Mark 1:40-45 meaning

The parallel Gospel accounts for Mark 1:40-45 are Matthew 8:2-4 and Luke 5:12-16.

A leper came to Jesus (v 40a).

A leper is someone who has leprosy.

We will begin this commentary with a word about the disease of leprosy, its cultural ramifications in the ancient world, and its metaphorical meaning. After presenting this context we will then comment on this remarkable miracle.

Leprosy was a feared disease in the ancient world.

Physically, leprosy was a skin and flesh disorder that caused the decay of a person’s body while they were still alive. The initial signs of leprosy were white spots on the skin (Leviticus 13:4). Lepers often did not realize they had leprosy until they accidentally cut or injured themselves without feeling any pain. This was because leprosy deadened nerve endings, preventing proper signals from reaching the brain.

Eventually, grotesque sores appeared across their bodies, with pus oozing from these sores as their flesh began to rot (Leviticus 13:10). As leprosy advanced, lepers’ skin dried and their flesh degenerated, causing intense itching (Leviticus 13:24). Lepers used sticks and broken pottery to scrape and scratch in a desperate attempt to find a moment’s relief from the agony. Over time, fingers, toes, ears, or parts of their nose would break off. Leprosy continued to disfigure and torment its victims until they finally perished.

Socially, the leper also endured immense anguish. Leprosy was highly contagious and had no known cure. Consequently, lepers were ostracized and forbidden to have personal contact with anyone, including their family and friends. From the day they were first declared "unclean," they were cut off from all society (Leviticus 14:46). All of their relationships and everything they had worked for were taken from them. Their sense of self was stolen, and their reputation and name were erased by their affliction. Their identity became synonymous with their disease. They were no longer the person they were before their infection. They were now a leper.

We get a sense of this lost identity, even in Mark’s description of this man. In effort to convey this, Mark uses the same term—a leper—that his society would have assigned to anyone with this disease.

Luke, who was a medical doctor, was more scientific and less cultural in his description of this person. Luke described him as “a man covered with leprosy” (Luke 5:12). Luke’s description further indicates that the leprosy was much advanced, and that this leper likely was nearing the end of his life, unless he could be cured.

Lepers were stigmatized and feared. The only community they had was in leper colonies, where they would cluster in caves to tend to one another as they suffered while awaiting death. Family and friends would bring food near the entrance of these caves for their loved ones but were careful to keep their distance, lest they also contract the disease. Whenever a leper ventured away from the colony, they were required to warn others to stay away by ringing a bell or shouting, "Unclean! Unclean!" Those downwind of a leper might smell the stench of decay whenever they approached. Boys would throw rocks at lepers to keep them at bay.

In addition to the physical torment and social isolation of leprosy, there was also the burden of shame. Lepers were often thought to have contracted the disease as punishment from God for their sins (Numbers 12:10; 2 Kings 15:5; John 9:2). Leprosy rendered a person ceremonially unclean (Leviticus 13:3, 11, 14, 25, 30, 36, 44). Even a leper’s clothes were considered to be unclean due to leprosy. If the leprosy could not be washed out, their garments and belongings had to be burned (Leviticus 13:47-59).

Similarly, if a house continued to have leprosy after being thoroughly cleansed and re-plastered, the building was to be torn down and all its timber discarded (Leviticus 14:33-45). Anyone who entered a leprous house, touched leprous clothing, or came into close proximity to a leper was also considered ceremonially unclean (Leviticus 14:46).

A leper came to Jesus, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him (v 40a).

The leper who came to Jesus exhibited profound faith and desperate humility. He had likely heard of Jesus’s miraculous healing abilities and came to Him in a desperate, bold attempt to be healed. In doing so, he risked, and probably faced, angry shouts and harsh rebukes (or worse) from bystanders as he broke social norms to reach Jesus. The leper showed incredible humility by falling on his knees when he came to Jesus, fully aware of his own wretched condition. It was also a stunning act of worship and incredible faith, recognizing who Jesus was.

Mark’s description of the leper beseeching (desperately pleading) Jesus to heal him reveals his heartbreaking condition and his beautiful faith at the same time.

Recognizing Jesus’s authority, he pleaded, “If You are willing, You can make me clean” (v 40b).

The leper recognized Jesus’s power to heal him and had confidence in Christ's abilities. Alongside this confidence, the leper also displayed remarkable humility. He approached Jesus with the right perspective, beginning his request with, “If You are willing.” He did not demand to be made clean, understanding that Jesus owed him nothing. This humble leper simply presented his request to be cleansed, leaving it up to Jesus to decide what to do. He had an attitude that seemed to accept whatever outcome God decided.

This leper’s attitude is similar to what Jesus would later display as He prayed to His Father hours before His crucifixion:

“Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”
(Luke 22:42)

In Jesus’s prayer, Jesus uses two different Greek words that are both translated as “willing” and “will.” In the phrase “Father, if you are willing,” Jesus uses “boulomai,” indicating an intent or decision based on a plan. In the phrase “not My will, but Yours be done,” Jesus uses “thelema,” which refers to a wish or desire. Jesus is expressing that His desire is to avoid suffering, but He is also setting His mind to trust that His Heavenly Father’s plan is the best. Essentially, Jesus is saying, “Not My desire but Your plan be done.”

