seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Mark 1:40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”
41 Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” 42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.
43 Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44 “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” 45 Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.
The first thing that caught my eye was in verse 41. "He was indignant". Now I never thought of Jesus as the sort of guy to get "indignant" when people asked for a healing. I figured Jesus always wanted to heal. Here's how the word indignant is defined: "feeling or showing anger or annoyance at what is perceived as unfair treatment". Why would Jesus feel anger or annoyance over healing someone from rotting skin? Jesus knew that once He healed this man, there would be larger crowds and that would slow down the Mission. Jesus was here to reverse the death penalty Adam and Eve put on humans when they partied with the serpent. He wasn't here to draw crowds. He wasn't here to just talk. Jonah, Noah, Elijah, and of course Moses, as well as others, came here to talk and warn. Jesus had to do something not just tell something.
In verse 43 Jesus told the guy.... "Keep this quiet". The guy never promised. He just got healed.... and then in verse 44 he blabbed, not just to the priest, but to everyone.
In verse 45 we learn the consequences. Jesus couldn't be an inside Rabbi with a little synagogue of His own. He would grow a crowd so big it would overrun the town's resources. Jesus would have to move His church to a tent or some kind of natural cathedral, like a hill side.
Jesus told the guy to keep it quiet. He didn't make the guy promise or vow. And now, we get some kind of hint about why Jesus was indignant. Jesus knew the man would blab. Just like a bronco rider knows the horse is going to buck, or lightning is followed by thunder, or how a sneeze tickles the nose right before it blows, Jesus knew this guy was going to blab. Jesus knew His days of sleeping on a bed in a quiet room were over.
Jesus healed the guy anyway...
