When Jesus Change Your Situation

When Jesus Change Your Situation

Part of the Bible Study Series on “The Gospel of Mark: An Unending Story"

Text: (Mark 1:40-42 NIV)  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. 

Jesus can do the impossible. He is about to change your situation for the best. In this passage of scriptures, Jesus healed a man with leprosy who came to him. There are some lessons that we could learn from this story.

1. The Despondency and Despair

The leper had a condition that rendered him ostracized from both the social and religious community. Going by the legislation of the day found in Leviticus 13 &14, one could see that anyone with this kind of condition is dejected and rejected by the community. It was a very terrible and hopeless condition. A person who suffered from this affliction is expected to live outside of the camp. In 2002, I took a group of people to Nigeria on a mission trip. During that trip, we visited a “leper colony” called “Ago Ireti” meaning “Camp of Hope” in Ogbomosho. The camp was located in the outskirt of the city. This visit gave me an idea of the social exclusion that the lepers faced in those days. The Bible says, (Lev 13:45-52 NIV)  "The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, 'Unclean! Unclean!' {46} As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp. {47} "If any clothing is contaminated with mildew--any woolen or linen clothing, {48} any woven or knitted material of linen or wool, any leather or anything made of leather-- {49} and if the contamination in the clothing, or leather, or woven or knitted material, or any leather article, is greenish or reddish, it is a spreading mildew and must be shown to the priest. {50} The priest is to examine the mildew and isolate the affected article for seven days. {51} On the seventh day he is to examine it, and if the mildew has spread in the clothing, or the woven or knitted material, or the leather, whatever its use, it is a destructive mildew; the article is unclean. {52} He must burn up the clothing, or the woven or knitted material of wool or linen, or any leather article that has the contamination in it, because the mildew is destructive; the article must be burned up.

(Num 5:2-4 NIV)  "Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone who has an infectious skin disease or a discharge of any kind, or who is ceremonially unclean because of a dead body. {3} Send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them." {4} The Israelites did this; they sent them outside the camp. They did just as the LORD had instructed Moses.

Anyone confirmed to have the skin disease of leprosy is banished from the community. He or she is not banished for fear of contamination but for the fear of the compromise of the consecration of those people that encountered him. The people were not primarily concerned about the contagiousness of the disease but the implication of such contact which could result in religious impurity for those who were in contact with an affected person.  

The Bible did not tell us of how long this man had been suffering like this. I could imagine that it must have been for a very long time. But Jesus is about to make a great difference in his life. Are you going through difficult times as of this time? Whatever your condition may be, you will experience your breakthrough today in Jesus name. The Jesus of the scriptures has not changed. The Bible says, (Heb 13:8 NIV) Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

2. The Desperation and Determination

(Mark 1:40 NIV)  A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."

The leper was desperate and determined. He was willing to do whatever it takes to obtain his liberation from the bondage of this terrible skin disease. The Bible says that the leper came and begged Jesus on His knees. The fact that he was the one that came to Jesus indicates that he was the one that made the first move. Doing so violated the religious and social custom of the day. He came desperately and with determination. This was why he broke protocol in order to reach Jesus.  It is probable that this leper had received reports about the previous miraculous healing that Jesus Christ performed in the sub-region. His words: if You are willing, You can make me clean confirmed that he was aware of the power of Jesus to heal him. With Jesus nothing is impossible. Jesus is still in the business of changing the unchangeable. we should never place any limitations on the the power of God. The leper appealed to the willingness of Jesus to heal him. There is God's part and our part in the realization of our dream. God will do His part. are you making your own first step? The leper went to Jesus in desperation not caring much about the implications of his action. His entire focus was to receive divine cure. Only God can cure him. He has been suffering for too long. At this time, he wanted God to change his dilapidated condition. 


This leper was a man of faith who was desperate and determined to find a cure for his health condition. He was willing to do whatever it takes without counting the cost. What he did was risky. But he did it anyway. Some of breakthroughs that we are aspiring to have  requires that we take extreme measures. Here is a question to everyone: Are we willing to take the risk and do something which would seem so absurd, unconventional, and risky in order to obtain our breakthrough?

3. The Divine Deliverance

(Mark 1:41-42 NIV)  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.

In those days, anyone who has this kind of skin disease was brought to the priest who alone could examine the person and ascertain if the person was healed or not. The priests were the only ones that could pronounce that someone healed or not. While the priests in Israel were entrusted with the responsibility of examining the skin of anyone healed of skin diseases and also make public pronouncement that would engender the acceptance of the leper back into the community, the priests by themselves have no power to heal anyone with a skin disease. Cf. Leviticus 13:57-59; 14:55-57. The power to heal the leper resides only in God. All that the priests could do was make pronouncement about the cleansing of the individual.

Leviticus 13 & 14 details the legislation and the guide about the skin diseases.

During the time of this story, a leper is viewed like a dead man that was walking around. Giving their understanding that anyone who touched a dead person was considered impure, the people believed that anyone who touched the leper will become ceremonially unclean. Be that as it may, the healing of a leper was viewed like raising a dead person back to like. 

Both the leper and Jesus broke protocols in this story. The leper broke the barriers between him and Jesus by violating the rule of his day. Jesus also broke through the barriers by reaching out to touch the leper. Jesus touched this man because of his compassion for him. (Cf. Leviticus 5:2; 13:45-46.) Instantly, the man was cleansed and the disease left him permanently. The word translated compassion in this passage is the Greek word splanchnizomai. He word means to have the bowels yearn, i.e. (figurative) feel sympathy, to pity :- have (be moved with) compassion.

To touch someone with a skin disease violated Old Testament law and rendered a person unclean. The law says the following: (Lev 5:2 NIV)  "'Or if a person touches anything ceremonially unclean--whether the carcasses of unclean wild animals or of unclean livestock or of unclean creatures that move along the ground--even though he is unaware of it, he has become unclean and is guilty.

(Lev 13:45-46 NIV)  "The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, 'Unclean! Unclean!' {46} As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp.

Jesus stepped out of his comfort zone in order to cure this man. Jesus did not let the observance of a ceremonial law override his compassion for the suffering leper.

Even though our Lord Jesus declared the man clean, he cannot enter the religious community until all required religious rituals are performed. This was why Jesus told the 10 lepers to go and show themselves to the priests. (Luke 17:14 NIV)  When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed.

CONLUSION: What situation in your life makes you to feel dejected, rejected, hopeless, despondent and in despair? Just like Jesus turned the life of that leper around, He is about to do a similar thing in your life today. The Bible says, (Psa 34:19 NIV) A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all;