Study inMark’s Gospel

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The Compassion Of

ChristChap 1v1-8

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IntroductionSome time ago a radio programme was discussing telephone helplines run by government agencies. The level of expectancy of many users was falling with the passing of time. Some complained they were constantly disconnected. Others were cynical believing they would never receive help.

The passage before us focuses on our expectations of God as we come to him for help. What are your expectations of God? Are you conscious of some burden, some area of concern, some personal dilemma, some spiritual need? What is your level of expectation as you ask God to respond?

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The Expectations Of MenA leper came and threw himself at Jesus’ feet and said, "If you are willing you can make me clean". This man had faith in the ability of Jesus. News of Jesus' power and authority had spread like wildfire in the region. Notice, the leper does not question Jesus' ability to heal. He was quite sure that Jesus had the power, the authority, and the resources to heal but he was really saying something like this,

'I know that you can help but I'm not sure if I am the sort of person that you would want to involve yourself with.'

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The Expectations Of MenHow do we explain his low level of expectation. Lepers in Jesus' day were not merely dropped from people's entertainment lists but treated as many AIDS victims today; a despised social group whom healthy People kept at arms length. They were often objects of hostility and abuse. Mosaic law required their social exile. What might this man’s psychological profile reveal? Rejection by society causes people to question their self worth. When society places little value upon you, then you end up placing little value upon yourself.

When man, who is a social being, is deprived of society’s acceptance and in particular denied physical contact, then his sense of aloneness is significantly heightened.

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The Expectations Of Men"There are no words to describe the abyss between isolation and having one ally. It may be conceded to the mathematicians that 4 is twice 2, but 2 is not twice 1, 2 is 2,000 times 1. " G. K.Chesterton

Whenever people feel rejected by society and are crushed by a sense of aloneness it is not uncommon for a blanket of cynicism and disillusionment to wrap itself around them. They feel so devalued and worthless that they expect no kindness from a hostile world. Did the leper who approached Jesus come from such a mould? People often find that their treatment by society in general, and by the church in particular colours their expectations of God.

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The Expectations Of MenWhat a challenge this presents to us. Does our indifference and aloofness towards certain categories of individuals, colour their expectation of the kind of treatment they might get from God.

If children shout abuse and stone visitors coming up the path, will that not suggest to the visitor that the children’s parent will also treat them abusively. The behaviour of the child of God can seriously distort the expectations of others who would come to him for help!

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The Compassion Of ChristHow did Jesus respond to the leper? He could quite easily have spoken a word of physical healing and passed on. But by so doing Jesus would not have ministered to the man's deepest need, which was not the healing of his body but of his soul. Jesus was ‘filled with compassion’ v41. The word translated 'filled' has a very significant meaning and carries the idea of being controlled by something. It points to that part of our being which dictates and motivates our behaviour. When we read of the Jews being ‘filled with hatred’ it means that they were controlled by their hatred. The controlling force in Jesus' life was compassion. How does the hymn-writer put it?Jesus Thou art all compassion. Pure unbounded love thou art.

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The Compassion Of ChristWhat are we to understand by ‘compassion’. Today, the word is often associated with sloppy sentimentality, a superficial emotion which sheds tears, and tells people we understand what they are going through. That is far too inadequate and passive a view!

The compassion of Christ is ‘mercy in action’. It is a heart response drawn out by human misery and a determination to alleviate it. Our misery makes us the objects of his mercy! For this reason, whenever you read of 'compassion' in the gospels in connection with Jesus it is always associated with action on his part, which is designed to alleviate distress.

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The Compassion Of ChristHow did Jesus’ compassion express itself? By giving the physical healing the man longed for and much more! Jesus stretched out his hand and touched the leper. Hitherto men had found him repulsive and drawn back in fear. Their fear communicated itself as clearly as would a billboard around their neck reading, "Get lost". No one would touch a leper! Jesus didn't need to touch him in order to heal his body. Jesus’ touch was an expression of costly love. The memory of that touch would have remained with the man all his life. Jesus had treated him, not as a disease to be healed, or a statistic to be dealt with, but as a person to be loved.

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The Compassion Of ChristBy touching him Jesus gave back to the man a new sense of dignity and self-worth. That one act began to dissolve the sense of alienation, which had built up over the period of his illness.

