Jesus makes the unclean clean

12 June 2013

In last Sunday’s sermon from Mark 1.35-45, we read the amazing account of Jesus healing a man suffering from leprosy. What’s interesting is that Mark doesn’t say that he was ‘healed’ (although he clearly describes it).

Instead, he keeps using the word ‘clean’. The leper wants to be ‘clean’. Jesus makes him ‘clean’. As a consequence, a man who was cast out of community because he was ‘unclean’ is restored.

Mark is emphasising that Jesus makes the unclean clean. This account is like a preview of what’s coming: just a few chapters later, Jesus will take all of our uncleanness, shame, and guilt, and remove it for good. This is huge. Like the leper, we come to Jesus asking to be made clean. And Jesus will do just that.