Mark 1:40–45

⁴⁰And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean." ⁴¹Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, "I will; be clean." ⁴²And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. ⁴³And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, ⁴⁴and said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them." ⁴⁵But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? Will you be angry with me forever? Will you hide yourself forever? Will your wrath burn like a fire? "How long, O Lord?" cried Israel.

So goes our cry today. We are weak and afflicted. We suffer great hardships and pain. Our nation is rocked by terrorism, war and economic collapse. We are afraid and don't know where to turn. Not even our leaders inspire confidence as we see nothing but graft and corruption, politicians making themselves rich at our expense.

Our lives are filled with grief. The pain of broken families; kids going wrong; even finding themselves on the wrong side of the law. Sickness, cancer, heart conditions, failing body parts, diming eyes, dulling ears, weakening legs. Old age takes its toll on our bodies as we slowly fall apart. Then we are left alone at home or in a nursing home to sit there and wait. Wait for what? We are put aside and out of the way as if useless. "Why am I still here?" we cry. O Lord, how long? When will you come for me? Or have you forgotten me? Do you not remember me?

In our suffering and pain we cry to the Lord but it seems like no one is listening. Does he really hear us? Does he really care? It seems as if nothing goes right; nothing in our lives turns out the way it should. Where are you God? We pass lonely nights turning and tossing on our beds crying out to God but nothing ever changes.

Our churches seem to be small, weak and dying. As we look across our nation we see few signs of faith. Where is God? Where was God when this man in our gospel text contracted leprosy? Where was God when disaster struck and he lost his family, his friends, his home, his job, and his good name? Where was God when he was cast out of society and forced to live as a homeless person in the wilderness?

Moses did many wondrous works; with mighty deeds and signs he brought Israel out of bondage. He led them across the Red Sea with the mighty arm of God who split open the waters so they could cross on dry land. Israel was born through the waters. But there had been no mighty signs or wondrous deeds for a thousand years. Now Israel was suffering under the hands of its enemies. The Syrian army was breathing down its back and threatening to invade Israel and destroy it and carry off its people into slavery. But God seemed silent. The priests of Baal were plenty, but the followers of God were just a remnant; only a handful of faithful people was left who trusted in God. How long, O Lord, would you forget your people? How long would you hide your face from them?

The commander of the Syrian army was a great man with mighty valor. He was held in high honor by the king of Syria and had many brilliant victories. But he was a leper. Now it so happened, that his wife had a slave girl. A little girl which he himself had kidnapped while on a raid in Israel, one of Syria's enemies. But this slave girl had compassion on Naaman, her mistress's husband, and knew of a prophet who could heal him of is leprosy in Israel. So Naaman went with a letter of introduction from his king to the king of Israel.

Elisha summoned the king to send Naaman to him in order that, in his words, "...he may know that there is a prophet in Israel." So Naaman came and Elisha sent him to wash himself in the River Jordan.

But this only angered Naaman more. First of all it was humiliating that the cure for his leprosy was to be found in Israel, his enemy. But the cure was too simple! Go wash in the Jordan river? He was a great man. He had a serious disease. All the doctors of the great kingdom of Syria could not heal him. This was too plain, ordinary, and simple. He expected a more elaborate, extraordinary, and sophisticated cure. Simple bathing in water just wasn't sophisticated.

But he was finally persuaded and he went to bathe in the river seven times as he was instructed. His flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean.

This simple water had cleansed him! A prophet indeed had come to Israel! He was cleansed not by some elaborate cure or sophisticated rituals, but by the simple word of God who spoke through his prophet. It was a sign: God had not forgotten his people! God has visited his people again in the midst of their suffering and agony. This was a miracle. Miracles were signs of God's saving hand.

Now sometimes we today get the feeling that miracles were indeed common-place in the biblical world. We seem to have the impression that such signs were ordinary and people witnessed them all the time. But nothing could be further from the truth. Miraculous signs came only in three significant occasions: Around the Exodus with Moses and Joshua; during the time of Elijah and Elisha; and during the time of Jesus and the Apostles. On each occasion they were signs that God was visiting his people. They were the powerful hand of God to save, rescue from bondage and restore the fallen creation. Moses was given leprosy as a sign that he had been sent by God. Elisha healed a leper as a sign that he was a prophet from God.

And so, 800 years later, when Jesus healed this leper in Galilee, it was a sign that God had visited his people again. For 400 years God had not even spoken to Israel. Now, Jesus healed a leper! God was visiting his people. He had finally heard their cries. He had made his face shine upon them once again and he gave them peace. He sent a prophet, and this time the prophet was his very own Son. God was visiting his people in human flesh.

