Jesus exchanged himself for us!

Mark 1:40-45 

A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. "If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean," he said. 41 Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. "I am willing," he said. "Be healed!" 42 Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed. 43 Then Jesus sent him on his way with a stern warning: 44 "Don't tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed." 45 But the man went and spread the word, proclaiming to everyone what had happened. As a result, large crowds soon surrounded Jesus, and he couldn't publicly enter a town anywhere. He had to stay out in the secluded places, but people from everywhere kept coming to him.

Food for thought!

Something unique happens in this gospel reading: Jesus exchanged himself with the leper. In order to appreciate this exchange, let us remember that, at the time of Jesus, leprosy rendered the sufferer unclean. He was banished from the fellowship of men; he must dwell alone outside the village; he must go with rent clothes, bared head, a covering upon his upper lip, and as he went he must give warning of his polluted presence with the cry, "Unclean, unclean!" The leper was a man who was already dead, though still alive. He had to wear a black garment that all might recognize him and avoid him from afar. 

If at all a leper was cured, he had to undergo a complicated ceremony of restoration which is described in Lev.14. He was examined by the priest, before he could re-join normal life. This is why Jesus sent this man to the priest: "Don't tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed." 

In order to heal the man, Jesus touched the man. By this touch, the exchange took place. The man was restored to normality, able to lead normal life, and Jesus' life was made difficult. The gospel says, "he couldn't publicly enter a town anywhere. He had to stay out in the secluded places." Jesus is now the leper, the leper is now the Jesus; the man can go anywhere he wants, Jesus can't publicly enter a town anywhere, but has to stay out in secluded places, where the man used to stay. 

Whenever we don't keep secrets and secrecy we are like this man: we make others' life more difficult. Jesus had told this man "Don't tell anyone about this." Instead, the man went all over the place telling everybody about the secret. Secrets are meant to be kept, not broken. Keep your secrets. 

This incident shows us as well what Jesus came to do and be: "But the fact is, it was our pains he carried--our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him--our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost. We've all done our own thing, gone our own way. And GOD has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong, on him, on him." (Isa. 53:4-6).

To him be honour and praise and power forevermore. Amen.