INTRODUCTION:

One of my favorite old stories is about the elderly woman who received a telegram informing her that she had just won $100,000. She was so excited that she was shaking. She went to the phone to start spreading the good news to all of her friends and family but she was so excited and so flustered she couldn't remember anyone's number. So she dialed the information operator who asked whose number she wanted. The elderly woman was so excited she said, "Oh, I don't care, just get me anybody."

Have you ever been that excited about some event in your life? We all have. There are certain events that just seem to trigger that kind of response. You just can't wait to tell someone.

Do you remember the day you graduated from High School or College or both? We thought we had the world by the tail didn't we? You couldn't wait to send out the announcements and invitations.

I remember when I was fixing to graduate from seminary. I was so excited. I'd been in college for four years and then in seminary for another four. I was ready to get out of school and start doing full time what I'd been studying for so long to do. About 3 or 4 months before graduation I inflicted a countdown upon my congregations. I started printing how many days it was until I graduated.

Or how about the day you got engaged to be married. If it was one of those romantic kind of settings or a surprise way in which it took place, you're probably still telling the story.

Then there's your wedding day. One of the most nerve wracking, stressful days of life. And yet it's also one of the most memorable days.

The day you find our you're going to have a baby. Or another baby. Or the day you find out your going to be a grandparent for the first time or the twenty-first time.

Then there's the day that baby is born and the first time you get to hold him or her in your arms.

Then there's all of those firsts: baby's first steps, first birthday, first words, first tooth. You have to tell everyone about those. You can't keep it to yourself.

There's all kinds of things that we celebrate. We celebrate the Good News in our life by telling others about it. We tell others, because the news we have is just "News Too Good To Keep."

That's what happened to the leper in today's passage of Scripture. He had "News Too Good To Keep." Let's look at the passage together. I'm reading from Mark 1:40-45 (The Message)

[40] A leper came to him, begging on his knees, "If you want to, you can cleanse me."

[41] Deeply moved, Jesus put out his hand, touched him, and said, "I want to. Be clean."

[42] Then and there the leprosy was gone, his skin smooth and healthy.

[43] Jesus dismissed him with strict orders:

[44] "Say nothing to anyone. Take the offering for cleansing that Moses prescribed and present yourself to the priest. This will validate your healing to the people."

[45] But as soon as the man was out of earshot, he told everyone he met what had happened, spreading the news all over town. So Jesus kept to out-of-the-way places, no longer able to move freely in and out of the city. But people found him, and came from all over.

The leper had "News Too Good To Keep." He'd been healed. With that in mind, let's look at THE FEELING, THE HEALING AND THE REVEALING."

I. THE FEELING:

A. WE KNOW THE FEELING THE LEPER FELT. If you've ever been the last one picked for any type of team. If you've ever been the last one asked to dance. Or the one they forgot to ask to participate in some event. If you've ever been passed over for a promotion. If you've ever been left out of a conversation or had the room go suddenly quiet when you walked in. Then you know exactly how and what the leper was feeling.

The leper probably hadn't had any good news in his life in a very long time. Lepers were religious and social outcasts. They were cut off from the rest of society. From their families and friends. There was no support group except other lepers. They were complete outcasts.

The leper in today's passage, either heard Jesus preach, heard how he had healed others, or had witnessed the healings Jesus had performed. Whatever the case, the leper also felt a sense of excited possibility for the first time in a long time.

The Feeling gave him the courage and tenacity to approach Jesus. He went to Jesus, fell on his knees and begged saying: "If you want to, you can cleanse me."

B. When you think about the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, you probably don't think about Paula Barila Bolopa. Paula was the women's 50m freestyle swimmer from Equatorial Guinea. She had also never been in a 50m swimming pool until she arrived in Sydney to compete.

How did Paula qualify for the Olympics?? She can barely swim across the pool and doesn't even get her face wet when she swims freestyle. She had never stood on a starting block before the Olympics. In fact, Paula didn't even have a swimsuit when she arrived in Sydney. She was invited to participate in the competition by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IOC has a program that reaches out to athletes from developing nations who might not otherwise have the opportunity to join in the world-famous games. Why in the world would Paula travel to Sydney to compete in an event she had no possible chance of winning? It took Paula more than three times longer than it took the women's freestyle gold medalist, Inge de Bruijn of the Netherlands to finish the 50m.

Perhaps sometimes it isn't about winning. When Paula finished her heat in 1 minute and 3.97 seconds, the crowd gave her a deafening round of applause. "I got very tired at the end, but the crowd urged me on," Paula confessed in a recent Sports Illustrated article. (1)

Which will carry you farther in life, a gold medal or undaunted courage?

This leper, this no-hoper, this outcast, this one cutoff from all love and affection, cut off from both his spiritual and his family roots came to Jesus, filled with both faith and that same undaunted courage. And he simply said: "If you want to, you can cleanse me."

He had THE FEELING, all right. He felt Jesus could and would heal him if he just asked in the right way. He put it into Jesus' hands. "If you want to, you can cleanse me."

II. THE HEALING:

AND THEN CAME THE HEALING. I love the way the Message puts this. [41] Deeply moved, Jesus put out his hand, touched him, and said, "I want to. Be clean."

