“You Can Make Me Clean”

February 12, 2012
Epiphany 6B

GOSPEL LESSON: Mark 1:40–45
40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”
41 Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” 42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.
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.

Today, let’s talk about prayer. As a model for our prayers, let’s look at the man in today’s Gospel reading. 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.”’

We may not have leprosy, but we do have other problems that we take to God in prayer. Some of us have diseases or conditions in our bodies that we would love to have God heal for us or change for us. Leprosy was a disease that also made a person unclean. In the Bible, ceremonial unclean-ness was not just a matter of hygiene or dirt. The worst part of being unclean was that it separated people from the rest of the community. Sometimes, like after touching a dead animal, a person could just simply wash their hands and then in the evening return home. But it is not so for a person with leprosy. That person was forbidden to enter the town and visit his or her family. As Christians, ever since the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we no longer have to worry about ceremonial uncleanness. But still we know and have experienced being cut off from the rest of the community. At some time or another, we have experienced being shut off from the rest of other people. Maybe it was due to our physical condition or appearance, or race or gender, or political or social opinions, or economic or status position. Maybe we have been afraid of touching or getting close to other people, or visa-versa. The man in the Gospel story asked to be made clean. He asked Jesus to make it possible for him to return home, to return to his loved ones, to end his loneliness and isolation. We can understand the man’s prayer. It is often our prayer, too.

He wanted to be made clean. We too want to be made clean from our sin and our mistakes. We want to have a clean slate to start over again.

I think the first thing to remember in our prayers is that we are sinners before God. We do not deserve his mercy. The man with leprosy understood this. He did not come before Jesus and demand healing. He came before Jesus and fell on his knees. He begged Jesus for help. We too are beggars before God. We cannot pay God to do anything for us. He will not accept a bribe. We have to rely 100% on his mercy and grace. On his death bed, Martin Luther said, “It is true. We are all beggars (before God.)” We are beggars, begging for the grace of God. We beg for forgiveness, for health, for restoration.

Listen again to what the man said. “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” If you are willing, if you want to, if you choose to, if it is according to your will, then you can make me clean. The man made his desire clearly known to God. He wanted to be healed. And yet, he knew that God’s ways are not always our ways. God has plans that we do not know. For example, even though God loves us, is it part of God’s plan that we suffer? For me, there are two Bible passages that give me hope and comfort and strength in times of uncertainty. The first is from Romans 8 and the second is from the prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Romans 8:28 tells us that God does want to help us. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” [Some manuscripts: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God who have been called according to his purpose.”] It is a faith that knows that God can turn a bad situation into something good for me. Something good can happen from an accident. God can take my mistakes and still make things okay. I do not know how God will do it, but that is one of the fun things about faith, to see how God will help us. There have been a number of times in my life when this Bible passage has brought me hope and relieved my anxiety. It has helped me be more optimistic in the midst of gloomy news or worry.

But at the same time, we know the words that Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Mark. 14:36, “Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Father, if you want to, you can make it so I do not have to suffer and die on the cross. Father, you have the power to change your plan of salvation right now. At that time, Jesus became like us, he became a beggar before God. He relied solely on the mercy and grace of his Father. The Father’s will was done. In this wonderful prayer of Jesus, we see that the Father’s will became Jesus’ will. This gave confidence to Jesus to know that the Father would be in control of the upcoming events. God was in control of the arrest, trial, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. These words give us confidence to know that God was working to bring us salvation. To believe and to know with certainty that in Jesus’ death we have been forgiven, we have been made clean.

At the time of Jesus, people were afraid to touch or even to get close to a person with leprosy. They were afraid of getting the disease, and they were afraid of becoming ritually unclean. But Jesus reached out and touched the man. Jesus neither became sick or unclean. Rather, Jesus gave the man health and holiness. We pray that Jesus will touch us, too. We pray that the Holy Spirit will touch us and make us holy. We pray that the water of Baptism will cleanse us from sin and evil. We pray that the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Communion will make us holy.

And so our prayers today and always are like the model prayer of that man who was healed by Jesus. “If you are willing, Lord, you can make me clean.”

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church


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