And a leper came to him, imploring him,
and kneeling said to him,
"If you will, you can make me clean."
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand
and touched him and said to him,
"I will; be clean."
Mark 1:40-41 ESV
The leper... according to Jewish law... was unclean...
"Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp
everyone who is leprous or has a discharge and
everyone who is unclean through contact with the dead. ..."
Numbers 5:2 ESV
The unclean... were separated from community...
"...And whatever the unclean person touches
shall be unclean, and anyone who touches it
shall be unclean until evening."
Numbers 19:22 ESV
Another person could become unclean... simply by touching someone deemed unclean...
When I read the verse in Mark... Jesus's pity caught my eye...
Jesus couldn't stand for this man to be in such a state... separated from community...
It pulled at His heart so much... He willingly became unclean... so this man... could be clean...
And I wonder if this is the same look He gave all mankind... from the moment of the Fall...
Moved with pity... at the separation of community... from Himself and His loved ones... He willingly... made Himself unclean... so we could be clean...
Jesus... the only truly clean person ever... sinless... perfect... came to be a sin offering... for all of us... so we might be clean...
I wonder... as He stretched out His hand to touch the leper... did He think about the stretching out to come... stretching out His hands on the cross...?
I saw this healing of the leper as a foreshadowing... of the greater healing... He came to do...
Making Himself unclean... so we could be clean...
Praise Him...
for being willing...
for being moved with pity...
for being able...
to make... us... clean...
For our sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin,
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV
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