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September 1924
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repulsive diseases with which man has been afflicted, cur able only by the Lord. Luke tells us (5 :1 2 ) that this man was “full of leprosy.” What a sight he must have been! How desperate was his need! Just as he was he came to Jesus, convinced that He had the power to heal him, but not sure of His willingness. But Jesus’ heart went out to the poor, needy man, “ and being moved with compassion, he stretched forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thpu made clean. And straightway the leprosy departed from him, and he was made clean” (Mk. 1:41, 42). Leprosy is a most striking type of sin, with which every one of us has been stricken. Our need appeals to the Lord Jesus. If only we will come to Him, we will find His great, compassionate heart open to us, and we will experience His cleansing touch as.really as did the leper. “His blood can make the foulest clean.” Memory Verse.-S“ Be thou made clean.” Mark 1:41. Approach.-—After Jesus left Nazareth, Where His own people would not receive Him, He went into another city by the name of Capernaum, which was a city by the Sea of Galilee, and great numbers of people came to hear Him. (Tell of miracle of fish.) ELEMENTARY Again, on the Lord’s day, Jesus is Mabel L. Merrill found in the synagogue, and caused an evil spirit to come out of a man. He then goes to Peter’s home, and finds the dear old grand mother very sick. Jesus stood by her bed and commanded the fever to leave her, and immediately she was well and got up and helped get the dinner ready. In the evening many sick people were brought unto Him and He healed them. My! what a busy day Jesus had, and we know He must have been tired, for when He lived down here on earth, He had a human body that got tired and felt pain. Prayer. Lesson Story.-— Harry, will you tell us about a visit Jesus made to his home town? That is splendid, and Harold and Ruth who were absent last week know what Jesus was in the habit of doing on the Lord’s day. He always went to church. We have already learned of the busy day He spent in Capernaum, and our story today begins by saying, “ In the morning, rising up a great while before it was light, He went out to a lonely place in the wilderness, and there prayed to God.” For although He was God’s Son, He had come on earth to be a man; and while He was on earth He felt pain and hunger and sorrow like men. Therefore He prayed to God for help as men dp. Many people came to Peter’s house to find Jesus. Peter and the other disciples came to the place where Jesus was. Jesus said He must go on to other cities and preach the gos pel to the people. What good news was it that Jesus preached? It was this: That Jesus had come into the world to be punished for our sins, in our place and instead of us; so that, if we are sorry for our sins and believe on Him, we will be forgiven and taken to Heaven to live with Jesus forever. A man came to Jesus and kneeled down before Him and said, “Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean.” Now the man who knelt before Jesus was a leper, and no doctor can cure leprosy. It is an awful disease, and you cannot stay at home, or be with your friends, and the lepers always had to call out “ unclean” when ever any one came near them. This poor leper believed in Jesus’ power, for he said he knew Jesus could make him clean. Jesus felt very sorry Jesus Heals a Leper Mark 1:40-45
V. 40. Prom the skin it slowly ate its way through the tissues, to the hones and joints and even to the marrow, rotting the whole body piecemeal. The lungs, the organs of speech and hearing, and the eyes, were attacked in turn, till at last consumption or dropsy brought welcome death. The dread of infection kept men aloof from the sufferer and the law prescribed him as above all men unclean.— Geikie. A wonderful saying, the expression of a wonderful faith! For what man since the days of Elisha had been the means of healing a leper?— Selec. V. 41. How wonderful this touch must have seemed to the leper! For years, perhaps, he had not felt the touch of any one but another leper, for the Mosaic law strictly for bade any one to touch a leper, and adjudged him to be ceremonially defiled if this were done. But our Lord, the pure and holy One, could touch the leper without defile ment, for in that touch the poor wretch ceased to be a leper, and was whole again.^Peloubet. Mark delights to dwell on Christ’s touch (Mark 1:31, 41; 6 :5 ; 7 :3 3 ; 8 :23 ; 9:27, 36; 10 :16 ). Besides this thrill of human sym pathy of Christ’s touch it had much significance if we remem ber that, according to the Mosaic legislation, the priest and the priest alone was to lay his hands on the tainted skin and pronounce the leper whole. So Christ’s touch was a priest’s touch. The corruption with which he comes in contact becomes purity.— Maclaren. V. 44. To the priest was entrusted the responsibility of deciding whether one had the leprosy or not. Explicit directions are given covering the case in Leviticus 13:14. -f-Warner. This lesson gives us a glimpse of the prayer life, the activity, and the compassion of the Lord Jesus. 1. The Praying One, v. 35. He had had a very busy day in Capernaum, teaching and healing, and was probably weary in body. But in spite of this He DEVOTIONAL arose, even before it was light and while COMMENT others were sleeping, that He might have J. A. Hubbard a time of quiet, uninterrupted fellowship and prayer. He was about to make “ a missionary tour,” and felt that this prayer-preparation was indispensable. If it was necessary for Him to thus spend time alone with God, how much more essential for us! “ Better lose a little sleep than the restful communion of the Father.” 2. The Active One, vs. 36-39. “ Prayer fits for work, and work necessitates prayer.” Activity without prayer is barren of spiritual results. Real prayer will issue in fruit ful activity. If we follow the example of our Lord, our lives will be balanced. Note the sphere of His activity. Simon and others with him, having missed Jesus from the house, sought and found Him in His solitude and informed Him that the .peo ple were seeking Him. In Luke 4:42 R. V., we read that “ the multitudes sought after him, and would have stayed him, that he should not go from them.” That is to say, they would have kept Him all to themselves there at Capernaum. But Jesus had a wider vision and refused to be turned aside by popularity or praise. “ And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth. And he preached in the synagogues throughout all Galilee.” “ God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son.” Later on His disciples got this world-wide vision, and sought to carry out His last command: “ Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mk. 16 :1 5 ). “ Ye shall be witnesses unto me unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1 :8 ). If down through the ages His follow ers had kept and carried out this vision, how different would have been the history of the church, and of the world! 3. The Compassionate One, vs. 40-45. “ There cometh to him a leper,” the victim of one of the most loathsome,
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