Jesus is willing

"Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”41Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.”  42As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.  43And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once,  44and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

                                                                       Mark 1:40-45   NKJV

This passage shows us the compassion of Jesus. It must have been a scary time for the leper as he approached Jesus and knelt down before Him saying, 'If you are willing, You can make me clean.'Try and picture the scene. Jesus had been 

on a preaching mission throughout the area, and no doubt He would have felt weary. However, people would never leave Him alone, He was notorious. This man would have been like an outcast at this time - the leprosy would have excluded him from 

any contact with anyone; yet, here he was kneeling before Jesus begging Him for help - 'If you are willing, You can make me clean.'

Of course Jesus was willing to make him clean. He even touched him putting Himself at risk of contamination, something that the crowd noticed and spoke about, alerting this fact to the Sadducees and others looking for an argument. The Man was healed instantly from this terrible disease and Jesus warned him not to speak about this but to go straight to the priest offering cleansing as directed according to Moses Law. Sadly, he didn't obey Jesus and went outside declaring his cleansing wherever he went.

Now before, we begin to judge this chap, let us consider how we would have felt. He may well have had Leprosy all of his life and suddenly, he is healed by Jesus. Of course this was something to shout about. Doing this though, meant that Jesus could no longer enter the city. It hindered His ministry.

The man healed of this terrible condition would have disappointed Jesus but, there is no sign that he lost his healing because of his disobedience. Jesus doesn't give us something and then take it back. However, it meant that Jesus had to cope with the many people who had heard about this and, wanted to see Him. It also would not have pleased the officials who were trying to stop Jesus preaching such things about God.

This piece of scripture leads us to think about the many times we have disappointed Jesus and prevented His work in certain areas. Thank God that Jesus is so forgiving and holds nothing against us for the wrongs that we still do.

Copyright 2025 Grahame Howard. 

If you don't know Jesus or, have fallen away, why not say this prayer right now:

Lord Jesus, I have sinned. I ask you to forgive me and be my Lord and Saviour. Please come into my heart, fill me with Your Spirit and give me a brand new start today. 

In Jesus' Name. Amen'

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

If you would like to contact me, grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

Member of the National Association of Christian Ministers

Why not order my Daily Commentary from Amazon - Paperback or Kindle 

Check it out. Just tap in Grahame Howard books.