Jesus’ heart for wholeness

Mark 1:40-45

⁴⁰ A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

⁴¹ Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” ⁴² Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.

⁴³ Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: ⁴⁴ “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” ⁴⁵ Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

The leprous man came to Jesus begging for healing. The picture Mark paints is one of desperation.

At the same time this was an audacious request. Jews believed that only God could heal leprosy (see 2 Kings 5:1-14), so this request reflected the man’s understanding that Jesus had the power of God. The effect of his spreading the word of his healing was to put Jesus on a collision course with the religious leaders.

We know Jesus is more than another Elisha. He is God! This story is such an amazing revelation of the beautiful compassionate heart of God, that Jesus would reach out and touch the unclean man, when he need only have said the word and he would be healed. I wonder at the power of the healing he experienced – not just physical but psychological, touched after how long of being shunned by everyone.

Just as it was for the leprous man, Jesus’ heart is overflowing for me to be whole. The seen and unseen hurt or illness healed, life transformed.

“Jesus if you are willing, make me whole”. Transform my attitudes, my future, my guilt, my loneliness, my finances, my ill health.

Dear Jesus, I’m desperate for you. Your love overflows and cleanses me like it did for the man with leprosy. Your heart is full of compassion for me when I don’t deserve it. There aren’t enough words to thank you. Amen

Written by Claire Moore