Mark 1:43-44
Disobeying
clear directions can be dangerous! Think about it. Don’t use around open
flames. Pretty clear instructions, right? And yet hundreds of people are burned
every year by gasoline used to light fires, mostly men, I might add. Don’t
drink and drive, and yet people still do it. Don’t text and drive. Don’t
operate machinery while taking this medication. Don’t have sex outside of the
bonds of marriage. Don’t jump off the roof. Wear a bike helmet. Insert screw A
into bolt B.
I
bought an MP3 player that was made in Asia somewhere. I have yet to be able to
translate the translated instructions into understandable English so that I can
use it. The instructions are so twisted and convoluted I can’t figure out how
to use it. The company needs to hire someone to do a better job of translating
if they want to sell it to English speaking people. It might as well have been
in Chinese.
Jesus
give some very clear instructions to the man who has just been cured of an incurable
skin disease. And the way Jesus gives the warning leaves no wiggle room for the
man. Jesus is stern with him, using very forceful words. This is not a suggestion
that Jesus makes. It is not, “It might be a good idea if….” Jesus tells the
man, “This is what you need to do. Period!” We often don’t have quite this much
clarity. And yet there are many clear commands given us in Scripture that we
brush aside.
Jesus’
first instruction is to not tell anyone about what has happened. Jesus wants to
be in control of when and how His true identity is revealed. This is one of the
repeated instructions that Jesus gives to those He heals. There are other more
important tasks at hand. If the healed people get sidetracked by telling
everyone, perhaps they won’t do what Jesus has said. This certainly is true in
this case.
What
Jesus really wants from this man is simple: go testify to the religious leaders
about what has happened. He is to do this by fulfilling the requirements laid
out in the Law. I can imagine that it is these same Jewish priests that
declared him “unclean” in the first place. They would have announced his
rejection and banishment. They are the ones who would have passed the sentence
on him in the first place. It is important that they find out that he is
healed. They are the ones who could lift the sentence and declare him “clean.”
First things first.
Are
there instructions that Jesus has given you that you still haven’t followed
through on? What is preventing you from obeying? Now is the time to do what He
has said.