The passage
      v40. The authority of Jesus is again exhibited, on this occasion in the healing of a man with leprosy, a disease as good as death. There is a sense of urgency in the leper's "coming" as he immediately kneels before Jesus in recognition of his authority. This recognition is carried over to the leper's statement that if Jesus wanted to, he could easily heal him. The leper doesn't actually plead for healing, but rather recognizes Jesus ability to heal. The "begged him" and the "if you are willing" in the NIV, do not properly convey the sense of the original.
      v41-42. The leper makes the point that Jesus has the power to heal him. Jesus agrees with this comment (something like "I am well able" would convey the sense better than "I am willing) and out of compassion reaches toward him, touches him and says "be cleansed." Although the priests are able to declare ritual cleansing, only Jesus is able to cleanse, immediately and completely. Mark's addition of the words "the leprosy left him" describes the physical cure, while "he was cured" (better "cleansed") describes the restoration of the leper's covenant membership; he will no longer have to live beyond the camp, Lev.13:45-46.
      v43-44. These verses seem to imply that Jesus wants to keep the miracle secret and it is for this reason that he instructs the leper to say nothing to anyone, other than to a temple priest. Jesus may want to limit the problem of a discipleship driven by either wonderworking hysteria or messianic fervor. Yet, it is possible that Jesus is not trying to hide the miracle, in fact, as a sign of the coming kingdom, he may well be promoting it. Jesus forcefully tells the leper to go straight to the priest for the inspection of his body, rather than to dilly-dally with his friends and neighbors. Once the priest has declared him clean, the leper can then offer the appropriate sacrifice as "a testimony (witness) to them" - an evidence to his neighbors (not the priest) that he is indeed "cured", even better, "cleansed" in the sight of God.
      v45. The miraculous healing of the leper achieves its intended end. The leper becomes an enthusiastic witness. Mark's words imply that he sets about proclaiming the gospel though the witness of his healing - "if I by the finger of God ..... then you know that the kingdom of God is upon you." The leper's preaching achieves dramatic results. The crowds that seek out Jesus are so large that the local towns cannot contain them. Jesus is forced to stay in the countryside and even then the people flock to him. So, Mark concludes this episode by again illustrating the personal magnetism and popularity of Jesus.

Magnetic preaching
      In our passage for study, Mark tells the story of the healing of a leper. It's a story which focuses on Jesus' authority and popularity.
      Much is often made of the words "if you are willing", and of Jesus' reply, "I am willing." The only problem is the leper is most likely saying something like "you are able", and Jesus is saying, "I am indeed able." For Mark, the story illustrates the authority of Jesus, an authority even over a disease as good as death. The leper is not just healed, but cleansed.
      The other point that Mark want's to make concerns Jesus' popularity. It is often said that the leper failed to keep his healing a secret and in so doing, undermined Jesus' Galilean mission. The trouble is, it is likely that Jesus was promoting the sign of the leper's healing by telling him to go straight to the priest to have the healing verified and then publicly proclaimed in the offering of an appropriate sacrifice. We are not told whether or not the leper fulfills his cultic responsibilities, but we are told that he is soon proclaiming the gospel in word and sign, the sign being his own healing. The public acclamation that follows is not a bad result, but a better than expected result. Jesus is now so popular that he can draw a crowd in the wilderness. Mark underlines this burst in Jesus' popularity at the hands of a healed leper.
      As the months pass, Jesus' popularity will increase further, but the crowds will fail to read the signs and hear the word. Jesus will soon preach in riddles - a word of judgement upon his own generation. Finally, the crowds will try to make him their secular king and so Jesus will withdraw from public ministry before making his final journey to Jerusalem. For the moment, these are but early days and the cross is far away.
      Every generation deserves to hear the gospel from fresh and innocent lips. Hearts do grow cold and become unfruitful ground for evangelism. Such hearts are good only for parables, for riddles. It is often said that Western society is already resistant to the gospel. Yet, every generation listens with a new ear and so requires a new storyteller. For the better part of the last century, evangelistic crusades, led by such greats as Billy Graham, proclaimed the gospel to willing ears. Then there was the Jesus Revolution followed by networking programs such EE, or Christianity Explained. TV evangelists of varying worth touched another generation. Bill Bright led the move into video, and now generation X and Y waits to meet the digitally enhanced cosmic Christ in cyber space. So it is that we pray for a fresh voice to impact our new millennium.

