Mark 1:40
- “Leprosy” is a skin disease that can cause severe physical damage.
- The lepers were considered unclean and therefore one was not allowed to touch a leper (Leviticus 13-14).
- Since the man became clean and free from his disease the moment Jesus touched him, technically Jesus did not break this prohibition.
Mark 1:44
- The reason Jesus did not want people to spread the word that he was the Messiah was because the Jewish people were longing for a Messiah who would free them from Roman occupation and become the new king of Israel. However, word of Jesus spread and eventually the people did indeed try to make him king (John 6:15).
- True, Jesus came to liberate Israel and become king, but not in the way the Jewish people thought. The kingdom of God is not of this world (John 18:36).
- Jesus was careful to follow what is written in the Torah (the Pentateuch) and therefore he urges the former leper to do as it is written (Leviticus 14).