Mark 1:41: Was Jesus Angry At The Leper?

 

Mark 1:41: Was Jesus Angry At The Leper?

Brett A. Todd

It appears that some of the early pious Christians, like many Christians today, frowned upon, or at least, struggled with the idea that anger could be a godly virtue.  You know, “Be angry but do not sin” (Ephesians 4:26).  This seems to be the case in the story of Jesus and the leper in our earliest gospel.  Let’s take a look.

Moved with anger, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, "I am willing. Be made clean!”  (Mark 1:41).

In this story of the leper, Jesus is traveling about Galilee and preaching in the local synagogues and casting out demons, and healing the sick. As Jesus is preaching, he is approached by a leper who asked Jesus to cleanse him.  In verse 41, we are told that Jesus is moved with anger and cleanses the man.  You may be looking at your Bible, unless it is a New International Version, and saying to yourself, “Wait a minute, my Bible says that he was moved with pity or with compassion.  Where does it say that Jesus became angry?”

It is true that most Bible translations either say that Jesus was moved with compassion or with pity, but there are other ancient manuscripts that use the word anger instead of compassion or pity.  In fact, if you have a good study Bible, you will have a note referring to other reliable ancient manuscripts that read, “he was moved with anger.”

Once again, we have come upon a passage of Scriptures where some scribe changed the wording to suit his fancy.  Please note that there is a pretty big difference between being angry or compassionate.

There is a tell-tale sign that tells us that something happened here.  Both gospels of Matthew and Luke who are copying Mark say nothing about Jesus being angry or compassionate.  They just skip over the whole matter.  In other words, Matthew and Luke know there is an elephant in the room, and they don’t want to talk about it.

It seems more than likely someone, just like Matthew and Luke, did not feel comfortable with the idea of Jesus getting angry at the poor old leper and decided to change it to something less offensive.  Bear in mind that it was not uncommon for Jesus to get angry in the Gospel of Mark (3:5 and 10:14).  But in this reading, it seems obvious that some Scribe was aggravated and changed the wording to make Jesus look more caring and loving (See M. A Proctor and Bart Ehrman).

In our next study, we will answer the question: Why was Jesus angry at the leper?