19 Dec Mark 03: Kingdom priorities

Mark 1:35-45 – ³⁵ And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. ³⁶ And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, ³⁷ and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” ³⁸ And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” ³⁹ And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

⁴⁰ And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” ⁴¹ Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” ⁴² And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. ⁴³ And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, ⁴⁴ and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” ⁴⁵ But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.

Let me start by asking you two questions. First, have you ever felt unclean or dirty or ashamed because of something that you did? Maybe it was that lie, or lustful thought, or uncontrollable anger, or sexual sin, or affair, or abortion or divorce? Second, have you ever felt unclean or dirty or ashamed because of something that someone else did to you? Maybe it was that abuse, or rejection, or assault, or abandonment, or betrayal or gossip? If we are honest, I am sure the answer to both questions is yes. It doesn’t matter who we are, we have done something that makes us feel unclean, dirty and ashamed, and we also have been made to feel unclean, dirty and ashamed by someone else. And for some of us, we have tried to remove those feelings for years. We tried our best to get rid of it. We say, “Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play. And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. Baby, I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake. I shake it off, I shake it off. Heartbreakers gonna break, break, break, break, break. And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake. Baby, I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake. I shake it off, I shake it off.” I hope I am not too outdated quoting this song in my sermon. Some of you might have no idea what song that was. But the truth is that we play this song on repeat in our lives, even if we never heard the song before. Whenever we do something bad or something bad happened to us, we try to shake it off. So, thank you Taylor Swift for telling us to shake it off. She describes the cry of the human heart that wants to shake off the uncleanness we feel. The only problem is we can’t. It does not matter how hard we try, it does not matter what we do, we cannot get rid of that feeling of dirtiness from us. We feel unclean. We feel ashamed. We feel helpless. Nothing we can do on our own can make us clean. Because only the touch of the king can make us clean. And the good news of the gospel is that the king has come to make us clean.

Tonight, we are continuing our series on the book of Mark: The King’s road to the cross. In this series, we want to know who the real Jesus is. Because Jesus who is a projection of our desire is useless. That Jesus cannot make us clean. Only the real Jesus can. This is why we want to know who the real Jesus is through the eyewitness account of the book of Mark. What we learned so far from the book of Mark is that Jesus is a king. And when Jesus came to this world, the invasion of the kingdom of God upon this world began. Jesus proclaims that the kingdom of God is at hand. And today we will learn what the priorities of the kingdom of God are. And this is very interesting. Because Jesus is a king unlike any other king in this world. And his kingdom is unlike any other kingdom in this world.

Three priorities of the kingdom of God: Prayer; Preaching; Cleansing.

Prayer

Mark 1:35 – ³⁵ And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

This is a very important principle, and it is very counterintuitive. Think about it. At that time, Jesus is extremely famous. If you remember where we left off last week, the whole city gathered at the front door of Peter’s house, waiting for Jesus to heal them, and cast out demons. Everyone wanted to see Jesus. Jesus is on the rise. He is the next Capernaum superstar. He is incredibly popular, and he is extremely busy. He is in a season of productivity. But Jesus’ response to the season of productivity is very different from ours. What would we do if we were Jesus? We would not miss this opportunity, right? We will try everything we can to keep the momentum going. We will squeeze the orange as hard as we can and get as much juice as possible. But not Jesus. In the season of tremendous productivity, Jesus rises very early in the morning, gets to a quiet place where there is no one to interrupt him, and prays. The busier Jesus gets, the more Jesus prays. This is radically different from you and me. When we are extremely busy and productive, the first thing we cross out of our list is our prayer time. Am I right? But Jesus shows us what actually matters. Before he goes about his day and does the mission of God, Jesus knows that he first must spend time with the source of his mission. Jesus understands that he cannot extend the love of God to others without first saturating himself in the love of God for him. Jesus’ ministry comes out of his relationship with God the Father. Though Jesus is God, he does not live his life apart from God the Father but rather as a man dependent upon God. Jesus is fully dependent on God the Father for his ministry. His authority, strength, and power come from God alone. And if Jesus the Son of God, the creator of the universe, needs to pray before he does anything, how much more for us who are weak and flawed?