Of course Jesus' action would have staggered and astonished the crowd. As far as Jewish ceremonial law was concerned, by that touch Jesus had made himself ceremonially unclean. But that didn't prevent the compassion of Christ from breaking through to make physical contact.

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The Compassion Of ChristJesus action provides a pale foreshadowing of the cross for there Jesus would do much more than make himself ceremonially unclean! His arms of love would reach out not only to touch sinful men and women but to take their sin upon himself. So identified was he with our sin that Paul describes it in daring language, 'God made him who had no sin to be sin for us‘ 2Cor. 5v21. A far greater ‘contamination’ took place upon the cross than we can begin to imagine. Jesus was clothed in our sin. Luther points us to the cross and asks, 'Who do you see?' He then replies, 'I see a murderer, I see a thief, I see an immoral man...' and so the list goes on. Luther's language is designed to shock us and show than on the cross Jesus was so bound up in our sin. He was treated by the Father as a sinner. Our sin was punished in him.

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The Compassion Of ChristJesus did not simply touch the leper's body, he spoke to his uncertainties. He dismantled any doubts lingering in his heart with these glorious words, 'I am willing, be clean'. This is something we need to recover in our day a recognition of the willingness of God to break in to our lives with blessing.

We do a great disservice to God and impugn his character beyond measure when we think of him as unwilling, uncaring and indifferent to the heartache and distress which bombard us. At times family may show themselves reluctant to become involved, local authorities and human agencies may treat us as irrelevant statistics. But when a man or woman comes to God in faith looking for his intervention in their lives, he replies, 'I am willing'.

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The Response To BlessingHaving healed the man Jesus told him to do two things.

First, he told him to show himself to the priests whose job it was to officially pronounce a healed leper clean and to offer the appropriate sacrifice for his healing. In this way the leper would again be rehabilitated to society.

Secondly, Jesus told the man to keep quiet about his healing. Why? From the very outset of his ministry Jesus was concerned not to be reduced in his office to a mere miracle worker. For then, he would be hounded by people for all the wrong reasons, with all the potential of distraction from his principal task of heralding the good news of the kingdom.

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The Response To BlessingThe work of Christ is always in danger of being high-jacked by sensation hunters. Now if Jesus' work is packaged as merely a miracle-working-jamboree, then what happens? The real significance of his work, which is the inner transformation of men's lives, is overshadowed.

But the healed leper could not contain his excitement, nor keep quiet the news of his healing. Perhaps we can understand his misplaced zeal, a 'zeal without knowledge‘ Rom.10v2. Was he persuaded that he was doing Jesus a great service, honouring him, giving him the credit for what had taken place. We often fail to sit down and ask, 'What will be the long term effect of what I am attempting to do for God?'

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The Response To BlessingLook at the practical result of the leper's unthinking evangelism. He unwittingly exiled Jesus from a city-centre ministry. Once the news was out, Jesus would have been hounded by people, who wanted miracles for themselves or for others, who in many instances could not see beyond the next miracle.

Despite popular belief to the contrary, miracles do not, and never have, guaranteed the creation of faith. As a result of this man’s well-meaning disobedience, Jesus was obliged to conduct his ministry out in the countryside.

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The Response To BlessingToday, a major hindrance to evangelism is not that Christians speak too quickly or, inappropriately but that they rarely speak of Jesus at all. Nevertheless, we must learn that there are times to be restrained in our speech.

When a teenager is converted, it is not wise for him to go home to his non-Christian parents and shake a Bible under their nose and tell them that their nominal faith is spiritually bankrupt. Such an approach does not make it easier for the parents to respond to the call of Christ. Patiently waiting for them to see something of the attractiveness of Jesus in their lives would be a wiser option. This constructs a platform from which to speak to them about Jesus.

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ConclusionAre you fully persuaded of Jesus' ability to help you? Your expectations may well be coloured by how others have treated you. You may think, ‘I’m the last person in the world who could expect help from Jesus’.

Do you long for forgiveness or, strength to withstand temptation or, the ability to cope with a difficult situation, family problem or work problem? Are you anxious about your health, your security, your future?

This passage of scripture encourages us to look to God to respond to the cry of faith. May your expectations be coloured by the character of God who 'delights in mercy'.