Jesus said "Yes!" The leper put it all into Jesus' hands and Jesus chose to heal. He healed out of compassion for the leper.

He did it partly because of the man's faith and temerity. But Jesus also did it in part to prove who he was to those around Him who were questioning His credentials so to speak. He did it in part to put a stop to those who were asking "By what authority?" and "Who put you in charge?" This healing showed that Jesus was charge.

And He's still in charge today. The Good News is that Jesus continues to heal, today. Jesus still reaches out in compassion and brings healing. Sometimes it's in the form of physical healing like James Kinnear's mother, Jo Cater, Jimmie Jones and my friend Bud's brother.

But Jesus also heals on a deep spiritual level too. Sometimes THAT healing is more profound than the physical healing. Look at the healing that takes places in the live of the prison inmates in the Kairos program. These men and women are healed of their hate and distrust of others. Jesus heals the deep wounds that caused them to be who they are and do what they did.

While still outcasts in one sense, because of their imprisonment, they are brought into the society of the saved, those whose lives have been changed, those whose sins have been forgiven. Those who have been given a second chance. And as hard as it is for us to accept at times, they are no different than us. And they've been healed and forgiven.

And sometimes God even uses that to bring healing to the victims and their families.

THE LEPER HAD A FEELING ABOUT JESUS THAT LEAD TO THE HEALING.

III. THE REVEALING:

AND THE HEALING LEAD TO THE REVEALING.

You see, this leper looked down at his once rotting flesh and saw the now pink, smooth skin of his healing and he was ecstatic. He could hug his wife again. His kids could sit in his lap. He could go to Synagogue once more and hang out with all his old cronies. He was excited.

Of course he didn't keep his mouth shut. He had "News Too Good To Keep." He HAD to tell someone besides the priests. He was no longer cut off and alone. He was no longer a part of the living dead. He could enter the land of the living once again. He had "News Too Good To Keep." And so the leper started THE REVEALING. He began telling anyone and everyone what Jesus did for him.

B. You and I have "News Too Good To Keep." The Lepers news was good news, our is great news. You and I have the Good News of Salvation. You and I have the Good News of our worth in God's eyes.

You and I have the Great News that all is forgiven; that we'll be welcomed home if we'll just turn away and come back.

You and I have the Great News that there are second chances no matter how badly we've blown it.

You and I have the Great News that God loved us so much that Jesus came and died on the cross just to prove how much God loves us. And that through Jesus we can start life over again. We can being a part of the living dead and step into the land of the living. The land of Eternal Living.

We have Great News. "News Too Good To Keep To Ourselves."

CONCLUSION:

Have pizza (or fresh hot chocolate chip cookies) delivered.

I hope you don't mind but I've got a couple of meetings immediately following worship and won't have time for lunch, so I ordered a pizza. Doesn't that smell good. I love sausage pizza. It's not really on my diet but when you're in a hurry, hey. Oh, this is so good. This is delicious. Nothing quite like fresh hot sausage pizza.

Let's see, where were we. Oh yeah, I was talking about sharing the Good News and how important it is for us to share. It would be horrible if we didn't share the Good News of Jesus, if we just decided to keep it to ourselves. Just like it would be horrible if I were to stand up here for the rest of the service and eat pizza and not offer you any wouldn't. You would walk out of here madder than an old wet hen. You would feel put out and hurt.

Well, I thought of that, so I've ordered enough pizza for everyone to have just a little piece.

(Bring in the pizza.)

The point is this. Just like the Pizza we're about to share. We have something else of more infinite worth. We have the Good News of Jesus Christ. We have the Great News of God's love for us. And we have the Great News that our God is a God of second chances. (2)

I get THE FEELING you understand that.

I know you've experienced THE HEALING of God's forgiveness.

And now there's only one more side to that equation. THE REVEALING. Are you sharing the Good News with others? Don't taunt them. Instead, share your love for God and God's love for you with everyone you meet. They're hungry for it.

We have "News Too Good To Keep To Ourselves."

1. "Undaunted courage," Radical Games Web site, copyright 2001, girltech.com. Retrieved August 21, 2002.

2. "I see dead people" Written by John O'Keefe, Monday February 10, 2003 http://www.theooze.com

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4.

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www.rockies.net/~spirit/sermon.html (Richard Fairchild Lectionary Resources)

Homiletics, (Communications Resources, Inc., Canton, OH)

Lectionary Homiletics, (Lectionary Homiletics, Inc. Midlothian, VA)

Dynamic Preaching, (Seven Worlds Publishing, Knoxville, TN)

The Clergy Journal, (Logos Productions, Inc., Inver Grove Heights, MN)

Preaching Magazine (Preaching Resources, Jackson, TN)

Circuit Rider, (The United Methodist Publishing House, Nashville, TN)

The Interpreter's Bible, (Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1953)

The New Interpreter's Bible, (Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1995)

Lectionary Preaching Workbook, Cycle A, (CSS Publishing, Lima, OH, 2002) SermonPrep Version.

Preaching the Miracles, (CSS Publishing, Lima, OH, 1998) SermonPrep Version.

Preaching the Parables, Cycle A, (CSS Publishing, Lima, OH, 1997) SermonPrep Version.