I don’t think any Christian need to be told that it is very important for them to spend time in prayer. And yet prayer is the most neglected Christian discipline. Let’s face it. We live in the city of Sydney. All of us are busy people. We have works to do, projects to finish, essays to write, diapers to change, meals to cook, laundry to wash, sermons to write, Netflix series to watch. We are very busy people. But Jesus is very busy as well. He has tons of people waiting outside his door every morning. Jesus is in the saving-the-world-in-three-years project. It does not matter how busy we are, none of us is as busy as Jesus. We might have the opportunity to make a difference with what we do but Jesus is literally changing the course of history with what he does. And he still prioritizes prayer above all. For Jesus, nothing is more important, nothing is a higher priority than prayer; Not even changing the world. So, we must pray.

Let me tell you why this is important. What is prayer? Prayer is not simply asking God for things. Do you know what is the first thing Jesus says when he teaches his disciple how to pray? It is not, “Give us our daily bread.” There is a space for asking God for things in prayer but that is not the essence of prayer. What is the essence of prayer? What is the first thing that comes out of Jesus’ mouth in the Lord’s prayer? “Our Father.” The essence of prayer is communing with God the Father. Everything else is based on this. When we pray, we are reorienting our hearts to the fact that the sovereign God of the universe has become our Father. We remind ourselves of who God is and who we are. Our heart must be burned with the joy of having God as our Father. And this is our heart most fundamental need. Because as we go about our day, we are constantly bombarded with temptations. We are constantly tempted to find our identity in the things of this world.

For example, my core idol is approval. As I go about my day, I am tempted to find my identity in my ministry. As I prepare my weekly sermon, I am tempted to prepare my sermon well so that I might have your approval on Sunday. When I deal with people, I am tempted to please them rather than tell them the truth because I want them to like me. My heart is extremely prone to wander. That is why I desperately need to pray. Because when I come to God in prayer, I am reminded of the fact that in Jesus, the God of the universe has become my Father and I am his child. And in Jesus, what God the Father said to Jesus is true about me. As we saw in the earlier part of chapter 1, before Jesus began his ministry, God the Father spoke to him, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” And Jesus needs to hear it every morning. His relationship with the Father is the engine of his ministry. He continues to draw his power from his communion with the Father. And the same is true for me. When I come to God the Father in Jesus, he speaks over me, “Yosi, you are my beloved son. I am well pleased with you.” And I need to hear this every morning because I forget it every day. This is the essence of prayer. Prayer is not a way for us to get things from God but for us to get God. And to the degree we know God’s unconditional love for us, to the degree we orient our heart to God’s delight on us, to that degree we do not need human approval or power or comfort or control. When we have the smile of God, we can handle anything that comes our way throughout the day. We won’t be enslaved by anything. We have the joy of being God’s children. This is the first priority.

Preaching

Mark 1:36-39 – ³⁶ And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, ³⁷ and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” ³⁸ And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” ³⁹ And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Once again, this is very counter-intuitive. When the disciples realise that Jesus is not in the house, they go out and look for him. When they finally find him, they say, “Jesus, everyone is looking for you.” Remember that Jesus is extremely popular right now in Capernaum. So, what they are saying is, “Jesus, what are you doing in here in the middle of nowhere? You should be with the crowds. We have something special going on here. Everyone wants you. We have the momentum with us. We can have large followers and make a difference. It is exciting.” And it’s not hard to guess why people seek Jesus. Jesus can solve all their problems and meet all their needs through miracles. They are looking for Jesus not for Jesus but for what Jesus can do for them. So, let’s ask the same question to ourselves again. What would we do if we were Jesus? We will not waste this wonderful opportunity, right? This is a perfect time to create a huge following. We will probably do seven days of healing crusades, post it on social media with #SavingTheWorldInThreeYears, and take an offering every night to fund the project. But not Jesus. Jesus has no interest in becoming a celebrity healer and built his own reputation and resume.

