"If You are willing, You can make me clean. (41) Then Jesus moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, 'I am willing, be cleansed." V40-41 Mark 1:40-45 NKJV
There was faith and determination in this man's words to Jesus. He had obviously heard about Him and how people were being healed. Having leprosy, he was an outcast; people would not go near someone who had this disease. They believed that it was caused by sin in their life and one would be defiled if they touched such a person.
We get a glimpse of Jesus' heart here; when He spoke with the man, He was filled with compassion. This man was an outcast and had nothing, no life that you could speak of. He had no one to love or to love him. Then he met Jesus and his whole life changed for the better. 'I am willing; be cleansed.'
It would be easy to berate the man. Jesus had healed him on the spot and told him to go to the priest for confirmation that he was ceremoniously clean. He was told to tell no one what had happened, but he did. Think about it for a moment though, he was not blatantly disobedient, not at all. He had been an outcast with no life at all, now he was a somebody with his life back and a future; of course he wanted to tell someone, wouldn't you? He had a story to tell. Sadly though, this prevented Jesus from preaching in the area because of the publicity, so it was an hindrance. People all over the world love to testify of God's goodness to them. He was just doing the same. He just had to tell someone.
Looking deeply into this account, we see someone with a very great need. An outcast with no one to turn to, no one to share love with. We may also see a deep poverty, that is filled with brokenness, loneliness, depression and desperation. You may be married, separated or single and life at the moment may be pretty grim. In fact, for many reasons, your life may be falling apart. No one seems to care; the telephone never rings and no one ever calls in. Money is also tight and that special job is always too difficult to secure.
In a way, this is similar to what the man with leprosy was feeling. But notice one important thing; he didn't just sit around waiting for things to change. He became proactive and approached Jesus - 'If you are willing'. And that is all it took. He knelt down before Jesus and poured out his heart. Jesus' heart melted, and His heart will melt for you as well. Go to Him now!
Copyriight 2021 Grahame Howard
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