

We have here the story of Christ healing a leper, which we also read in Matthew 8:2-4. It teaches us how to come to Christ. We should come as this leper did, with deep humility. He knelt down and begged him, and whether he was giving divine honor to Christ as God, or simply showing great respect to a mighty prophet, he still showed the right spirit.

Those who want mercy from Christ must honor him and come in humility and reverence. We should also come with strong faith in his power. The leper said, “You can make me clean.” Even though Christ looked plain and humble on the outside, the man believed in his power, which also showed that he believed Christ had been sent by God. He did not just believe in general that Christ could do anything, as in John 11:22, but he brought that belief to his own need, “You can make me clean.” We must do the same and bring Christ’s power home to our own case.

He also came with submission to Christ’s will, saying, “Lord, if you are willing.” This was not because he doubted Christ cared for suffering people in general, but because he spoke as a humble beggar and left his own case in Christ’s hands. We also learn what to expect from Christ, that according to our faith it will be done for us. His words were not shaped like a formal prayer, yet Christ took them as a request.

Warm, faithful trust in Christ, along with surrender to his will, are powerful pleas for mercy. Christ was moved with compassion. Mark adds this to show that Christ uses his power out of pity for needy souls. The reason for his help comes from within himself, because we have nothing in us that earns his favor, only our misery that makes us objects of mercy. What he does for us, he does with the greatest tenderness.

Then Christ stretched out his hand and touched him. He showed his power and directed it toward this suffering man. In healing souls, Christ truly touches them. When people said the queen could heal by touching a sick person, they would say, “I touch, God heals,” but Christ both touches and heals. Then Christ said, “I will, be clean.” His power worked through his word, showing how he usually brings about spiritual healing. He sends his word and heals (Psalm 107:20), and his word cleanses and sanctifies, that is, makes people holy and set apart for God (John 15:3; John 17:17).

The poor leper had said, “If you are willing,” but Christ quickly removed that doubt: “I will.” Christ is most ready to give blessings to those who most readily leave themselves in his hands. The man had trusted Christ’s power, “You can make me clean,” and Christ showed how fully that power was active in response to faith. He spoke with authority, “Be clean.” At once the power went with the word, and the cure was complete in a moment. Immediately his leprosy disappeared, and there was no sign of it left.

We also learn what to do after we receive mercy from Christ. We must receive his commands along with his gifts. After Christ healed him, he gave him a strict warning. The word is very strong, meaning he charged him seriously and with threats. I do not think this refers to the instructions later given to keep quiet, because those are mentioned separately in Mark 1:44. Rather, it seems to match the warning Christ gave to the man healed at Bethesda in John 5:14, “Sin no more, lest a worse thing happen to you.” Leprosy often came as punishment for certain sins, as in Miriam, Gehazi, and Uzziah.

So when Christ healed him, he warned him about the deadly result of turning back to sin. He also told him, first, to show himself to the priest, so that the priest’s own judgment about the healed leper would become a witness for Christ and show that he was the Messiah, the promised Savior (Matthew 11:5). Second, until he had done that, he was not to tell anyone. This shows Christ’s humility and self-denial. He did not seek his own glory, and he did not shout or make a loud display of himself (Isaiah 42:2). It is also a good example for us not to seek our own glory (Proverbs 25:27).

He was not to spread the news because that would draw even more people to Christ, and the crowds were already too large. Christ was not unwilling to do good for all who came to him, but he wanted to do it quietly, with as little stir as possible. He did not want to give offense to the government, disturb the peace, or do anything that looked like showing off or trying to win praise from people. What we should think of the leper’s later decision to publish it everywhere, I cannot say for sure. The modest commands of humble people are often better kept by others than by their friends. And we are not always bound to keep secret what another person modestly asked us not to tell.

The leper should have obeyed Christ’s command, though no doubt he meant well when he announced the healing. The only result was that the crowds around Christ grew so large that he could no longer openly enter the city. This was not yet because of persecution, for there was no danger of that at the time, but because the crowd was so great that the streets could not hold them. That is why he had to go into lonely places, onto a mountain (Mark 3:13), and to the lakeshore (Mark 4:1). This shows how helpful it was for us that Christ should go away and send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. His bodily presence could be in only one place at a time, and even then the crowds from every direction could not all get close to him. But by his spiritual presence, he is with his people wherever they are, and he comes to them in every place.