Look at what Jesus does. Instead of going to where the crowds are, Jesus says to the disciples, “We are not going to where the crowds are. We are moving to the next town.” Wait. Why? Because Jesus knows exactly why he came into the world. He will not be distracted from his divine purpose. He will not let worldly success and popularity stop him from doing what he must do. And what is it that Jesus came to do? Listen carefully. Jesus came to the world to preach the gospel. He came to the world to tell the people, “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.” This is Jesus’ primary purpose. Not to heal the sick or cast out demons, although they are important. But to preach the gospel. And not only to Capernaum but to all Israel and ultimately the world. In other words, Jesus is saying, “I do not come to meet your agenda. You want a celebrity healer who can meet all your needs. But that is not what I came to do. I have my own agenda. I came not only to meet the need you know through what I can do. But more importantly, I came to meet the need that you don’t even know you have through the preaching of the gospel. I have come to meet your ultimate need. I have come to tell you to repent and believe in the gospel.”

Can you see what happened? This is Jesus’ priority. Jesus’ priority is not physical healing but spiritual healing. It does not mean that physical healing is not important. Jesus heals the sick wherever he goes. But Jesus understands something that we often forget. Physical healing, no matter how awesome it is, cannot be compared to spiritual healing. Physical healing is only temporal. It has an expiry date. Sooner or later, we will get sick again. And eventually, we will die. But spiritual healing is eternal. It has no expiry date. This is why Jesus’ priority is not to heal the sick but to preach the gospel. Jesus did not come into the world primarily to be a divine healer but a saviour.

Listen carefully. If Jesus’ priority is to preach the gospel, then the church’s priority must be to preach the gospel. However, many churches today have turned Jesus into an entertainment act, political agenda, social project, and miracle worker. They created Jesus of their own making. And it seems to work. It draws a lot of crowds. The crowds love Jesus that meets their agenda. For example, let’s say we invite a very popular miracle worker pastor from America who always wear all white to do a healing crusade in our church. What will happen? This place won’t fit. We will have to rent a huge auditorium. A huge crowd will show up. People want Jesus that meet their agendas. But let’s say we invite a pastor from Melbourne who always wears a black t-shirt to preach the gospel. What will happen? Nothing. It is church as usual. Why? Because the crowds do not want to hear the gospel. No one like to be told to repent. Because to repent means to acknowledge that we are worse than we think we are. We are not only sick, but we are also sinners.

There is this famous story that happened in the 18^th century in England, during the Great Awakening. Lady Huntingdon was a member of the upper class, and she became a Christian. She was excited and she wanted all her friends to hear the preaching of the gospel. So, she constantly invited other upper-class people to come with her to hear her favourite preacher of the time, George Whitfield. Whitfield was a powerful preacher of the gospel. But many of them didn’t want to come. One of her friends, Duchess of Buckingham, wrote back a letter to Lady Huntingdon when she invited her to hear Whitfield preach. She said she would absolutely not come because she had heard about Whitfield and his message. This letter eventually became very famous. And here is what she said. And you have to hear it in a British accent to hear it right. Let me try my best. “It is monstrous to be told you have a heart as sinful as the common wretches that crawl on the earth. This is highly offensive and insulting, and I cannot but wonder that your ladyship should relish any sentiment so much at variance with high rank and good breeding.” Did you get that? Basically, she said that it was very offensive and insulting for someone of her class to be told that she had a sinful heart. And Jesus says, “I have come to tell Duchess of Buckingham that she needs to repent.” People don’t like to hear the gospel, but they must hear it. It is the only cure to their spiritual sickness. And the preaching of the gospel must be the church’s priority. This is the second priority.

Cleansing

Mark 1:40-44 – ⁴⁰ And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” ⁴¹ Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” ⁴² And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. ⁴³ And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, ⁴⁴ and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”

This story is extremely scandalous. In order to understand what is actually happening, we first need to know what leprosy is. Someone who has leprosy has a wasting skin disease that slowly crippled, disfigured, and finally kill their victims. It destroys the body slowly and turns one into a walking dead. A leper is physically falling apart. Leprosy covered a number of skin diseases. And this is interesting. One of the most common ones is called “Hansen’s disease.” I just thought you should know. Leprosy was an incurable disease. And in the Old Testament, it was generally regarded as a divine punishment for sin or hidden sin. Only God could heal leprosy. And those who had leprosy had to live in isolation.