That day the leper had heard that Jesus was in the neighborhood so he stood at a distance and shouted, "If you will, you can make me clean." He also knew that nothing he could do would persuade Jesus to heal him. He knew that he could not do Jesus any favor, or perform any acts that would convince Jesus to heal him. It was completely at the mercy of Jesus. It all depended on if Jesus wanted to or not.

But the look in Jesus' eyes told it all. He had never seen such eyes, such compassion, such complete caring. It was as if Jesus' entire being was overflowing with love and empathy. Without even saying it, he already knew that Jesus did indeed want to cure him. He would never forget that look on Jesus' face as long as he lived. He had never felt such warmth and compassion.

Jesus reached out his hand and touched him. Him! the untouchable. The unclean. The loathsome leper. Jesus touched him! the outcast, the dirty, the disgusting wretched man; no... less than a man.

Leprosy was a particularly loathed illness. The leper was separated from both society and God. He could not come into the temple or make offerings to God for he was unclean. In fact, in people's minds leprosy was a judgment from God. He was considered a sinner. Both Miriam and King Uzziah had been punished by God with leprosy. To those people leprosy was synonymous with sinner.

But a prophet had come. God had once again visited his people. And this God was a compassionate God who was willing to get himself dirty with our dirt, our diseases, our filthy sin.

Jesus touched the leper and sucked his leprosy out of him into himself. Jesus takes our infirmities, the filthiness of our sin, even our death into his own body and hangs them on a cross to die.

This was more than just physical healing; it was also a sign that God was visiting his people to take their sin away, by taking it into his own body and nailing it to the cross. That look of compassion on Jesus face is the same look he has when he looks at us in our sin, in our sorrowing, in our diseases, our broken relationships, our addictions and our pains. God became a man, one of us, in order to absorb our sin and corruption and death into himself and infuse into us his holiness, his life, and his presence.

Naaman was cleansed in the water of the river, so Jesus cleanses us in the rivers of baptism to absorb our sin into himself and infuse into us his righteousness and life. Yes, with simple, mundane water. Not a sophisticated cure or mystical ritual, but by dipping ourselves in water or sprinkling it on our heads Jesus washes away the leprosy from our souls and cleanses us with his holiness on account of his word.

In baptism God has visited you. God has washed you and cleansed you from sin. God has drowned your disease and raised up a new man, completely holy and pure that will live forever in the life of Christ. He has exchanged our sin and death for his forgiveness and life.

God has visited us and he continues to visit us. He didn't just come 2000 years ago and then we have to wait for him to come again on the Last Day. He comes to us daily. God visits us in worship and liturgy. Miracles are acts of God's restoration, renewal of creation. Are there still miracles today? Does God still heal and cast our demons? Does he still raise from the dead? Does he still renew his creation and make things new? Yes. His miracles today are the sacraments. In Baptism new life is created, he pours himself into us, and he renews us. In the Lord's Supper the creation is restored, eternity meets the present; heaven touches earth, we are restored, freed from sin, cleansed from iniquity, and we sit at the heavenly banquet table with those saints already with God. In the proclamation of God's word, our sins are absolved, we are catechized into the faith. Yes, God is visiting us today at the baptismal font, at the pulpit and at the Lord's Table. Miracles happen every week here in this place. He keeps joining himself to us and us to him. He comes to dwell in us and us in him. In worship we have a foretaste of the eternal kingdom, when all our diseases will be completely gone forever, our bodies will be completely restored to health, and all sin will be washed away from our thoughts, our words and our deeds. In fact, in worship God's kingdom comes to us and all those who are joined to Him in baptism and faith are joined to us. We become a community with all believers around the world, and not just those alive today, but those who have already gone to be with Jesus in eternity. In baptism we are joined to Christ and to all God's family. In communion we commune with God and we commune with all who are in communion with God, both on earth and with those in the heavenly realms.

In worship God visits us again and again and infuses himself into us. That compassion that filled Jesus now fills us. That love and mercy he has for us fills us so that we have love and mercy on others. The acts of mercy that Jesus did to us, we then do unto others. The compassion and mercy we have on others become our identity. Like Jesus, we have compassion that is ready to get our hands dirty; to touch the filth of the miserable, loathsome, and untouchable; the outcast, the unclean of society, the homeless, the poor, the addict, the immoral, and the prisoner. Compassion is what we are in Jesus; it identifies us as being made one with Christ.

God has visited his people. When Jesus had cleansed the leper, the man jumped up and ran around the countryside telling all he met that a great prophet had come from God. We having been cleansed from our filth and freed from our oppression are filled with the Holy Spirit who gives us power to go and tell the good news of our salvation to all whom we meet. For God has visited his people; better still, God continues to visit his people. Go, spread the news to everyone!

Amen.