The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 85

would not such a one himself, Uzzlah-like, haste to get awa.y from so pure a place, and to eeco.pe from such holy companionship? for heaven would not be heaven, and could not be heo.vcn, to an unregenerate soul. How terrible the sinner's condition, shunned as he is by the saintly, dreaded as he is by the pure and holy, separated from fellowship o.nd communion with God on earth, shut out from the enjoyment and glory of God in heaven, secluded from all that is holy and happy both here and hereafter, and last of all and worst of all, shut up with the spirits of the lost-shut up with the filthy, the fearful, the unbelieving and abominable; shut up with the devil and his angele; shut up with companions in misery, whose very companionship, a.part altogether from "the worm that dieth not and the fire that is unquenchable," would be in itself a hell I 6. Leprosy was incurable "fJy human pow-.r; sin is ,o like- wise. The disease of leprosy, as we have seen, proceeded immediately from the ho.nd of God, and so it was the hand of God alone that could remove it. No human power, no means that man might use, no medicines of any kind could avail aught, either for the relief or removal of this fatal malady. This will, perhaps, account for the circumstance of St. Matthew giving such prominence to our Lord's cure of the leper by recording that miro.cle first. The first miracle publicly performed by our Lord was the changing of water into wine, as we read, "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee.'' But St. Matthew, writing immediately for the Jews, records this miracle of our Lord's curing the leprosy first : though not first in the order of time, he gives it the precedence notwithstanding, because it was best calcu- lated to impress hie countrymen with the possession by Jesus of Divine power, and so of a Divine commission, since it was their fixed belief that none but God could effect a cure. Hence the King of Israel said, " Am I God, to kill and to make alive, tha.t this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy?" In like manner the miracle which St. Luke, writing for the Gentiles, records firt!I, was the cure of a demoniac, which proved the power of Jesus over those demons or deities which the Gentiles worshipped. Hence, too, as may be observed in passing, it is that because the word dem<m was equivocal in its meaning among the Gentiles-sometimes denoting a good and sometimes an evil spirit-St. Luke restricts the meaning to the latter by the epithet "unclean n (a.ice&6clp-rov); but St. Matthew never so employs it, and does not need to employ it, as the term had only the one sense of evil spirit among the Jews. Now, it is the same with the disease of sin. It never gets cured of itself; no mortal rnan can recover himself from it; no human being can restore the individual suffering from its pollution; no created power can heal this leprosy of the soul. God alone can deliver from this spiritual disease; the blood of Christ alone can cleanse from it.a defilement. II. THE CLEANSING OF LEPROSY BEPRESENTB TBE FOROIVENEBS OF em. There is a. reruarko.ble and instructive contrast between the cleansing of a leper, recorded in the Old Testament, and the cleansing of the leper mentioned in the Gospels. 'l'hat con- trast holds both between the respective applicants and the different means of cure adopted. Naaman's conduct-for his is the case referred to-presents a true picture of the natural heart proud and unhumbled. Had he been commanded to do some great thing, he would have readily complied; but the process prescribed by the prophet was too simple, the mode of cure too easy, and Naaman too proud to descend to it. He became wroth, and went away. The leper in the passage before us is determined to dare or die; he defies the law of limitation which prohibited bis approach or address to hie fellow-men, and restricted him within certain bounds to prevent his contact with the living; thus, breaking through the rnrdon sanitaire, he makes his way to Jesus. Again, the prophet in the former case prescribed certain means, saying, "Go and wash in Jordan seven times." Here Jesus simply Apeaks the leper into health. 1. The respectful applir,a,tion of the leper to our Lord. '!'his is clearly seen when we combine the expressions in the different narratives. St. Mo.tthew states generally that he worshipped him (..-poo-.,,6,, ..), 'fhe word employed, coming from a root which means to kiss, kiss the hand to, as a mark of reApect o.nd homage, conveys the idea of obeisance or reverence to one greatly superior. St. Mark furthericfcrms us that he/ell on his knees to him (-yo•u,r•-rwv); while from St. Luke we learn that, in his extremity and earnest entreaty, he fell on his /au prostrate before him (rml,v #rl rpotronrov). With like liumi\ity, reverence, and earne1tneu must we come to Jesns. Like the leper, we mlll!S BT, HARK, G 82 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. [os. L 1-45.