Leviticus 13:45-46 – ⁴⁵ “The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ ⁴⁶ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp. Lepers must live alone. Not only because people believed that leprosy might be very contagious, but also the fact that whatever lepers touch became unclean. For example, they said that a leper who stood under a tree contaminated a clean person who passed by under that tree. That is why wherever they went, they had to cry out, “Unclean, unclean”, to let others know of their presence. Maybe the closest modern equivalent of this experience is the coronavirus. If we know someone is tested positive with the coronavirus, we stay as far as we can from that person. And that person must be quarantined. But if coronavirus patients must live in isolation for 14 days, those with leprosy must live in isolation for the rest of their lives. They were in a very lonely place. And they were not allowed to participate in worship. So, those with leprosy felt alone, afraid, ashamed, dirty. And there was nothing they could do to change it. They experienced absolute isolation. They were unclean. That is why what lepers need is not to be healed but to be cleansed.

So, a leper heard that Jesus is in town, and he is preaching the gospel, healing the sick, and casting out demons. And this leper decided to do something scandalous. He decided to risk everything and come to Jesus. Remember that lepers must live in isolation. By coming to Jesus, this man breaks both the Jewish law and custom. He risks everything on the chance of being cleansed and restored by Jesus. And as he makes his way toward Jesus, he probably cries out, “Unclean, unclean. Excuse me. Unclean, unclean. Get out of my way.” And the crowds are horrified. They immediately move away. Just like we would if someone shows up in church and say, “Covid 19 positive, covid 19 positive,” right? So, he kneels before Jesus and says, “Jesus, if you will, you can make me clean.” I love what he says to Jesus. This leper probably does not have good theology. He probably has no idea who Jesus truly is. He simply believes that if anyone can clean him from leprosy, it is Jesus. He has no doubt of Jesus’s ability to make him clean. But he says, “If you will Jesus, you can do it.” In other words, he doesn’t demand. He is very different from many of us. Many of us come to Jesus with demand. “Jesus, I trust you. But you better take care of my business. You better take care of my family. You better take care of my health.” But this leper doesn’t tell Jesus what to do. He comes to Jesus with no condition. He humbles himself before Jesus and abandons himself at the mercy of Jesus. And if Jesus does not respond, this man is doomed. He breaks all social codes, and he would be punished severely.

And what happens next is staggering. Mark writes that Jesus is moved with pity. I love ESV but I am not sure if pity is the right translation. What Mark tries to communicate here is not so much pity but anger and compassion blend together in perfect harmony. Jesus is angry at the misery of the leper. He knows that leprosy is not part of God’s original design for the world. Jesus is angry at the pain and brokenness that has caused so much misery for this man. But Jesus is also filled with compassion toward the leper. And what Jesus does next is absolutely scandalous. It is forbidden. Jesus stretches out his hand toward the leper. And everyone there must have thought, “Omo, omo, omo. No. He wouldn’t dare. Don’t tell me he is about to do what I think he is about to do. There is no way. Wait. What? Serious? Did he just? Did I see it right?” Jesus stretches out his hand and touches the leper. Everyone is shocked. Because according to their understanding, Jesus is now ceremonially unclean. Jesus is defiled. Jesus is dirty. But then Jesus says, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leper is clean. Leprosy left him at once. There is no sign of skin disease whatsoever. Picture that scene. This man looks at himself and for the first time in a long time, he realises that he is not alone. He is no longer ashamed. He is no longer dirty. If he has a family, he can now kiss his wife. He can now hug his children. He can now high-five his brother. The man who cried out, “Unclean, unclean”, now cries out, “I’m clean, I’m clean.” Jesus changes everything about this man’s life. And for the first time in human history, the clean touched the unclean and the unclean become clean. Rather than being contaminated by the leper, the leper is cleansed by Jesus. Jesus’ power to cleanse is infinitely greater than leprosy’s power to make unclean.

