My wife and I recently finished a historical-drama series about a 7th century Korean kingdom. The program was called, “The Great Queen Seondeok”.
My favorite character in the series was an individual named Bidam. He was intelligent, humorous, and incredibly skilled in the martial arts.
Unfortunately, Bidam had a dark side as well. He had been abandoned by his parents as a baby. His mother was the most powerful woman in the Silla kingdom at the time. She had aspirations of being Queen some day and had manipulated the King into being the father of this child, which she saw merely as a tool to use to obtain her goal. The king, though, rejected her. She, in turn, rejected her child.
A man known as Munno took the child and raised him - telling him that some day he would be king. Munno was the foremost greatest martial artist in the country. He taught Bidam the skills he needed to survive. Bidam fully admired his ‘master’.
One day, though, a group of hoodlums mugged Bidam when he was still only a child of 8 or 10. They took something from him by force. Bidam retaliated. He discovered which ‘clan’ they were from and poisoned their community food pot, killing the whole clan. He thought his master would be proud of his act, but Munno was horribly disappointed to discover that this up till then precious child had such ‘evil’ within him.
Bidam felt the emotional abandonment of Munno. He had disappointed his master and found it impossibly disappointing that he could never win back his master’s respect - even as he grew into a very skilled young man.
There is, of course, much more to this fascinating story. My point in sharing this is that life is full of disappointments. Often, when we have done something that we think is praise worthy, another sees it as a repulsive offense. In this story, it genuinely was offensive, yet to the boy - within the context of how he had been taught up till then - he imagined his cleverness in taking revenge to have been a ‘good’ and even honorable thing. He thought his master would have been pleased.
How often have we done something we really imagined was ‘good’, yet found that our ‘good’ was turned on its head and rejected as ‘bad’? You know the saying, ‘no good deed goes unpunished’?
Jesus went about doing ‘good’. Unfortunately his ‘good’ was often labeled as ‘bad’. He faced disappointment after disappointment - not only among the religious leaders, but also with his family, community, and even with his disciples. How do we proceed when disappointments mar our relationships? That is today’s ‘story’.
1:35 In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.
The "Light of the World" walked into the darkness. The One who "love us all" looked for a place to be away from us all. In the One who we see, we see the Father, went to the Father to 'see'.
Was there something significant about the three times that Mark told us that Jesus found a solitary place to pray?
(1:35) - he left them after a night of miracles. The disciples didn’t understand.
(6:46) - he sent them away after John the Baptist was beheaded, after feeding 5000. The disciples didn’t understand.
(14:32-42) - he took them with Him to Gethsemane. The disciples didn’t understand.
Was Jesus tempted to think, as did Elijah, that he alone existed on earth as a person of genuine faith in God? Was it difficult for him to remain ‘on task’ while dealing with such spiritual dullness among both his chosen disciples and the religious leaders of the day?
1:36 Simon and his companions searched for Him
Can you imagine waking up after such an awe-inspiring evening of miracles to find that the very source of all those miracles is MIA?
What dreams did the disciples, not to mention the whole town of Capernaum, have that night?
What had they concluded about Jesus? What did they imagine the next days and week would bring? Most likely they either thought of Jesus as a wonderful miracle worker, or as the promised Messiah.
‘Who’ were they really looking for? Were they seeking for the ‘Messiah’ of their own creation?
How often have we searched for God, insisting that he 'be' and 'do' as we assume - that He should conform to our expectations, rather than be open to whatever his expectations may be for us? What kind of ‘god’ do we seek? Is he the ‘uncreated’ God, or a ‘god’ of our own creation - and therefore not ‘god’ at all?
1:37 they found Him, and said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.”
Everyone was looking for Jesus. In one sense, each disciple was tasting what Jesus would experience on the cross: ‘My God, why have you forsaken Me (15:34)?” He hadn’t abandoned them. He was always nearby. He was praying for them. But, they couldn’t find him at first. To be able to not ‘feel’ or ‘see’ God’s presence, yet to move forward confident that God is always with us, is to have real faith. This was the life of Mother Teresa.
