I love the straight-forward nature of the book of Mark in the New Testament. In recent months, I’ve found that I get such comfort reading this book. When I’m feeling low or inadequate, or not quite on track with who I want to be, I read Mark. When I want to read about Jesus’ love and compassion, I read Mark. I love the simple, clear glimpses we get of Jesus’ life and ministry.
A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.
In the first verses quoted above, I got a glimpse of a man who was probably a social outcast.
One can imagine a man desperate for change, and longing for a life where he might be accepted for who he was. Maybe he just wanted to share a meal with friends. Or perhaps he hoped that when people looked at him, they didn’t see a person whose skin was decaying and warped with disease.
Here was a man that had probably spent most of his life covering up his scarred appearance. More than likely, he had perfected the art of blending into the background. But now he wanted to be seen.
When he saw Jesus, he knelt before him in the middle of a crowd believing that all he had to do was ask to be healed–and all Jesus had to do was be willing to help.
It is to this man’s simple request to be “made clean” that Jesus responds.Jesus saw past the diseased skin that so many others had backed away from, and reached out to him. Jesus touched him with with the love of God. The man was healed.
Recently when I read this passage, I only really saw the compassionate nature of Jesus. I wanted to think, and dwell, on how Jesus was “filled with compassion.” I thought about how I wanted to live my life “filled with compassion” and what that might look like for me.
But today, I saw the man with leprosy. What I found myself focusing on with him, was the deep faith and the unquestioning belief that he could be healed, and begin his life again. All he needed to do was approach Jesus and ask for help…ask for his life to be different.
His belief coupled with Jesus’ touch, yielded immediate results. I can only imagine how everything was different for him from that point forward.
