The touch of the master's hand
Each of these incidents in the record of God's perfect servant, brings an insight into the kind of service, that brings pleasure to God. The two previous stories proclaim His external power over demons and disease; now we see the internal secret behind this public authority. It can be seen under three headings:
- His Communion verse 35
- His Commission verses 36-39
- His Compassion verses 40-45
His communion - He was careful to pay attention to His prayer life. The link between verses 22 & 25 brings out the force of this. He had been serving God in the healing of people after the sun had set and now in verse 25 it says "in the morning" rising up a great while before day. There was no let up in His service and there was to be no let up in His prayer life. The servant of God must find time to pray, if this was true of the perfect servant, how much more needful for us? Mark will record a number of times throughout the gospel where Jesus went to prayer; indeed the picture presented that when he wasn't serving He was praying, and when He wasn't praying He was serving. He was fully committed to the service of God. This example should be a pattern for us. We have noted when He prayed, early in the morning; we now note where He prayed "in a solitary place." A place apart from every distraction, legitimate or otherwise, He took time to pray apart. He was the great example of His own teaching, when in the sermon on the mount in Matthew chapter 6 He taught that real prayer should be "in the closet"; in the secret place" and where only the Father is present. He communed with His Father in private, before He served Him in public.
His commission - The disciples and the multitude followed Him and the word to Him was that "all men seek for Thee." Simon was proclaiming His popularity on the back of the miracles in the synagogue and in the home. However Jesus separated Himself from the crowd, saying to his disciples "let us go into the next towns that I may preach there also." The key to the understanding of this portion is the phrase "for therefore came I forth." Jesus was keenly aware of His commission, He did not come for popularity in any one place, He came to preach to all people wherever they were, and would not be swayed by the apparent desire of people to have Him to themselves. The question arises, are we aware of our mission, do we know why we are here as servants of God, and are we guided by popularity rather than the purposes of God? No doubt it was in the solitary place in prayer where He learned that the Father wanted Him to go into the other towns and not remain where He was. It is a salutary lesson that we must learn in the service of God not to be controlled by public popularity but guided by God Himself. His entire service was at the guidance of His Father, not the demands of men. Service is to God, not at the whim of men.
His compassion - In the course of this new mission there came a leper to Him begging Him sincerely for help. Leprosy was a skin disease which badly affected the hands, feet and face particularly and led to gross disfigurement and worst of all social exclusion. They were not welcomed in public life, were debarred from the main congregations of the synagogues and were considered as drop outs of society. The sincerity and faith of this particular leper was evident when he said "if Thou wilt Thou canst make me clean." No record of any leper having been cleansed in his lifetime, he had no doubt Jesus ability to heal him, he just didn't know if He wanted to heal him. The next phrase in verse 41 reveals to us the heart of God; it says "Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth His hand and touched him." The word is very strong and the phrase is used many times throughout the gospel records; the awful state of humanity, the ugliness of sin and the loneliness that sin has brought separating us from our Maker is something that moves the very heart of God. God is not indifferent to our suffering and He has our salvation at His heart and in this, the touching of the leper and the will to make him clean, reveals that God's desire is for all of us to be healed. This is truly the gospel message, God knows our condition, He wants to heal us, but we must ask Him first., we must truly want to be healed. This is the touch of the Master's hand. Leprosy is a picture of human sin that has made us ugly and debilitated and distanced us from God. Only Jesus Christ the perfect servant of God can heal us. Jesus then sent Him to the temple priests because the man must be publicly healed as well as privately healed in the sight of God. The picture ends with Jesus requesting that the man did not publish this miracle. This is contrary to human nature and because if we were to perform something like this we would want everyone to hear about it. The reality is that this publishing only hampered the work of Jesus as becomes clear in the next chapter because too many crowds following Him made His task more difficult and it brought Him to the attention of the scribes and Pharisees too quickly. Unwanted attention from those opposed to Him and crowds seeking only spectacular miracles served only to hamper and hinder the work of Jesus. This leper was truly cleansed but he still had to learn to obey the One who had cleansed him. There is a challenge here for us that we should not only do God's work, but we should do it His way because He knows the end from the beginning. If the touch of His hand alone can heal us, surely the words of His mouth should be our command.
This is truly a wonderful story of the Perfect Servant in operation, His attention to communion with God, His awareness of His mission, His deep compassion for the leper and His ability and will to heal him. Those healed by Him must learn to do His bidding and not hinder the work of God on this earth. It is noteworthy, that while the demon spirits obeyed His word not to publish, the people did not. Surely this is because thee demons know just who He really is!!
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