For some, he was simply a much needed 'miracle worker', a vending machine of sorts, and they called everyone they knew to come and take advantage of the opportunity. For others, Jesus' miracles were all the proof they needed in order to know that he was the long promised Messiah (Is 35:5,6) and they began to plan for him to pronounce himself king.
Both perspectives were problematic.
The first, while missing the point of the miracles as evidence that he truly was the Messiah, blinded them to hearing his true message.
The second, though sensing that he was the Messiah, they had an erroneous notion of what the Messiah would do next. Thinking he would set up an earthly kingdom and clobber their Roman oppressors would incite them to push Jesus in a well-meaning, but carnal direction.
Jesus might have stayed and done a lot of good in Capernaum. He could have become their in-house Shaman. But he chose to leave while folks were still looking for him. If Jesus had remained, their erroneous conclusions would have remained intransigent. By leaving, ‘wonder’ returned, even upon his disciples who left with him.
Often we misinterpret what we have ‘found’. Like nuclear energy - we discover a wonderful source of power to build up communities, but others saw in it a powerful weapon to destroy communities.
Surely Jesus knew that his absence would bring disappointment to the people and even to his own disciples. Why didn't he remain on task? Sometimes the good we have done, becomes an obstacle to the greater good we could do, requiring us to refrain from the good we are doing.
It is said that the seeds of failure can be found in our successes. We often keep doing a good thing far longer than it is really a ‘good’ thing. We imagine that if it ‘was’ a good thing once, it must always be a good thing. We so desperately want to believe in unchanging absolutes. Yet we know that breast milk was as very good thing when I was an infant. Thankfully I’m not still nourished that way. It is no longer a good thing for me.
Like the pitiful people in Capernaum, the disciples likewise misunderstood the purpose of Jesus’ ministry. They wanted Jesus to go back the city and minister to the crowds, which had gathered at their house.
Why? Both they and their loved ones were 'well'. Was this request evidence of a compassion for others? Probably not. At this point in their discipleship, their preconceived notions of Messiah were driving their search for Jesus. They interpreted his miracle working correctly as the evidence that Jesus was the Messiah, yet their idea of Messiah was erroneous.
“Everyone” - Do you think that the disciples hid their expectations within the expectations of the crowd? How often do we hide our expectations safely within the expectations of others rather than to speak for ourselves?
1:38 He said to them, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.”
"Huh?" I can easily imagine hearing the disciples express their surprise. It would seem appropriate to find Jesus praying, but how did he conclude from prayer that he should cease working for people who still needed him?
“Us? Does Jesus know what he is asking of us?” He invited them to leave their loved ones who had accommodated him, friends who still needed him, their hometown, their new-found aspirations and expectations - to bring favor to 'other' villages?
Jesus, however, saw his mission quite differently. He had not come to serve as a emergency room for the citizens of Capernaum, but he came to preach the gospel.
In his Person, the Kingdom of God draws near.
How does 'social justice' fit in to this picture?
If we understand Jesus merely in terms of social justice, haven’t we missed the point? We are, ‘in Christ’, to do good to each ‘next’ person we meet, yet we aren’t, ‘in Christ’, to be side-tracked into imagining that we are going to fix ‘this’ worlds kingdoms. We can be as easily misled by social justice efforts as were the disciples. We can conclude that the ‘kingdom of Christ’ is one that we eventually usher in by being like Christ in the world. Yet, as the Father pulled Jesus and his disciples away from that ‘finite’ objective, so we will often encounter discouragement when our goals are in setting up the kingdom in ‘this’ realm. It is of an entirely different realm.
In other words, we need to find the balance between ‘being’ compassionate people ‘in Christ’ while never losing sight of the fact that the kingdom of Christ is a spiritual kingdom.
The disciples misunderstood Jesus’ purpose. There was no way for them to understand it at this early point in their discipleship. Their knowledge of scripture and of God had been corrupted by the carnally influenced misinterpretations of the rabbis. Jesus prayed for strength to move onward, despite the fact that he was leading men who didn’t and couldn’t yet ‘get it’. Have you ever led those who didn’t see as you saw?