Here is the question that we must ask ourselves when we read this story. Why did Jesus touch the leper? He does not need to touch the leper to make the leper clean. Jesus could have cleansed him through many other ways. But why did he choose the most scandalous way to do it? Two reasons. First, it reveals Jesus’ character. Think about it. This leper has not experienced any human touch ever since he got leprosy. No one touched a leper. His wife could not kiss him. His kids could not hug him. His friends could not come near him. Do you know that babies cannot survive without human touch? Babies die from lack of touch. We were designed with an innate need to be touched by others. But this man has not been touched for years. He starves for love. And Jesus knows it. So, Jesus chooses to ignore the social codes and touches this man. And when Jesus touches him, for the first time in many years, the man feels human’s touch. He feels that someone cares for him. Someone loves him. Someone is not afraid of him. Jesus is a king, but he is unlike any other king. He is different. I love the way John Gerstner describes Jesus. He says, “In Jesus Christ, we see virtues combined that never anywhere else combined. We see tenderness without weakness, strength without a milligram of harshness, humility without one ounce of uncertainty. You see unbending convictions and yet complete and utter approachability. You see power without the slightest insensitivity. You see passion without the slightest prejudice. You see total integrity without any rigidity. Never unthinking. Never a false word. Never a misstep.” What is this? This is the king that we want. This is the king that our heart desires. In Jesus, we have a king who is not only powerful but also beautiful.

Second, and this is more personal, it reveals Jesus’ identity. Notice what Jesus does not do. According to the law of Moses, only a priest can declare you clean of leprosy. That is why after Jesus makes the leper clean, he tells him to go see a priest and have the priest declare him clean and welcome him back into the community. Jesus honours the law of Moses. Because Jesus does not come to negate the law of Moses but to fulfil the law of Moses. But at this time, Jesus also needs to see a priest. Because he has touched a leper. A priest must check his condition. But he does not do it. He doesn’t have to. Why? Because Jesus is not affected by the leper’s uncleanness. Jesus is different from us. Jesus is saying, “I am the only solution to your uncleanness. I am the only one who can wash you of your dirtiness. Not religion. Not a moral code. It’s me. It does not matter what you have done. It does not matter who you are. It does not matter how bad it is. And it does not matter what has been done to you. It does not matter how shameful it is. You don’t get rid of those feelings by working very hard and becoming very good. You get rid of those feelings of unclean, dirtiness and shame by coming to me. It doesn’t matter how bad it is. I am the only one who can make you clean. And I have come to touch you and make you clean.”

And this is good news for all of us who feel unclean, dirty, or ashamed because of what we have done or because of what someone else has done to us. The truth is all of us are spiritual lepers. And our spiritual leprosy is called sin. Sin has corrupted our hearts, thoughts, desires, actions, and words. It breaks us. And not only that, but sin isolates us from the presence of the holy God. And it destroys our relationship with people around us and it puts us in bondage. And there is absolutely nothing we can do on our own to cure ourselves of sin. Our only hope is to cast ourselves at the mercy of Jesus. Our only hope is to say to Jesus, “Jesus, if you will, you can make me clean.” And the good news of the gospel is that Jesus says to us, “I will. Be clean.” So, whatever sin troubling our conscience, whatever uncleanness weighing our heart, whatever shame wearies our soul, Jesus is able to touch the hurting places in our lives and make us clean. Hear the words of Jesus tonight. To all who are unclean, Jesus says, “I have come to make you clean.” To all who are guilty, Jesus says, “I have come to declare you innocent.” To all who are ashamed, Jesus says, “I have come to bestow honour upon you.” To all who are needy, Jesus says, “I have come to meet your deepest need.” To all who are unloved, Jesus says, “I have come to tell you that I love you and I will never ever forsake you.” This is the gospel.

However, look at what the leper does after Jesus cleansed him. Mark 1:45 – ⁴⁵ But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter. Jesus tells the leper to obey the law of Moses and show himself to the priest for proof that he no longer has leprosy. But Jesus also strongly warns him to not tell anyone about what happened. Why? Because remember, Jesus’ primary goal is to preach the gospel. Jesus does not want people to merely seek him for miracles. As wonderful as miracles are, they are not the point. Jesus is the point. Jesus wants people to come to him to get him. But the leper disobeys Jesus. This is surprising. On one hand, we can understand his excitement at being cleansed of his leprosy. On the other hand, the least he can do to express his gratitude to Jesus is to listen to him. But he ignores Jesus’ words and spread the news about what Jesus did. We might think that Jesus appreciates the free advertisement. If I preach a good sermon and you post it on Instagram story to say how blessed you are by it, I would be happy. I probably won’t repost your Instagram story because I want you to think that I am a humble pastor, but I would send you an emoticon for sure. But not Jesus. Because what this man did does not help Jesus’ ministry but hindered Jesus’ ministry. It interrupts the gospel agenda. Jesus can no longer openly enter a town and preach the gospel because of it. And as a result, the leper and Jesus switched places. Because of what Jesus has done, the leper who used to be out in lonely places is in the town. And because of the leper’s sin, Jesus who used to be in the town is out in lonely places.

Do you know what this is? This is a picture of the gospel. For the leper to become clean and welcomed in the town, Jesus has to go outside the town. And this is exactly what happens to Jesus at the end of his life. The road that Jesus takes lead him to be crucified outside the gate, in a lonely place. Jesus’ road leads him to take the place of lepers. Why? Because someone must pay for our uncleanness. Someone must pay for our guilt. Someone must pay for our shame. In order to make us clean, Jesus becomes unclean. In order for us to be welcomed, Jesus is excluded. In order for us to be forgiven of sin, Jesus is punished. My friends, don’t miss the greatest news in the universe. For our sake, God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin, so that in Jesus we might become the righteousness of God. The perfect Son of God suffered at the cross for us so that his blood can cover all our sins. It does not matter what we have done or what have been done to us, Jesus has taken it all upon himself so that we might become pure and blameless. Our uncleanness goes to Jesus so that we can be clean forever. And all we have to do is simply throw ourselves into his mercy. Today, when we come to Jesus, we do not say, “Jesus if you will, you can make me clean.” We know better. We say, “Jesus, I know you will. The cross is the proof. So, make me clean.” This is the gospel. So, bring your uncleanness to Jesus because Jesus is willing to make you clean.

Let me close with this. This is the kingdom’s priority: Prayer, preaching and cleansing. And this must be our priority as well. If we want to advance the kingdom of God, the key is not to find ways to attract as many crowds as possible. The way to advance the kingdom of God is to get on our knees in prayer, preach the gospel, and touch those who are hurting. The gospel produces people who do not stay away from this broken unclean world but engage it. We have the answer to the uncleanness of this world. And we don’t have to be afraid of the world making us unclean. Because Jesus has shown us that his cleanliness far supersedes the uncleanness of this world. Jesus can take those who are unclean and make them clean. Jesus can take those who are guilty and make them innocent. Jesus can take those who are ashamed and give them honour. Jesus can take those who are broken and make them whole. Jesus can take those who are sinful and make them righteous. Jesus can and Jesus will. So, let us be bold and share the gospel with everyone who needs to hear it. Let’s pray.

Discussion questions:

1. We know that we need to pray. But why do you think we often neglect the discipline of prayer?
2. “If Jesus’ priority is to preach the gospel, then the church’s priority must be to preach the gospel.” Is this true of your church experience? Why or why not?
3. List out some examples of what make people feels unclean, ashamed or dirty. Why do you think its very hard to shake off those feelings?
4. Look at the interaction between Jesus and the leper. Is there anything in the story that stands out for you? Share it with others.
5. How does the cleansing of the leper deals with the examples we list out in question 3?
6. Spend time praying for the advancement of the kingdom of God through our lives. May God gives us the heart to share the gospel with those who are hurting.