A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said,
“If you wish, you can make me clean.”
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched the leper, and said to him,
“I do will it. Be made clean.”
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean. (Mk 1:40-42)
Jesus was a most remarkable person. He truly had the power of God flowing through Him. Whomever He touched was healed, whomever He called was raised from the dead, whomever He forgave was forgiven of their sins. He did all of this willingly and joyfully.
Jesus knew that the physical, emotional, and spiritual cares and concerns of the people were keeping them distant from God. Jesus desired nothing more than for the people to get as close to God as possible. That was, after all, why He was born into our world: so that He could be close to us and we could be close to Him.
We see the extreme level that Jesus goes to in this regard in today’s Gospel. Lepers never got close to anyone (except other lepers). Their disease sentenced them to a life separated from family, friends, and the entire community. The disease was so communicable that others feared for their lives if a leper were ever around them.
In the Gospel, a leper approached Jesus, begging Him for help. Jesus did the unthinkable. He stretched out his hand and touched the leper. Jesus did not care what the leper had. Jesus only saw the leper’s faith and knew that the leper could be healed and He wanted to do just that for the leper, to heal him.
Jesus sees into us as well. He sees our pain. He sees our weakness. He sees the things that cause us to trip up in our faith lives. He wants to help us, to heal us. But before He can, He needs to see our faith.
Do we believe, as the leper did, that Jesus can heal us?
FAITH ACTION: The Lord is filled with healing. What needs to be healed in your life? Bring it to the Lord in prayer today and know that He does hear you and responds in a way that He sees fit.