This is another 'vehicle/driver' issue. The miracles were a 'vehicle' used to bring attention to the 'driver'. It is so very easy to get distracted, chasing the wrong rabbit down the proverbial ‘rabbit hole’.
I have often encountered this in my work as a pastor. It is easy to become so focused on maintaining the institution of 'church' that we forget the purpose of our calling. We become so intent on being Christian 'in religion', that we forget to be Christian 'in Christ'.
Additionally, what we do and say is often misunderstood. There was much that Jesus said and did that his disciples didn't comprehend. Some of those things they understood as the months and years of ministry moved on. Other things weren't understood until after the resurrection. Still others notions only made sense in the decades that followed. I suppose there were some things that Jesus taught that were never understood by them and may not be understood even now by us.
Others often incorrectly 'decode' our motives, our purpose. Sometimes, try as we might, others insist on their interpretation of us rather than to accept our own interpretation. Sometimes this is unwitting due to lack of information. Sometimes it is unwitting due to preconceived notions that act as latent inhibitors of all that doesn't fit what one has been taught to believe or has chosen to believe.
We often cannot 'correct' the conclusions of others no matter how we try - not that we should not try. It is not unusual for others to hold firmly to notions that are erroneous no matter what facts to the contrary we place before them. And, if we are honest, from heaven’s perspective ‘we’ are ‘them’.
What, then, does this tell us about Jesus' teachings?
Frankly, it tells us that we are never 'saved' by complete and accurate understanding. We are always ' being saved' in spite of ourselves. We will often fight sincerely against the goads of the Spirit, calling good, bad. Jesus loves us still. We will often sincerely act in faith upon something we think is good, when it is really bad. Jesus loves us still. More. We will often find ourselves acting against something we know to be right out of fear or because, at the moment, we are distracted by something else. Jesus loves us still. He understands our weaknesses and never turns his back on us.
Curiously, there is always the picture we have of ourselves, the picture others have of us, and the actual picture. Even when our picture of ourselves is accurate that doesn't guarantee that others will see as we see.
1:39 And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons.
Obviously Jesus’ disciples followed Him. He had chosen them well. Despite not understanding Him, they followed Him. They listened to the Voice, rather than following their own notions of 'good' or 'right'.
He went from group to group meeting in the various synagogues. He preached about the kingdom of God. He healed broken minds - casting out ‘demons’. Notice that his preaching was associated with ‘casting out demons’. This is significant. Rather than preaching and healing, he was preaching and casting out. In other words, Jesus was removing obstacles between man and God. He not only spoke of the kingdom of God, but was actively eliminating obstructions between man’s kingdoms and God’s.
Though we have already discussed the possibility that demon possession was primarily about mental illnesses, here is an important text that gives us context:
Is 45:5-7 "I am the Lord (Heb. “Jehovah”), and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God (Heb. “Elohim”). I will gird you, though you have not known Me; That men my know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me. I am the Lord (Heb. “Jehovah”), and there is no other. The One forming (Gen 2:7,8,19) light (Gen 1:3) and creating (Gen 1:1) darkness (Gen 1:2), causing well-being (shalom) and creating calamity (Heb. ‘Ra’ (239X) - ‘evil’ (138X), ‘bad’ (26X), ‘wicked’ (16X)); I am the Lord (Jehovah) who does all these.”
In the Septuagint:
5 For I am the Lord God, and there is no other God beside me; I strengthened thee, and thou hast not known me. 6 That they that come from the east and they that come from the west may know that there is no God but me. I am the Lord God, and there is none beside. 7 I am he that prepared light, and formed darkness; who make peace, and create evil; I am the Lord God, that does all these things.
1:40 And a leper *came to Jesus, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”
Leprosy was a repulsive, incurable, and an isolating affliction. The prophecies told of a time when the blind would see, the deaf would hear, and the lame would leap (Is 35). They also told of a time when those in 'captivity' would be set free. This most likely refers not only to those imprisoned unjustly, but also to those imprisoned by mental illness. Whatever the case, the One to come would be able to do what man could not.
