February 12th, 2012
5th Sunday after Epiphany
Mark 9:2-9
“I Am Willing...!”
Leprosy was one of those socially unacceptable diseases. There were a couple of cases in the Old Testament where God struck somebody with leprosy as a punishment for blasphemy or sacrilegious behavior, and so there was a feeling among the Jewish people that anyone with leprosy was suspect. You weren’t just “sick” when you got leprosy, you were “unclean”.
The Jewish religious law was that anyone who had leprosy had to live outside of town, in a leper colony. They had to wear torn clothing and cover their faces - which were often horrible to look at anyway because of the ravages of the disease - and if they came into town they had to cry out, “Unclean!” as they walked down the street, or if anyone came dangerously close to them, to warn people off so that they wouldn’t catch their disease.
There are stories that some of the Rabbis of Jesus’ day used to pelt lepers with stones to drive them further away. They would spit at them as they passed to show their disdain for their uncleanness; and they would certainly never, ever touch a leper! To do that would render them ceremonially unclean, contaminated, and unable to participate in Temple worship until they had been cleansed.
Lepers were kept in their place, constantly reminded of their unclean status. They knew that society rejected them. They felt that God had rejected them, as well.
Moses’ sister Miriam was struck with leprosy as a punishment for her sinful, rebellious behavior. Moses prayed for her, and the Lord spoke to Moses and said, “If her father had spit in her face, should she not be considered unclean until the evening?” And so he ordered that Miriam should be sent away out of the camp of Israel until the evening, and after that she would be healed. So people concluded after that, that leprosy was “as though God had spit in the person’s face.”
Lepers themselves felt the same way. They may not have known even what it was that they had done to “deserve” this disease, but they were convinced that God was not interested in them any more than the rest of society - and especially the religious people - were. After all, they reasoned, it was God who had sent this disease to punish them!
When this leper came to Jesus, pleading with Him, kneeling before Him, He knew one thing; that Jesus had the power to heal and cleanse Him. He was sure about that. What he didn’t know was whether Jesus would be willing to use His power to heal someone like him.
“Lord, if you are willing... you can make me clean!”
Have you ever felt that way? Do you have a need that you want to bring to Jesus, and you know that He has the power to do something about it, but you aren’t sure whether or not He wants to help you with it? You know He has the ability, but is He disposed to use that power on your behalf?
You may be convinced that God is love; but does that love extend to you? Does His forgiveness, His mercy, His acceptance, His healing power extend to you?
In this story, the Bible mentions three things that we need to know about Jesus. First of all, it says, “He was moved with compassion.”
The Bible says in the Book of Hebrews that “Jesus is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, having been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin.” He knows exactly how you feel, including the temptations that you face. He has faced them, also.
Do you understand what this means? Any temptation that you are facing, any sin to which you have fallen, Jesus has been tempted in that way as well. He knows the power of that draw, the seduction of it. Yet He is strong, and He can help you in your weakness and in your struggle against sin.
The Bible then says that “He stretched out His hand”. He didn’t wait for that leper to reach out to Him. He stretched out His hand to him. Where other religious people wouldn’t let them get within reach, Jesus reached out to close the distance between them and make contact.
And so He does with you. No matter what you have done, or what was the cause of your suffering, Jesus reaches out to you.
And the Bible says, “He touched him.” Can you imagine the gasp of horror that went up from the crowd as Jesus, the religious teacher, the Rabbi, God made flesh, touched the leper?
All through the Bible the principle is taught while evil is contagious, but righteousness is not. If something unclean touched a sacred object, that sacred object was made unclean. It didn’t work the other way around.
But Jesus is holiness, righteousness, goodness, made contagious! God Himself had invaded our sinful world, our sinful race, and brought holiness and righteousness and goodness to us. Whatever He touches is made whole, is cleansed, and is made holy.
And then finally Jesus spoke. He didn’t say, “You’re right, I have the power.” That had already been established. Instead He answered the question, the longing in the man’s heart, and said, “I am willing!” That is to say, “It is My will to heal you. It is My will to cleanse you. I want to forgive and restore you. It is My will to deliver you.”
And the final word: “Be healed! Be Clean!” Be delivered, made right, restored, sanctified, brought back into fellowship with God!
Jesus says the same thing to you, today. Do you wonder whether He is willing to hear what you are bringing to Him? Do wonder if He wants to heal you? Do you think that whatever it is that afflicts you is the result of your own sin, and so there is no reason for God to want to fix it? Do you question, not His power to answer prayer in general, but His willingness to answer your prayer?
The answer is, “Yes!” The Bible says, “All the promises of God are ‘Yes’ in Him!”
He is willing to touch, and heal, and save, and deliver you. Just ask Him, and wait for His touch. Expect it. Trust in Him to do it.
I have prayed for a lot of people over the years for many things. I have found as I have prayed for people that probably 95% of the time sick people are healed of whatever we bring to Him. The few times that I have not seen an answer, we wait and see if God is doing something that needs to be accomplished before He can bring the healing or answer the prayer. Usually that is resolved, and then the person is healed.
Those few times when we have not been able to see any reason in this life, and still don’t see results, we will take up with Him in heaven. But these are not by any means the norm; they are the rare exceptions to the norm of answered prayer; and we can trust Him to know what He is doing in those cases as well!
A heart of unbelief will of course, say, “If God is going to not heal one person who prays to Him in the 21st century, that person will be me.”
But a heart of faith says, “If God were going to heal just one person in the 21st Century, that will be me!”
The trouble is that we have been taught to doubt, not to trust in Him. Trust. Ask Him. And expect Him to say to you, as well: “I am willing! Be cleansed!”