By asking to be made clean, the leper was seeking more than just a cure for his physical affliction. He was also asking to be restored to his community, to be reunited with his family and friends. Healing the disease was the necessary step to achieve this restoration.

Jesus understood the leper and was deeply moved by his request.

Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed” (v 41).

The manner in which Jesus chose to heal this man was highly significant. He could have simply spoken a word or waved His hand, and the leper would have been healed. Instead, He chose to touch him. Christ did not prioritize the traditions of ceremonial cleanliness over the man's suffering. By personally touching the leper, Jesus validated his humanity and restored him to the community of human fellowship.

Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed (v 42).

He was instantly cured, with no visible signs of the disease remaining, and his body was restored to health. The former leper was made whole.

After healing him, Jesus sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, and He said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone” (vv 43-44).

At first glance, this admonition to silence seems like a strange request. Jesus made a similar request of His disciples when He affirmed to them that He truly was the Messiah (Matthew 16:20). He also forbade demons from telling others that He was the Son of God (Mark 1:34, 3:11-12). This could be because it was not yet time for Jesus’s identity to be revealed or His kingdom to be visibly established (John 2:4, 6:15, 7:6).

However, after telling the man to take care to say nothing to anyone, Jesus immediately instructed him to tell someone, likely indicating the priority in telling. Jesus said to the leper:

“But go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them” (v 44).

After the leper was healed, Jesus instructed him to show himself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them. This directive allowed the leper to bear witness to the priests about Jesus's healing power and His respect for the Mosaic Law. Leviticus 14:1-32 details the priestly procedures and sacrifices required for reintegrating a healed leper into society. By doing this, Jesus may have been demonstrating to the priests His statement that He had not come to abolish the Law but to fulfil it, as He stated in Matthew 5:17.

To be officially reinstated back into society, a leper had to follow specific procedures and offer the prescribed sacrifices as outlined by God to Moses (Leviticus 14:1-32). Jesus’s command to say nothing to anyone was likely emphasizing the priority in telling. Jesus wanted the healed man to first adhere to the requirements of the Mosaic Law for those cured of leprosy. He instructed the man to present himself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded.

This was not necessary to give thanks to God vicariously through some priest, because Jesus, the Person who had just healed the leper, was God. The former leper could thank Jesus in person.

But in addition to keeping the Law, Jesus probably had an additional reason for sending the healed leper to the priest.

This additional reason was to provide a testimony to the priests that the Messiah had come. This would be consistent with Jesus’s stated mission, which was to present Himself and His kingdom platform to Israel. It seems most likely that Jesus did not want the healed man to say nothing to anyone until after he had presented himself to the priest.

Sending the former leper to go and show himself to the priest would set off a chain of events once they confirmed that he had been healed. There are only three cases in the Old Testament of someone being cured of leprosy—all of them miraculous.

1. The first healing of leprosy was a sign of the LORD’s power used to embolden Moses to go to Pharaoh.
   (Exodus 4:6-7)
2. The second healing of leprosy was when Moses prayed for his sister and brother, Miriam and Aaron, in the wilderness and they were healed.
   (Numbers 12:10-15)
3. The third healing of leprosy was the Gentile general, Naaman, who humbly submitted to the prophet Elisha’s instructions to bath seven times in the Jordan River.
   (2 Kings 5:1-14)

There were no other recorded instances of anyone being cured of leprosy in the Old Testament. Because of this, some Jews began to believe that only someone who was the Messiah could heal a leper.

In sending the healed leper to the priest, Jesus was in effect announcing to them that He was the Messiah. This miracle would initiate a priestly inquiry into who healed this leper, leading the priests back to Jesus, the Messiah.

Mark does not tell us what happened when the leper presented himself to the priest, but based on how they treat Jesus later on, we can surmise their reaction.

Like Pharaoh in Egypt who felt threatened by Moses, the corrupt priests were threatened by Jesus because His teachings of humility, service, and love ran contrary to their legal customs and traditions used to exploit the people. And they appear to have ignored, rejected, and/or suppressed their findings.

Instead of focusing on the leper’s presentation to the priest, Mark focuses on the leper’s response afterward:

The leper seems to have understood Jesus’s instruction to say nothing to anyone as a temporary command that would end once he presented himself to the priest. If the leper was instructed to make a testimony to the priest, it would be expected that he would testify to many others afterward. Inevitably, the people in his town would become aware of his healing.

We can assume he complied with Jesus’s request to show himself to the priest and offer for his cleansing what Moses commanded, and only then he began telling everyone about the miracle Jesus had done for him. But once he began telling people about his healing, the leper proclaimed what Jesus had done far and wide.

Just a few verses earlier, Jesus had explained His plan for spreading the gospel message in Galilee. “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for” (Mark 1:38). However, once the news spread that He healed a leper, Jesus had to remain in unpopulated areas due to the crowds. The phrasing but he went out and began to proclaim it freely might indicate that the leper’s witness went beyond what Jesus preferred. This resulted in Jesus adjusting His campaign to avoid the massive crowds.