Who can make the clean out of the unclean? No one! (Job 14:4)
Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Ps 51:10)
What the Messiah would do would clearly be a creative act, not 'lying wonders' of evil men and women.
Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God. Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness.. (Ez 36:25-29)
"If you will"? - the leper perceived God working through Jesus - if not having personally witnessed miracles, at least by having heard about them. He believed, as have mankind through most of its history, that all good and bad in the world was the 'will' of God (Is 45). Jesus does not correct the leper when he said, “If you are willing..
1:41 Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.”
Of course Jesus was willing. His purpose was to preach the gospel. Compassion was part and parcel of the gospel - unless of course acts of compassion were seen only narrowly and obscured the fullness of the gospel.
In Matthew 8, the healing of the leper came immediately after the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus said, 'do not think that I came to abolish this Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill'. This is often interpreted as meaning that Jesus gave us an example of how to keep all the law. Yet, that is not what it means in context. Rather, the whole law pointed to Him. He was the objective of the Law, rather than the reverse. Jesus did not come to show us how to live perfectly under the law, but to show us that the law pointed to Him - that we must live under grace. To live under grace is to live in the Spirit 24/7.
No wonder, then, that he went on to break the law by touching the leper when he could have just 'said the word'. The law was clear. Do not touch the unclean. To touch the unclean is to be made unclean. To touch the unclean is to break the law and to incur guilt, to have ‘sinned’. Haggai 2:12,13; Lev 5:3-6; 22:6; Num 19:22. Was Jesus then without sin because he never broke the law, or was he without sin because he was the objective of the law?
For example, if the Constitution of the US had specifically declared that it would be treasonous for anyone to enter the oval office of the US President without first making an appointment with the President’s personal secretary, would the President himself be guilty of treason by going into his own office without making an appointment with his own secretary?
[Compassion: There is a textual variant here. Some manuscripts have “moved with anger” instead of “moved with compassion.” (splagne or orgisthes) If he was angry, it was not at the leper. Splagna is the bowels. The verb means to “move the bowels.” And it came to mean “to move with compassion.” You might say that to not have compassion equals “spiritual constipation.” A possible explanation for the difference in the Greek manuscripts is this: In Aramaic the word for pity is ethraham. The word for anger is ethraem. Perhaps someone was copying an Aramaic version of Mark’s gospel into Greek. When it was translated into Greek, it was two different words that didn’t sound the same.]
1:42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.
The wasn’t any hesitancy in Jesus’ desire to heal the leper, nor any lag time from the moment he touched him and the moment the leper was healed.
What came next, in verses 43-44, was unexpected:
1:43,44 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, as a testimony to them.”
Why such ‘sternness’?
Did Jesus perceive that the people, even his disciples, were like little children? Did he know how inclined they were to jump to conclusions, to miss the point, to react emotionally, and to not follow through on things that were in their best interests? Did he speak sternly because he knew just how excited this man was at being healed and that his 'excitement' would more than likely overwhelm good sense?
Though the Law and the Prophets were preached until John the Baptist, they were still in place over a transitional period - probably until 70 AD - as the gospel of grace and truth took hold. In other words, Jesus instructed this man to live within the reality of his 'law-oriented' Jewish world, despite having personally experienced another world’s reality. To live in this world we must accept that ‘it is what it is’, despite having entered another realm through faith. To live only in the heavenly realm and to ignore the realities of this realm would bring unnecessary suffering. Similarly, to live in this realm and ignore the reality of the heavenly realm would also incur unnecessary suffering.
How could he not tell anyone? Had not others already witnessed this miracle?
The implication was that Jesus did not want the authorities biased against this man by learning ‘how’ he had been healed. Jesus wanted them to ‘wonder’, since ‘wonder’ is the playground of the Spirit, the opening of the heart.
By following the Law of Moses, the priest would be led to Jesus. Again, the Law leads us to Him.
The elaborate process Moses required for a former leper to be declared ‘clean’ is outlined in Lev 14.
The stated purpose for the miracle in Mark 1:44 was that it would be a testimony to the priests. Leprosy was incurable by human ability, so the priests should have recognized the healing of the leper as a sign that Messiah was present. This is an announcement to the priests that the Messiah is here. Yet, it might have been a 'deniable' witness if this man did not abide by the strict rules to be declared 'clean'.
