Walk Of Life – Day 12, May 2022 – Thoughts From The Words Of Jesus Christ

Jesus Heals A Leprous Man

Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Matthew 8:3

The miracle of healing the leprosy man is recorded by the first three gospel writers. In Matthew it is in chapter 8:1-4, in Mark it’s in chapter 1:40-45 and Luke records it chapter 5:12-14. The context of this passage is Jesus is coming down from a mountain and the multitude of people who has been waiting for Him, most probably it should have been for a long time started following Him and suddenly the passage says that this man asks the Lord “If you are willing you can heal me.”

In those days lepers were considered to be untouchables. They have to stay outside the city. In the movie BEN HUR, there is a scene where the blind man would be asking for alms and he would be quite happy to hear the sound of coins in his plate but then suddenly he would hear the people nearby yelling “Lepers, lepers.” Hearing this the blind man will drop down the coins as he has come to know that they were given to him by the lepers. Such is the case. Even a beggar will not accept the help offered by the leper.

But in this context we see that there is a group of people following Jesus and even if one person would have noticed a leper nearby they would have created a great drama. How did he escape from all of them is still a mystery. One possible way is that he should have covered himself and should have made it to the place as he would have heard that Jesus is coming down from the mountain. He did not worry about anything else. For him the priority is to get healed and he had faith that Jesus will heal Him. So he succeeds in meeting our Lord and I’m so fascinated by the way he asks to the Lord. It is this leper who teaches us that our prayers should convince our Lord or should melt His heart.

“And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

The leper did not directly go to the plea but he worshiped our Lord and then He asks for the will of the Lord. How did he learn this method of prayer? Is this not how our Lord expects us to pray.

We know that nothing is impossible for our Lord. Jeremiah 32:27 says

“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?

But is it the will of God is what matters. Ecclesiastes 5:2 says

For God is in heaven, and you on earth; Therefore let your words be few.

Let us ask the Lord to teach us to pray. Let us be filled with His wisdom to understand that Lord’s will is more important than the answers to our prayer.

There was not a word spoken by our Lord. I think He should have smiled with joy and as the scripture says

Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

Dearly beloved, our Lord expects this clear faith from us. He understands our intentions. May the Lord fill us with His grace to exceed the faith of this leper.