Mark 1:40-45- The hands that set us free

The Hands That Set Us Free

Mark 1:40–45 | Palm Sunday. Also Isaiah 35:3-6

What Is Freedom?

If you asked people today what freedom means, most would say something like this: Freedom is the ability to do whatever you want.Freedom means choice.Freedom means independence.Freedom means not being constrained by anyone else.That’s how we tend to think. But historically, the idea of freedom meant something deeper.

In ancient societies—and even in the origins of the English word—a free person was someone who belonged. Someone who had a place in the community. Someone who could participate in the life of the people.

Freedom meant:

·       having a place

·       having a voice

·       being part of something

In other words, freedom was not simply the absence of restrictions. It was the restoration of belonging.And that idea helps us understand the passage before us today.

A Man Without Freedom

In Mark 1, we meet a man who has lost that kind of freedom completely.

He has leprosy.

Now in the ancient world, leprosy was not just a medical condition—it was a social and spiritual sentence.

Leviticus 13:45–46 tells us: “He must live alone; he must live outside the camp.”

That meant:

·       no family life

·       no temple worship

·       no participation in community

·       He was alive—but cut off.Present—but excluded.

This man is not just sick. He is outside everything we would consider normal. And in biblical terms, that means: He is cut off from the life of God’s people. This is what it means to lose freedom in the biblical sense.

A Remarkable Request

So when this man comes to Jesus, listen carefully to what he says: “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” He does not say, “heal me.” He says, “make me clean.” He understands the uniqueness of his disease. His problem is not just physical. It is relational. It is spiritual. It is about being cut off.

What he longs for is not just relief—but restoration. He is asking:

Can I belong again?Can I be brought back?Can I be free again?

Isaiah’s Promise: What God Would One Day Do

Now this is where some background information about the Old Testament opens this passage up. Because 500 years before this interaction, the prophet Isaiah spoke about a day when God would act. A day when the Kingdom of God would come near.

Isaiah 35 says:

“The eyes of the blind will be opened,the ears of the deaf unstopped,the lame will leap for joy…”

Isaiah 61 says:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…to proclaim good news to the poor…”

These passages describe the signs of restoration. They describe what would happen when God Himself came to save. Not just teaching. Not just ideas. But lives restored. People brought back into fellowship with God  and with each other. Creation beginning to be put right.

Mark’s Claim: That Day Has Arrived

When we come to Mark’s Gospel, the very first thing Jesus says is: “The Kingdom of God has come near.” (Mark 1:15) And then Mark begins to show us what that looks like. Not first in grand political change. Not first in cosmic events. But in restored lives. And one of the clearest signs is this: the unclean are made clean.

The Touch of Jesus: The Hand of God Now Present

So when Jesus reaches out and touches the leper, something extraordinary happens. What is significant about Jesus touching the leper? In the Old Testament, God’s saving action is often described as His hand.

·       The hand of the Lord delivers Israel from Egypt (Exodus 3:20)

·       The hand of the Lord heals and restores (Psalm 30:2)

·       The hand of the Lord leads His people (Isaiah 41:13)

But now, in Jesus, that hand is no longer distant. It is present. It is personal. God is intervening in the lives of people and touching them.

The Great Reversal

And here is the shock of the moment. Under the Law: If you touch something unclean—you become unclean. That’s how it works. We also understand this don’t we? In medicine, in hygiene, in everyday life—contamination spreads outward. But here, everything is reversed. Jesus touches the man— and instead of uncleanness spreading to Jesus, cleansing flows from Jesus to the man. This is not just compassion. This is Kingdom of God coming in power. This is what Isaiah promised. This is what happens when God’s salvation arrives.

The Power the Law Could Not Provide

Now this is where the Old Testament again helps us understand what is happening. The Law of Moses could:

·       diagnose uncleanness

·       isolate it

·       regulate restoration

But it could not cleanse. The priest could say, “You are unclean.” The priest could later say, “You are clean.” But the priest could never make someone clean.

So let us go back to the story and we find that Jesus says: “I am willing. Be clean.” And immediately, the man is cleansed.

Jeremiah 31 and the New Covenant

Centuries earlier, the prophet Jeremiah spoke about this day! ... a day when God would do something new. “I will put my law within them… I will forgive their iniquity… I will remember their sin no more.” (Jer 31:34,35)

The difference between the old covenant and the new covenant is this: The old covenant exposes the problem ...essential – we have to understand the problem. The new covenant removes it. And in Mark 1, we see this promise demonstrated. This man is not declared clean. He is made clean. The Kingdom of God has come near.

Palm Sunday: The Same Hands

So let us now move forward to Palm Sunday, we remember this event today.... Jesus enters Jerusalem. The crowds are celebrating: “Hosanna!” They welcome him as King. But they do not yet understand the kind of King he is. Because the King who brings restoration does not do it by avoiding uncleanness, he doesn’t do it by separating himself from the uncleanness — He does it by entering into it. The Hands That Are Pierced are the same hands that touched the leper… the same hands that restored the outcast…are the hands that will soon be:

·       bound

·       struck

·       nailed to a cross

The Hands That Are Pierced

Why?

Because Jesus did not come only to heal symptoms. He came to deal with the deeper problem. Leprosy is a picture of something greater. Just as the leper is cut off from the community,...So sin separates us from God. And at the cross, Jesus takes that place... takes our place. He is cast out. Rejected. Crucified outside the city. As the book of Hebrews says “Jesus suffered outside the gate to make the people holy.” The King who restores the excluded—  becomes the excluded.

Isaiah Fulfilled at the Cross

And now we see the full meaning of Isaiah. The restoration Isaiah promised..... is not achieved simply by miracles— but by the cross. Because the same power that opens blind eyes ..... and cleanses lepers— is the power that removes sin.The Kingdom comes not just in healing — but in sacrifice.

True Freedom

So now we too can see what freedom really means.Freedom is not just doing what we want.Freedom is:

·      being restored.

·      being brought back.

·      belonging again—to God and to one another.

And that is what Christ accomplishes.

The Open Hands of Christ

Let me finish with this picture/image. In Mark 1, a man who had not been touched for years kneels before Jesus. No one would go near him. No one would touch him. But Jesus stretches out his hand. And that hand brings healing. Now move forward to the cross. Those same hands are stretched out again. But this time. —  they are pierced.

Why? Because the One who touched the unclean has come to take their place...our place! And when Jesus rises from the dead, what does he show his disciples? His hands. The wounds remain. “These are the hands that have set you free.”

How can we apply this?

 “We are Brought Back In” So what does this mean for us?

This passage is not just about a man long ago—it’s about us. Because in different ways, we all know what it is to be on the edge. Sometimes it’s obvious—hard seasons, isolation, pressure, things not going well.Sometimes it’s quieter— we just feel distant from God, carrying things we haven’t dealt with ..... or just getting on with life but not really walking closely with Him.

And the question is this:

Are we standing in the crowd— cheering Jesus as he rides by (as many did on that Palm Sunday), interested, familiar, but we are still cheering from the side, keeping everything at a distance ….. or coming to Him like the leper—honest, dependent, and ready to be restored?

Because real freedom doesn’t come from holding everything together.

It comes from coming to Christ.

This is what Jesus does. He brings people back in.... back into relationship, back into fellowship The hands that touched the leper are the hands that were pierced for you.

And those hands are still open to us — they call us not just to be healed, but to be restored, to be cleansed ..... brought into the fellowship with God.

This is indeed good news.

The leper ‘went out and... spread the news .... and people were coming to him [Jesus] from every quarter’ v 45

So as we ‘go out’ today .... what is our story? What news shall we be telling?

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