You Can Make Me Clean

When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.  Matthew 8:1-3

The leper knew well what it was like to need cleansing. With a body numb from nerve damage and ascetically altered by sores and scales, the leper knew physical and emotional pain. This man knew well how beautiful a cleansing could be; to be made clean would mark a return to health and to society.

As I read Matthew 8,  I realize that I relate most often to the story found later in the chapter,  in verses 23-27, of the faithless disciples:

Then (Jesus) got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

The disciples ran to Christ in panic, the leper knelt in confidence. The disciples reacted hastily to a momentary situation, the leper reacted patiently to a permanent affliction. The disciples left their miracle experience wondering who this man was, the leper left proclaiming that he was Christ.

Today we serve a God that says “I am willing.” My prayer is that we kneel before him and say, As are you Lord, am I.

~ by blogger on 02/05/2009.