Bible Reading: Leviticus 25; Mark 1:23-45
“And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean” – Mark 1:40-41 (KJV).
Often times, people doubt the willingness or the ability of God to help their situations. They either lack faith in God’s ability or faith in his willingness to help them. There are two peculiar accounts in the gospels that highlight this lack of faith. A certain man brought the son which had a dumb spirit. The disciples tried to deliver the son but to no avail. When Jesus came down from the mount after the transfiguration experience, the father of the boy, out of frustration took the boy from the disciples to see if Jesus could make any difference in the boy’s situation. The seriousness of the case and the failure of the disciples may have cast a doubt to the father whether Jesus could cure the son. Hear his statement. “And oftimes, it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us” – Mark 9:22 (KJV). Since the disciples could not help matters, the man must have felt that it may be possible that Jesus may not cure the child. He didn’t have faith or confidence in Jesus’ ability to cure the boy. In response “Jesus saith unto him, if thou canst believer, all things are possible to him that believeth” Mark 9:23 (KJV). By this, Jesus implied that it is not a question of his ability but an issue of the man’s faith.
The second peculiar case is the one covered by our text. The leper came to Jesus to be cleansed. He believes in the ability of Jesus to cure his leprosy. His doubt was the willingness of Jesus to heal him. You need to understand the peculiarity of his case to appreciate his problem. Lepers were treated as unclean. No one wanted to do anything with them. Everyone, including the Priest and Levites, avoided them. They were not free to associate or to freely move around like others. They were instead ostracized and treated as outcast. You can now understanding his doubt as to whether Jesus will be willing to help. Jesus’ approach was quiet revealing. It was a clear departure from several other approaches. Religion does not permit Jesus to touch him since any man that touches a leper was considered unclean. But Jesus moved with compassion, touched him. “I will, be thou clean” could have cleaned the leper but he equally needed social healing hence Jesus touched him. That touch must have meant so much in building a social bridge for one everyone avoided. Jesus proved that he is a merciful high priest touched with the feelings of our infirmities. The same way, he not only touched our sins, but like leprosy, he carried our sins and built a bridge of relationship.
PRAYER: Thank you Jesus for identifying with me even in my sins.
Rev. Vincent Diolu