Today we are going to re-examine our need to come to Jesus in desperate humility, and absolute submission.
The Gospel of Mark is a wonderful Gospel. As a matter of fact I have four favorite Gospels and Mark’s is one of them! Amen? When I read the Gospels, I like to put myself at the scene. Do you know what I mean? I like to use my sanctified imagination and place myself in the story as a by-stander, watching Jesus and the people as the intricate details unfold.
This is precisely what I am going to challenge each one of you to do this morning. Let’s go back 2000 years together and see what the Holy Spirit wants to show us about desperate humility and absolute submission.
Mark 1:40-42 gives us a beautiful picture of what I’m talking about.
It says:"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." Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed."
In the few minutes we have, I want us to closely examine the word of God. Quickly, let’s look at the first person mentioned in this section of the passage, the leper. Lepers were considered UNCLEAN – they were often times made to live outside the villages away from society because of their horrible condition. Leprosy would eat away and decay the diseased from the outside in. Often times the decaying flesh would cause fingers, ears, perhaps even the nose to completely fall off the body. This man was in the most desperate condition.
If we read just a few verses before the leper comes on the scene, we discover that Jesus had been going all throughout
I can almost hear the sound of mothers crying, fathers singing, brothers and sisters laughing. The sounds of rejoicing at what Jesus was doing.
What about the leaper? I can picture this man watching on from a distance. Each time Jesus would touch someone or speak a word of healing or cast out even the most violent demon. I imagine this mans heart skipped a beat. Little by little he began to be filled with hope. As the crowd grew larger and larger around Jesus, the leper was forced farther and farther away from his only hope.
Until, his desperation overflowed out of him.
This man knew that there was no hope for him apart from that man who could heal with a spoken word.
The Bible says 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.” You can see this man’s desperate humility, and we can hear his absolute submission. “If you are willing…
You see, leprosy is an outward manifestation of our inward condition. Sin is the heart of every man. We are born with a spiritual disease; our sin separates us from Jesus just like that crowd separated the leper. Our hopeless spiritual condition causes us to respond with desperate humility at the feet of Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment