Freedom of Choice

Freedom is something that we in the US have come to cherish. We hold it up as the highest attribute of our society. Freedom allows us to have choices, and to make choices for ourselves and for others. The frustrating part of freedom is it can also be very limiting. That’s right I said limiting. How can this be? Well, we all have the freedom to make choices, but we also realize that the choices we make have consequences. Now consequences are neither good nor bad. We have placed a negative stigma on the word, but it is really a benign word. Consequences are just the result of choices we make and the actions we take based upon those choices. I can still remember my oldest son when he was 2 and a half and they were learning about this at preschool. I found him lecturing the dog saying, “Jake you made choices, and choices have consequences.” I don’t think the dog quite got it. But in any event, some choices work out great and others not so much. Still others lead us to places and actions that we had no idea that the results would be that way.


In our passage from Mark 1:40-45 Jesus has a choice to make. And his choice has consequences. Notice what happens here. As the man with leprosy comes to Jesus he doesn’t ask Jesus directly if he could heal him, in stead he says if you choose you can make me clean. Now there is stuff to unpack here as well. Some translations say a couple of different things. Some say the leper asks to be well, while others say to be made clean. Some translations also say that Jesus was moved with pity or compassion, while others say he was incensed, or indignant but chose anyway. How we read this has a lot to do with how we live it as well.

First note the man was not coming asking. His approaching Jesus in the first place, is not a question, but it’s a statement of faith and belief. He goes to Jesus and lays the choice at his feet, he believes in Jesus and what he can do. Now regardless of how we interpret Jesus initial response, he makes the choice and lays hands on him and makes him clean, makes him whole. Lepers at the time were not only isolated because of the contagious nature of the disease, but they were also considered unclean as human beings, outcast from the rest of society, for their obvious sin, that has fully separated them from the community of faith. There really wasn’t a lot of hope for them. So for the man to believe that Jesus can make him clean is a tremendous statement of faith in that he recognizes that for the first time, in who knows how long, he has hope. He can be restored and he can be made whole.

Let me pose a couple of questions for us today: Do we believe that Jesus can make us whole? Are we willing to make the choice that lies before us stepping out in faith to approach Jesus with humbleness and humility, and trust that he can and do the things we are promised in the Gospels? Are we as the body of Christ going to make that choice?