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NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mar_1:40-45
40And a leper came to Jesus, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying, "If You are willing, You can make me clean." 41Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed." 42Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. 43And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, 44and He 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, as a testimony to them." 45But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere.
Mar_1:40 "a leper" This is paralleled in Mat_8:2-4 and Luk_5:12-16. Judaism saw leprosy as an illness inflicted by God (cf. 2Ch_26:16-21). Contact with the leper would make one ceremonially unclean. This disease meant total social alienation! It is culturally surprising that this socially ostracized person approached Jesus and that Jesus would touch him (cf. Mar_1:41). The OT disease called leprosy, discussed in Leviticus 13-14, describes many types of skin diseases, all of which excluded one from worship.
▣ "on his knees" In Luk_5:12 it says he fell prostrate before Jesus. Jesus was not like the other rabbis. He took time to care for the outcast and ostracized.
▣ "'If you are willing, You can make me clean'" This is a third class conditional sentence which means potential action. He was not doubting Jesus' power (i.e., the leper calls Jesus "Lord" in Mat_8:2), but His desire to act.
Mar_1:41 "Moved with compassion" Jesus cares for humanity made in the image of God. The Western Text, MS D, has "indignant," but MSS à , A, B, and C have "pity." The words are similar in Aramaic. Although the oldest and best manuscripts have "pity" the most unusual reading would have been "indignant" or "angry." See Appendix Two on Textual Criticism. There are several other places in Mark where Jesus' anger is recorded in unexpected contexts (cf. Mar_1:43; Mar_3:5; Mar_10:14; also one in Joh_11:33; Joh_11:38). His anger may have been directed at the disease or the evil of this age.
Mark portrays Jesus as fully human, feeling and expressing the full range of human emotions, for Himself as well as others.
1. pity or anger (Mar_1:41; Mar_3:5)
2. physical hunger (Mar_2:25)
3. deep sigh (Mar_7:34; Mar_8:12)
4. indignance/sternness (Mar_10:14)
5. love (Mar_10:21)
6. grief/trouble (Mar_10:33-34)
7. desertion (Mar_15:34)
8. thirst (Mar_15:36)
▣ "touched him" This was a ceremonial "no! no!" Jesus touching people is a common occurrence in the Gospels (cf. Mar_7:33; Mar_8:22; Mar_10:13; also several times people touched Jesus, e.g. Mar_3:10; Mar_5:22-28; Mar_5:30-31; Mar_6:56) as a gesture of personal care and concern.
▣ "'be cleansed'" This is an aorist passive imperative. Jesus heals with the same personal authority by which He expels demons.
Mar_1:43 "sternly warned him" Literally this is "snorted," which means an inarticulate groan. This reflects Mark's Messianic Secret. The Gospel was not yet finished, and the message was still incomplete. Jesus did not want to be known as a miracle worker.
▣ "immediately sent him away" This is the same strong word used of the Spirit driving Jesus into wilderness (cf. Mar_1:12).
Mar_1:44 "'offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded'" This requirement related to the healing of leprosy (cf. Leviticus 13, 14; Deu_24:8). Jesus did not reject the OT (cf. Mat_5:17-19), but the oral traditions that had developed within Judaism (cf. Mat_5:21-48). Possibly this was also for a witness to the priests.
Mar_1:45 "proclaim" This is a present infinitive. This was in direct disobedience to Jesus' strong request (cf. Mar_1:43-44).
▣ "stayed out in unpopulated areas" This referred to the uninhabited pasture lands like Mar_1:3.
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