No room at the Holiday Inn

A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."

Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: "See that you don't tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them."

Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere. [1]

I was very tempted to paraphrase this passage - but I have resisted the urge! Jesus radically changed this man's life forever. Go back to Leviticus 13 and have a look at the restrictions that the Old Testament law placed on lepers.

They were to live outside the city and whenever they interracted with others they were required to call out 'unclean..unclean.' Lepers lost contact with their loved ones, their income, social contact and indeed their dignity.

Jesus was preaching in the synagogues of the towns he visited. The leper would not have been able to visit the synagogue...in an act of desperation he threw himself at Jesus' feet.

Jesus' warning to the leper not to blab at first seems strange....but after years of calling 'unclean' he went back into town and shouted 'CLEAN!....CLEAN!' Instead of the man's leprosy being infectious, the good news of Jesus became infectious....Jesus even hoped that the infection would spread to the priesthood.

The ex-leper was free to go back into the city....Jesus who used to be able to rock up and book in at reception incognito, now had to resort to camping.

No room any more at the Holiday Inn.

[1] Mark 1:40-45 New International Version