Mar 1:41 I will; be clean.

Mar 1:41 I will; be clean.
Alternative: I want you to be cleansed.

What does Christ want us to be cleansed of? How does he want us to "turn around" (Mar 1:15 discussion)? What water does he want the Apostle's to pull us out of as "fishers of men" (Mar 1:17 discussion)? What change is he heralding (Mar 1:38)?

First, Christ came to put our suffering in this life into a large perspective. Our temporary suffering in this life is not only temporary, but it serves a purpose. Christ came to awaken us to that purpose and the meaning of human suffering. As certain physical constants in the universe are necessary for life to exist, evil and suffering are necessary conditions for a meaningful life. Christ is truly saying what he means: though suffering is necessary we can be cleanse of its burden.

There are two kinds of evil: suffering cause by nature (sickness, disaster, death), the kind of suffering that Christ is dealing with here, and evil caused by the actions by humans. If evil actions by humans were not possible, we would have no meaningful choices. If no suffering (ours or that of others) resulted as consequence of our decisions, all choices would be equally good and therefore meaningless. First, Christ wants us to be cleanse of our misconceptions that by doing evil we can somehow gain from it. Any short-term gain becomes a long-term loss.

This brings us to the suffering Christ is addressing here, the suffering that is cause by the nature of things, disease, aging, and eventual death. If there were no natural suffering, we would have no reason to care for one another and no incentive to learn more about the world and how it works. Awareness of death itself puts our life into a greater perspective. As Christ says in the Beatitudes, those who mourn on being "summoned," summoned to a greater awareness.

Christ wanted us to focus on what our suffering demands of us: caring for one another and learning about the world. Like children complaining that their parents won’t let them eat candy for every meal, we have to realize that this world has suffering of both types as necessary conditions for our freedom and growth. Christ wants us to be cleansed of our misconceptions about life. He wanted us to realize that our choices involve real freedom and real consequences.

"I will" is from thelô (thelo), which means "to be willing", "to wish", "to ordain", "to decree", "to be resolved to a purpose" and "to desire."

"Be clean" is from katharizô (katharizo), which means "to clean," :to clear the ground of weeds,""prune away, ""to remove dirt," and "to remove impurities." It is also used to describe the removal of the inedible parts from grain (winn0wing), clearing weeds from a field, pruning a plant and so on.