Jesus reaches out to those who come to him knowing he is their only hope to be cleansed and restored.
Luke 5:12-14
While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
13 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.
14 Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”
Why are you reading this today? What brings you to Jesus?
This man comes to Jesus to be made clean of his leprosy – to be healed. Actually, he doesn’t just come to Jesus – on seeing him, the man falls with his face to the ground. He begs. He knows Jesus is his only hope. The man’s need to be clean from leprosy is evident to all – it defines him and is destroying him. His deeper need to be clean from his sin is less evident, but Jesus highlights it by asking the man to present himself to the priest. Jesus the new temple goes far beyond what the man asked him to do, and far beyond what the priest and the old temple could ever do for him. Because of Jesus’ healing, the man who was once barred can now enter, no longer be defined by his disease.
Our need for Jesus’ cleansing may be a little less obvious to others (and we may be trying to deny it to ourselves), but we too need to come to him and him alone, as our only source of help. Whatever form our immediate struggle takes, it is essentially a reminder of our biggest problem –the disease of sin, and our need to be restored to God himself. Our uncleanness before God may not be quite as visible as leprosy, but without Jesus, it is also destroying us, and defining us as outcasts from God, lost and without hope. The only way we can approach Jesus is by falling on our face before him, and asking him, our only hope, to make us clean from our sin and whole in our brokenness.
When we do that, Jesus reaches out his hand, touches us and says “I am willing. Be clean” to us. He redefines us as forgiven, clean, and whole.
Praise God!
Ros Cree
