Mark 1:40-45
Copied/Adapted from "Will the Real JESUS please stand up?" by Mark E. Ashton (1992)
What group(s) of people are shunned or avoided by the rest of society today?
Read Mark 1:40-45
What do you notice about the attitude of the leper toward Jesus?
Lepers were social outcasts in that society. If they came into the midst of others, they had to cover their face and yell "Unclean!! Unclean!!" [being unclean kept a man from the service of the sanctuary and from fellowship with his co-religionists.] People certainly wouldn't touch a leper -- for fear of also getting leprosy.
What does v41 say about Jesus' concern for the whole person?
What do Jesus' commands to the leper in vv43-44 show about His motives and concerns for the leper?
He is concerned about the leper's spiritual and physical state.
What does the leper's response indicate about his regard towards Jesus?
Where does Jesus' concern for suffering seem to come from? (a desire for fame-and-fortune, public acclaim, for people to hear and understand His message, or for some mixture of these?)
What does Jesus most care about?
people - their physical and spiritual needs
lastly about public acclamation
Questions that came up
Q What does"leprosy" mean in the Bible
A Leprosy: The word used in the Old Testament is a simple, non-specific word lacking the precision of the modern medical term for leprosy ( Mycobacterium leprae ). It generally describes "ritualistic uncleanness or defilement characterized by the presence of coloured pathces. The same word was used to describe human skin diseases, discolouration of wool, leather, linen, and even the walls of houses. . . . The evidence for unleanness, on which the diagnoses was based, depended on the presence of depigmented (pale) pathces on the human skin . . .Some of the features described in Leviticus 13-14 do not occur in leprosy and some suggest other conditions such aserysipelas adjacent to a boil, infection following a burn, ringworm, etc..." ( New Bible Dictionary , 2nd Ed., IVP 1993, p459)
Q What is the "offer for your sacrifices what Moses commanded" stuff talking about?
A If a leper was healed (by whatever means), he was to be inspected by the priest, and if it were true, sacrifices were made, and the leper allowed back into society. (note: the society when this was written was a camp society in the wilderness; they weren't in a city or town)
Lev. 13:43-46 - extreme case of isolation for leper
Lev. 14:1-4 - If the leper is healed the priest the the sacrifices.
Lev 14:8 - the ex-leper is allowed back into society
Lev 14:11 - seems to indicate the man is allowed back to public worship