v41
      splagcnisqeiV (splagcnizomai) aor. pas. part. "filled with compassion" - being inwardly feeling of tenderness or compassion. The participle is probably causal, "because he was filled with pity, he stretched ....." Descriptions like these highlight the goodness of Jesus and therefore, the evil of his crucifixion. A textual variant, "filled with anger", is adopted by some commentators. Is Jesus angry at the damage done to this man?.
      ekteinaV (ekteinw) aor. part. "reached out" - reaching out, stretching out. Attendant circumstance participle.
      hJyato (aJptomai) aor. "touched" - touched, held, grasped, clung to. Again the physical touch of Jesus is noted and in this case he is touching an unclean leper, unconcerned with the possible communication of disease. "Stretched out his hand and placed it on the leper", Phillips.
      qelw pres. "I am willing" - I want, wish, will. "I will" better reflects the sense "I am able", rather than "I am willing to heal you." "I am well able."

v42
      euquV "immediately" - Noting the instantaneous nature of Jesus' healing.
      aphlqen (apercomai) aor. "left" - went. Describing the disappearance of the physical evidence of the disease.
      ekaqarisqh (kaqarizw) aor. pas. "he was cured" - he was cleansed, made clean. The aorist is probably culminative where the emphases is on the results of the completed action. The sense of cleansing is the thrust here, not physical cure, although Mark is probably making both points; the Leper is cured and cleansed.

v43
      exebalen (ekballw) aor. "[Jesus] sent [him] away [at once]" - [he] cast out, drove out [him immediately]. This is a rather strong word. Most translators opt for a softer "dismissed him", REB, "sent him away", but these words do not express the idea of forcible expulsion. Yet, why would Jesus drive him out of the synagogue? Note a similar problem with "strong warning."
      embrimhsamenoV (embrimaomai) aor. mid. part. "with a strong warning" - having sternly warned him, growled at, scolded. The participle is probably temporal, "after warning him, he sent him away immediately." Although numerous possibilities have been suggested, eg. the man, or his illness, has some Satanic association, there is really no reason for Jesus to be upset with the leper and so censure him, "growl" at him. Gundry suggests that Mark has used this particular verb to emphasize the forcefulness of Jesus' instruction that the leper should go immediately and show himself to the priest. The "strict injunction", Phillips, is probably not "don't tell this to anyone", v43, rather it is "don't hang around here speaking about the healing, but go......" Jesus wants the leper to have his healing confirmed by the priest as quickly as possible so that he can return to his local community. Of course, we may be dealing with the messianic secret where Jesus downplays his miracles so as not to promote messianic fervor in the wider population, in which case, "don't tell anyone" is likely to be the sense of Jesus' instruction, cf. v45.

v44
      mhdeni mhden "don't [tell this] to anyone" - to no one you say nothing. A double negative continuing the forcefulness of Jesus' instruction.
      deixon (deiknumi) aor. imp. "show" - Lev.13:49. There is debate over whether he is to show himself to a local priest or a priest of the temple in Jerusalem. The issue hangs on the actual content of "your offer for cleansing of which Moses commanded", cf. Lev.14:1-32.
      prosenegke (prosferew) aor. imp. "offer" - carry, bring, offer. Often "offer" in the terms of a sacrificial offering, so "the sacrifices" understood. For those who hold that offering a sacrifice is too specific, "take a gift to the temple as Moses commanded", CEV.
      prosetaxen (prostassw) aor. "commanded" - ordered, commanded. "What Moses commanded", NRSV.
      eis marturion autoiV "as a testimony to them" - as an evidence of what is witnessed or said to them. The "witness", possibly "proof", Cranfield, is probably not to the priest, but rather to the leper's neighbors. The word is used elsewhere with a negative connotation; a witness against those who reject Christ, cf. 6:11, 13:9, but this is probably not the sense here. Jesus' instruction is all about due process. The priest inspects the leper's body for open sores etc., and if healed, declares the leper clean. The leper then offers a sacrifice as instructed in Leviticus, which serves as "a witness" to "them", ie. the people, that he is clean and therefore may return to his community. "To prove to your neighbors that you are properly cured."