Mark 1:40 (WEB)

Passage

A leper came to him, begging him, kneeling down to him, and saying to him, “If you want to, you can make me clean.”

Nearby Context

Mark 1:38 He said to them, “Let’s go elsewhere into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because I came out for this reason.”

Mark 1:39 He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out demons.

Mark 1:40 A leper came to him, begging him, kneeling down to him, and saying to him, “If you want to, you can make me clean.”

Mark 1:41 Being moved with compassion, he stretched out his hand, and touched him, and said to him, “I want to. Be made clean.”

Mark 1:42 When he had said this, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was made clean.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "leper", "came", "begging", "kneeling", "down", "saying", "want", and "make". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "leper" and "came", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 39's "He went into their synagogues throughout all..." into verse 41's "Being moved with compassion he stretched out...", so "leper" and "came" belong inside that flow. In Mark context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "leper" and "came" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.