Mark 1:45

But the leper, although the Lord forbade him, disclosed the benefit, wherefore it goes on: But he having gone out, began to publish and to blaze abroad the tale; for the person benefited ought to be grateful, and to return thanks, even though his benefactor requires it not.

But he went out,....

8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. What the New Testament is--the divine testament, to which we adhere above all that is human; the new testament, which we advance above that which was old. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God,

Began to publish it much - Began to publish πολλα, many things; probably all that he had heard about our Lord’s miraculous works. And to blaze abroad the matter - That is, his own healing; thinking he could never speak too much, nor too well, of him who had thus mercifully and miraculously cleansed him. Jesus could no more openly enter into the city - A city of Galilee, probably Chorazin or Bethsaida, in which he did not appear, for fear of exciting the jealousy of the secular government, or the envy and malice of the Jewish rulers.

We read in these verses how our Lord Jesus Christ healed a leper. Of all our Lord's miracles of healing none were probably more marvelous than those performed on leprous people. Two cases only have been fully described in the Gospel history. Of these two, the case before us is one. Let us try to realize, in the first place, the dreadful nature of the disease which Jesus cured . Leprosy is a complaint of which we know little or nothing in our northern climate. In Bible lands it is far more common.

THE fact as it stands is well worthy of our notice and offers considerable encouragement to us. The multitudes came to hear our Lord and to see His miracles. He could not be hidden—wherever He appeared a congregation soon assembled. Indeed, the crowds became too large and too pressing, "insomuch that they trod one upon another." Few preachers suffer from our Lord's difficulty, but it was a frequent necessity with Him to use means to diminish the crowds and, therefore, He repaired to desert places, or took boats and crossed the sea.

THE fact as it stands is well worthy of our notice and offers considerable encouragement to us. The multitudes came to hear our Lord and to see His miracles. He could not be hidden—wherever He appeared a congregation soon assembled. Indeed, the crowds became too large and too pressing, "insomuch that they trod one upon another." Few preachers suffer from our Lord's difficulty, but it was a frequent necessity with Him to use means to diminish the crowds and, therefore, He repaired to desert places, or took boats and crossed the sea. I gather from this, dear Friends, that notwithstanding the holiness of our Lord's doctrine and the way in which it runs counter to the desires of the carnal heart. Notwithstanding the plainness of His rebukes and the way in which He lays pride in the dust, there is a remarkable attractiveness to all kinds of men in the teaching of the Lord Jesus. If we would find a topic calculated to interest the masses, we need not go abroad for novelties—the old, old Gospel will best collect the eager anxious throng. Other things being equal, you shall find that more men will be drawn together to hear of Christ than to listen to any other topic. And this will continue year after year while other subjects have lost what temporary interest they once possessed. Give a man any other theme you please and let him expound upon it three or four times a week in the same place, to the same audience, and it will not be long before his hearers will be weary and he, himself, will be worn out.

We read in these verses how our Lord Jesus Christ healed a leper. Of all our Lord's miracles of healing none were probably more marvelous than those performed on leprous people. Two cases only have been fully described in the Gospel history. Of these two, the case before us is one. Let us try to realize, in the first place, the dreadful nature of the disease which Jesus cured . Leprosy is a complaint of which we know little or nothing in our northern climate. In Bible lands it is far more common. It is a disease which is utterly incurable . It is no mere skin disorder, as some ignorantly suppose. It is a radical disease of the whole man. It attacks, not merely the skin, but the blood, the flesh, and the bones, until the unhappy patient begins to lose his extremities, and to rot by inches. Let us remember beside this, that, among the Jews, the leper was reckoned unclean, and was cut off from the congregation of Israel and the ordinances of religion. He was obliged to dwell in a separate house. None might touch him or minister to him. Let us remember all this, and then we may have some idea of the remarkable wretchedness of a leprous person. To use the words of Aaron, when he interceded for Miriam, he was "as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed." (Numbers 12:12.) But is there nothing like leprosy among ourselves? Yes! indeed there is. There is a foul soul-disease which is ingrained into our very nature, and cleaves to our bones and marrow with deadly force. That disease is the plague of sin. Like leprosy, it is a deep-seated disease infecting every part of our nature, heart, will, conscience, understanding, memory, and affections. Like leprosy, it makes us loathsome and abominable, unfit for the company of God, and unfit for the glory of heaven.