He's Willing!

Another one of my favorite accounts from the Life of Christ comes from Matthew 8:1-3.

Right after Jesus preached his “Sermon on the Mount,” he came down and was met by a leper. This must have been quite a sight.

There was a large crowd listening to Jesus teach and I’m sure they would have all been milling around trying to get closer. But if we could step back and watch this scene unfold, we would notice people scattering. As we begin to search for why they were scattering, we might have heard a voice crying out, “Unclean, unclean!” And then we would have noticed the leper, bloodied, heavily bandaged, missing fingers and toes, dirty and dusty moving towards Jesus.

I can picture everyone around Jesus scattering. Some would have been screaming warnings of “UNCLEAN, UNCLEAN!” Others would have reached for a rock to throw. Jesus never moved. He never reached for a rock. He just stood there, watching the leper move closer and closer.

As the leper neared Christ, he knelt. It was an act of humility and worship. The screams and scattering of people didn’t matter. As he is kneeling, he says to Jesus, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Then Jesus did the unthinkable.

He reached out his hand and touched the leper. My guess would be that was the first time another human being had touched this man since he was diagnosed as a leper. But Jesus wasn’t afraid. Note the words with me which came from Jesus’ mouth and heart. “I am willing! Be clean!”

Matthew records my favorite part in the final sentence of verse 3, “immediately he was cured.”

As you probably know, lepers were outcasts. They couldn’t even live with their families. They had to live outside of town with the other outcasts. They were shunned. They had to warn folks they were coming by announcing they were “unclean.” Of course I’m sure the volume of their announcement was nothing compared to the shrieks and screams of others who helped announce their presence.

Have you ever felt like an outcast? Have you ever felt as if you were “unclean” or worse yet that others considered you to be unclean and treated you as if you were.

I love what happened. The leper had great faith in Jesus. We should too! He came, bowed and worshipped and said, “If you are willing you can make me clean.” Jesus will respond the same way to you as he did to the leper. He will touch you and He will make you clean because He’s willing.

We learned from the previous post that he had come to help! Now we learn He is willing.

What do you need Him to do for you today? He’s come to help and He’s willing. Will you bow and worship before Him! He will touch you!

Always in Pursuit!