"I am willing; be cleansed"

"...there was a man covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, 'Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.' And He stretched out His hand and touched Him, saying, 'I am willing; be cleansed.' And immediately the leprosy left him." (Luke 5:12-13)



I find it interesting how the bible uses leprosy as a symbolization of sin. First Leprosy causes a person to lose the sensation of touch, heat and pain. It weakens your physical state; weakening your muscles and it leaves a numbness to your arms, hands, feet and legs. You lose the ability to feel the warmth of a fire that should be comforting on a cold night, you lose the ability to feel pain when you step on a prickly thorn. You basically become a walking zombie. Sad right? But thats what sin can do to you; leaving you in a leprous state, numb to the things of the Lord, numb to His gentle touch. In the bible the lepers would remain outside the city walls; sin secludes us from having a personal relationship with our Father in heaven because in Him there is no shadow of darkness no sin at all for He is Father of lights.


But look at this man, this leper in his current state of leprosy he broke what he was commanded to do in leviticus 13. Instead of crying Unclean! Unclean! He goes straight to the feet of Jesus and implores Him asking for help and mercy. Being one that lived outside the city you can assume that he heard the travelers that came and went talking about Jesus how He was performing miracles, how HE WAS IN TOWN. And you can bet that this mans heart was enlightened to hear this because his hope had run dry.


So there he was on his knees before Christ imploring Him. "Lord if you are willing, You can make me clean." This man drew near to Jesus' in his weakened state, he was within arms length of Jesus close enough for Him to touch him. With every weakened muscle in his body, with every numb step he took closer to Christ, his hope in Christ to heal him grew. "And He stretched out His hand and touched him saying, I am willing; be cleansed." And he was immediately healed.


Dearest Christian, are you willing to humble yourself before Christ, to come to Him in your weakened state running to His feet and falling on your face? CHRIST IS IN TOWN and He wants to do some serious business in your life, but how can He do business if you don't first come to Him? The bible says in Isaiah 40:29-31 that, "He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power, though youths grow weary and tired and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will walk and not get tired, they wil walk and not become weary."


The Lord doesnt rejoice when you are in a 'numb state' for He desires to have fellowship with you. Come to Christ, get right with God, and get out of that leprosy that is weakening you from coming to Him. The LORD is willing if you are willing to be cleansed. God desires to touch your life, if only you would come to Him. He suffered outside the gate where you once were so that you would be holy by means of His blood (Hebrews 12:12) so that you would pass from death to life (John 5:24). I leave you with this verse; Isaiah 42:3 says, "A brusied reed He will not break and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish..."


May the love of Christ so shine upon you in a way that it will make clear the path that is set before you.