Download - Scripture Unpacked

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Presentation 06
Introduction
Some 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 Men
A 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 Men
How 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 Men
What 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 Christ
How 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 Christ
What 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 Christ
How 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 Christ
By 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 Christ
Jesus 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 Christ
Jesus 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 Blessing
Having 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 Blessing
The 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 Blessing
Look 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 wellmeaning disobedience, Jesus was obliged to
conduct his ministry out in the countryside.
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The Response To Blessing
Today, 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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Conclusion
Are 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'.
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