Rev. Danny Morgan - February 19, 2023
Mark 1:40-45
In Jesus’ day, leprosy was a skin disease that not only severely affected a person’s skin but was often accompanied by a life sentence of being socially outcast as an unclean entity in Israel’s ceremonial law. Lepers were not welcome to belong to the covenant community of God’s people, leaving them to perpetually await healing in order to be ritually washed and declared clean by the priesthood and restored to fellowship. Jesus’ encounter with the leper in Mark 1 connects the multi-dimensional aspect of the Gospel with modern-day “leprosy” and the alienation sinners experience, severing us from community. Jesus’ encounter with the leper reminds Christians of their own alienation from God and from community and the restorative and reconciliatory dimensions of the good news of Jesus’ substitutionary life, death, and resurrection for those who humbly plea with him to forgive them of their sins.
From Series: "Seeing Jesus: Gospel of Mark"
The Gospel of Mark is known for its quick pace. Jesus, as Mark tells it, does everything “immediately.” The picture of Jesus we get from Mark isn’t of a languid guru, but of a man on a mission. As we return to our spring sermon series in the Gospel of Mark, we’ll give special attention to the picture of Jesus Mark is conveying to his readers. For in Jesus, God’s king and God’s kingdom has come…and nothing can ever be the same again.