A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left the man and he was cured.”
What exactly is leprosy? Leprosy, basically described, is a tropical skin and nerve disease. It often causes disfigurement and is transmitted following close personal contact with someone who has it. In Biblical times there was no cure for leprosy. This means those infected were usually isolated. Nobody wanted to even accidentally touch someone with leprosy. Everyone was too afraid they would get infected if they did. This means once someone got leprosy they did not get touched-probably ever again for the rest of their life.
So, this man infected with leprosy comes up to Jesus and begs him to heal him. He specifically says. “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”
When this man came up to Jesus, Jesus never even thought twice about the fact that this man had leprosy. He just simply reached out and touched the man. This man, infected with leprosy, may have not been touched in a long time. People probably would not have even looked at him, let alone think about touching him. Yet Jesus did.
Then as Jesus is touching the man He says, “I am willing.” He said, “I am willing.” He was willing to heal this man of his leprosy. He could have simply said ‘Okay’ or ‘Sure’, etc. But instead He proclaims that He is willing to heal this man. This means he was ready to do something voluntarily, he was eager to do it, he was enthusiastic, he was happy to do it.
Just like Jesus was willing to heal this man, He healed all others He encountered while on Earth. But, even more He continues to heal people to this day. He is just as willing to heal today as He was over 2,000 years ago.
He wants to heal us.
He wants us to be healthy and well.
For us this is good news! For Jesus proclaims in John 14:12-14:
12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Jesus calls us to go out and heal the sick! We have the power to do so only through His power in us. We can ask for anything in Jesus’ name and He will do it.
Matthew 10:8- “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.”
I pray that all of you would pray and seek God about this verse. Ask Holy Spirit to reveal to you the depths of what this means. I pray that you will go out and preach this good news. I pray that you would go out and begin to heal the sick with the power you have within you. I pray that others around you will come to know and love Jesus as they see the miracles happening around you!
I love the chain reaction that can happen when you share this good news with others! Once during a Bible study my sister and I were leading with a group of women at a drug and rehabilitation center we got the opportunity to share this. One of the ladies asked us if we could pray for her headache. She didn’t know we had a very hands on approach! We walked up to her and invited others to lay hands on her. Wow was she shocked! We simply asked for her headache to be completely gone in Jesus name. She opened her eyes and exclaimed, “WOW! It’s completely gone!” My sister and I found out later that some of the ladies that were in that Bible study laid hands and prayed for a girl who was having trouble with her legs the very next day. One of the ladies boldly said, “Can we pray for you?” And they told her pain to be gone in Jesus name and the lady was healed. Praise God! Isn’t that an awesome story!
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