Mark 1:39-45

A Matter of the Will

Y'shua/Jesus went to the synagogues of Galilee (Mark 1:39) to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of Heaven and cast demons out from the congregations. The army of darkness would not infiltrate the Kingdom of Light.

During that time, a leper came to him. A man with a disease so repugnant that he was outcast from his community and family. Allowed to fellowship only with those who also bore the disease. He dared to come to Y'shua, falling on his knees and begging him for cleansing if the amazing man of God were willing to make him clean again!

And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons.

And a leper came to Him, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying to Him, "If You are willing, You can make me clean." And moved with compassion, He stretched out His hand, and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed." And immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, and He said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a testimony to them." But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news about, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere.
Mark 1:39-45 NAS

It was compassion that compelled the Messiah to action. The Leper was the very embodiment of the Messiah in the prophetic description of Isaiah 53. "He was despised and forsaken; without beauty or majesty, one from whom men hide their faces; rejected by men and well acquainted with suffering." The King of kings could well relate to the Leper. And he was quite willing to cleanse him of the illness most related with sin.

The disease was not simply ordered away with authority. Instead, the Lord healed the man through the touch of his hands. He reached out and touched the untouchable man. The effect was immediate. He was clean and restored, free of the dread leprosy.

This Y'shua, this Jesus who commanded unclean spirits and they obeyed Him (Mark 1:27) would not get the same obedience from the once unclean man. Y'shua sternly warned him to not speak of this to anyone, but to go and show himself to the priest with the offering spelled out in the Torah for cleansing from leprosy as a testimony to the priests. Instead the man gave his testimony to anyone who would listen to him. The news spread like wild fire.

As a result, Y'shua could no longer "do what he came for" (Mark 1:38). People came to him from everywhere. He couldn't even go to a city with a synagogue to speak the Gospel of the Kingdom. People came from everywhere to find him, not to hear the good news or to study Torah and see the Messiah in the Words, but for a touch for themselves. The King of kings was forced to stay in the wilderness yet people were coming to Him from everywhere.

People are always asking, "What if." What if Adam and Eve hadn't eaten the fruit? What if the Leper had obeyed Y'shua? I can only imagine what might be different. The only thing that I do know is that the enemy of souls uses any and every disobedience to hurt the cause of Messiah. The purpose of God still stands, but "what if" I were to be obedient to my Lord and fulfill his purpose instead of my own? "What if" his will were more to me then my own will, my own comfort and pride? Because it seems that my will and my glory are the reasons that I do something that seems right to me instead of obeying my Lord by faith. I am sure that Eve put her will above God's. The Leper put his desire above the God who healed him. Why would you disobey? Self love? It is one of the most difficult things to overcome, harder then leprosy or HIV. It takes the grace of submission, "Not my will but Thine be done o Lord." Gain a heart to obey from the throne of grace, even Y'shua had to pray diligently that God's will rather then His own be done. How can we do any less?