The Unfairness of Kindness and the Indignant Jesus

Mark 1:40-45…

⁴⁰ A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

⁴¹ Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” ⁴² Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.

⁴³ Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: ⁴⁴ “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.” ⁴⁵ 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.

Believe it or not, my bible says Jesus was “filled with compassion”, not indignant. So yesterday, I was all ready to write a blog on the surprising compassion of Jesus when I stumbled across this newer translation. Apparently, the words look similar in the Greek and the translation committee had manuscripts using both words. They felt “indignant” was more appropriate to the context of Mark’s gospel and probably a scribe, not understanding why Jesus should be upset about healing a leper, tweaked the words to read “filled with compassion.” I might’ve done the same thing and I have to admit I felt “indignant” that I should have to adjust my reading of scripture here to account for an annoyed Jesus healing a leper.  Seems kind of cold doesn’t it?

Well, I’ve done some reading and to my chagrin, I’ve concluded that indignant is probably a  good translation, but the question I have to ask is “why”? Isn’t Jesus known for his compassion with the downtrodden? Why would he be mad that a poor beleagured soul is throwing himself in an act of faith and reliance at the feet of the Savior? Here’s a couple possible reasons I reject:

1. Jesus just rolled out of the wrong side of the bed that morning. I assume that everything in this gospel is written for a reason and I can think of a million other ways to say, “Jesus had grumpy days.” No, I think this story is more complex than that.

2. Being Jewish, Jesus was mad that a leper would approach him, making him ceremonially unclean. Then why would Mark go out of the way to record that Jesus “reached out” and touched the man? Seems like touching would be counterproductive and Jesus constantly harps on people who just clean “the outside of the cup.”

So here are 3 reasons for Jesus’ indignance that I find probable and consistent with the Jesus in Mark. All 3 rely on Jesus knowing how this would all play out if he healed the man.

       1.     If I heal this man Satan will use his testimony to cloud peoples’ minds about my true identity and mission. People already think I’m a magician and this will be one more reason for people to love me for what I do and not for who I am. The only way around this is if he agrees to keep his healing a secret from the crowds.

       2.     If I heal this man, the priests will be upset that I made myself ceremonially unclean rather than understanding the significance of the fact that the work of my Father is being done. The only way to challenge their paradigm is to send this man to them to fulfill his religious obligation in being healed.

       3.     I know what’s in this man’s heart. He believes me for healing. But he doesn’t trust me enough to obey my instructions. He’s going to tell everyone about this, driving everybody away from a right understanding of who I am and what I came to do.

All these seem consistent with Jesus saying, “how long must I put up with this generation,” or in modern English, “you guys just don’t get it do you?” But what I see in Jesus, deeper than anger or indignance, is a deeply principled person who, compelled by the Father’s love and the Father’s business, rejects a number of practical considerations and does something because it's right, regardless of “what this will mean.”

Debra and I are watching MI-5 on Netflix. It’s a British TV series in which officers of the intelligence service are constantly forced in ethical quandaries in which functionalistic considerations are weighed against moral standards. Usually the bad guys say things like, “nobody plays by the rules anymore. If we insist on towing the line of ethical conduct, the nation we’re charged to protect will be destroyed or marginalized. Scrupulous people are naïve. We can’t afford morality. You’ve gotta break a few eggs…” Of course the good guys are always insisting that if we lose sight of our standards, we’ve lost something much deeper than our physical security.

That’s kind of what I see here in Jesus’ actions. He’s upset by the rottenness of the human heart. He’s frustrated that his choice to heal a single leper will (at least in the short run) lead to scandal and misunderstanding rather than the redemption of people. But he looks angrily into the face of practical considerations and flips them the bird. He must do His Father’s work. It’s who He is. He can do nothing else.

Have you ever felt like doing the “right thing” is a trap? I have. Everytime I give a dollar to a homeless person, I feel like it’s a trap set just for me. I feel a deep anger, an “indignance” that my compassion might lead to dependency or empowering unhealthy choices. I hate living in a world in which kindness can have seriously negative consequences. It so unfair. And inevitably, the pressure of “what this will do” to the person drives me at the end of the day to close my garage door and turn on my TV and try not to think about it. But Jesus thinks about it. And if I’m following Him, I’ll have to think about it.

I’m not saying we should reject common sense or all practical considerations. But I am saying we have to stay engaged. We have to wrestle. And at the end of the day, if we’re following Jesus, we have to choose to be about the Father’s business, even if doing so opens a can of worms. Of course it’ll make us angry. It SHOULD make us angry! But if we forget what the Father is about, then we’ve forgotten a critical part of what it means to be Christian. So here’s a refresher from the words of Jesus:

 “The Spirit of the LORD is upon me,

for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,

that the blind will see,

that the oppressed will be set free,

and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.”

“For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.

“Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”