The secrecy was not about his being the Messiah, but because folks misunderstood what the Messiah was all about. The acts and teachings of Jesus needed to be laid out over time so that the leaders and the people could see past their wrong assumptions.
Despite 'being' the fulfillment of the Law & the Prophets, Jesus met the people where they still were - under the Law. To bring someone out from where they are, one has to first meet them at the point of where they are - as Moses had to. We cry out as slaves. We are delivered from our oppressors. We are then shown, by Law, that the true oppressor is within us. We are born anew and follow 'Joshua' through the Jordan into the promised land.
1:45 But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, 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.
There is an interesting contrast here. In verse 38 Jesus spoke of his purpose as being to proclaim ‘the gospel of God’ (1:14). Yet, Jesus forbade this man to proclaim ‘his’ good news - because it was incomplete and untimely. Yet the man went out ‘proclaiming’ - despite the ‘stern warning’ not to. Jesus proclaimed as the Father led him. The leper proclaimed as his emotions led him. One glorified God, the other created obstacles for the work of God among men.
Most of us have realized that no matter how pure our motives and compassionate our service for others - life doesn't always reciprocate in kind. The life of Jesus again challenges the OT (Dt 28) notion of 'do good, get blessed; do bad, get cursed'. No one was more purely good and God attuned than Jesus - who was falsely accused, wildly misunderstood, and cruelly crucified. Often those who actually love us and genuinely appreciate what we've done for them, respond emotionally, childishly, in ways that unwittingly hurt us. Another reminder that we must listen to the voice of God rather than to trust in our own thinking.
Even when we are crystal clear on what we are doing/saying doesn't mean we won't be misunderstood. Why? We are all interpretive beings. We filter out what we don't want to hear and 'fill in' with what we prefer to hear. In the case of the leper, he may have translated Jesus' prohibition as simply words of modesty. Preaching the truth is always a mixed bag because people want to know the truth, but to not know a truth that isn't what they want to hear.
‘He began to proclaim it freely’. Certainly Jesus knew this would happen. Certainly he knew that without more information, an explanation as to 'why' he should not spread the word, that the prohibition would be misinterpreted as mere 'modesty'. Certainly Jesus knew that such a miracle from a 'death' sentence would bring such joy to the man that he could not be quiet. Certainly Jesus knew that he could not do so many great miracles w/o everyone 'knowing'.
Does Jesus' compassion exceed his caution, as the healed lepers joy exceeded Jesus' warning? Was Jesus merely being factitious in warning this man? Mark implies 'no'. Because of the leper's 'telling', Jesus could no longer work in the cities.
It has been noted that Jesus often forbade folks from telling others about what Jesus did for them or an insight they had about him. Many have tried to come up with just one reason that would cover his prohibitions to all these people. Yet, it is more likely that the reasons differed from situation to situation.
To the leper (Mk 1:44) - 'don't tell' because the cities would be over run by lepers in an unsafe way. Or, maybe, out of care for the leper, Jesus said, don't tell until accepted back into community. In other words, Jesus may have simply been setting aside his own agenda for this one man's needs. To the blind (Mt 9:27-31), don't tell because until Jesus had more time to develop his message with the people. To Peter, don't tell because folks would wrongly interpret the meaning and try to force him to be king. To others, don't tell because the church leaders would cut short his ministry out of fear. To the demons (Mk 1:25), don't tell because Jesus would be labeled the leader of demons.
Yet, the leper told everyone. We don't know if he ever made it to the priests. We don't know if he was able to rejoin his family. We do know that the good Jesus did for this man became somewhat of a disappointing curse.
When we attempt to live in the world apart from being genuine citizens of the kingdom of heaven, we move forward only with our own notions of 'good'. In doing so we are often flustered that our good comes back to harm us. It is vital, therefore, that we not merely be Christians in religion, performing good deeds out of a book of good deeds. We need to be 'in Christ' listening for his voice, sometimes ceasing to ‘do’ good, to really 'be' good.
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