God is willing

We often hear wonderful stories of how God intervenes in peoples lives. "My wife had cancer. I had the minister come to the hospital to pray for her. And now, four weeks later, shes healed! Praise the Lord! God is good!" Or "My son was headed in the wrong direction. My husband and I felt helpless. We didnt know what to do about it. But we asked for the church to pray for him. Three months later, he walked into our Sunday am worship service. The preachers message cut to the heart. And he gave his life to Christ. I am SO grateful for what God has done in our lives!" Or someone will say, "Im 88 years old! And I feel just as strong as I did when I was 60. God has blessed my life so much! God is good!" Stories like this are told so that we will be inspired. And so we will believe that God is active and involved in our lives. But deep down, some of us are thinking, "What about me? How come God doesnt do stuff like that for me? Does He care? Is He willing to take away my health problem? Is God willing to make MY life better? Is God willing to make His presence known in MY life?" Im willing to bet that the leper in this story used to think thoughts like that all the time. You see, leprosy was a dreaded skin disease. Not just because of the harm it did to you physically. But because of the harm that it did to you socially. Leviticus 13:45-46 says that "The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, Unclean! Unclean! 46 As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp." There was no cure for leprosy. And many Jews regarded it as a punishment from God for sins committed. Ill bet this man felt forsaken by God and hated by humanity every day of his life. But he had heard the good news about Jesus Christ. He heard about how Jesus healed a demon possessed man in the Capernaum synagogue. He heard about how Jesus healed Simon Peters mother in law. He heard about all the people who came to his door late at night. And how the Lord sent each one away healed and forgiven. And the leper said to himself, "Heres my chance! Heres my chance to ask God for help! To ask God for healing!"

Back then, Jewish people werent allowed to associate with lepers. So this man must have had a lot of guts to approach the holy Son of God. He could have made crowds of people ceremonially unclean. He could have made the Lord ceremonially unclean! But at the same time, he approached Christ with humility. Verse 40 says that "He fell on his knees. And he said, "Lord if you are willing, you can make me clean." Most of us do not have a hard time believing that God CAN work powerfully in our lives. We have a hard time believing that God WANTS to work powerfully in our lives. We have a hard time believing that God is interested in little old me. The hymn writer puts it well: "Does Jesus care when my heart is pained Too deeply for mirth or song? As the burdens press, and the cares distress. And the way grows weary and long?" The answer is in the chorus: "Oh yes, He cares. I know He cares. His heart is touched with my grief. When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares." That was the experience of this leper. In verse 41, it says, "Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. And he said five of the most beautiful words in all of scripture. "I am willing. Be clean." This is a remarkable verse for a number of reasons. Number one. We see the compassion of Christ. He really does feel what we are going through. He really does care. And notice that Jesus reached and touched the man. He was willing to make Himself ceremonially unclean so that the leper could be clean. This is a sneak preview of what will happen on the cross. When Jesus died for our sins, he took upon himself all of our uncleanness. So that we could be cleaned up by God. So that we could be cleansed by His blood. Another thing I want you to see is that Jesus didnt have to touch this man to heal him. He could have healed him from a great distance. But Jesus reaches out and touches this man as a tangible expression of His compassion. Remember: This man has not been touched in many years. Because if you touched a leper, you were separated from your family. And you were ceremonially unclean for a week. But Jesus was not going to let ceremonial law keep Him from showing this man the fullest extent of His love. With five simple words and a touch of his hand,

Jesus saved this man in every way that a man can be saved. He healed him physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Ladies and gentlemen, this passage is not meant to teach us that it is always Gods will to heal every disease. It is meant to teach us that Jesus is willing to do whatever it takes to make us clean before Almighty God. The word of the Lord for us is that "I am willing to make your life beautiful once again. I am able to save you in every way that a person can be saved. I am willing to do tremendous acts of righteousness in your life. " Thats what Jesus does for us. And notice in verse 42 that we are told that "Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured." When Christ touches our lives, there are some immediate effects. Our sins are cleansed and washed away. We are adopted into the family of God. The Holy Spirit comes upon us. All these things are the instantaneous result of the touch of Christ on our lives. Then in verse 43, Jesus tells the man, "See to it that you do not 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." In other words, when the priest sees why you are there, he is going to know right away that you are a law abiding Jewish man. But hes also going to know that God has done something spectacular in your life. You wont need to tell the priest about it, because hes going to see you with his own eyes." But there are other reasons why Jesus told him to hit the mute button. Number one: Jesus wasnt interested in becoming a celebrity healer. There are preachers on tv who enjoy the celebrity status associated with their ministries. But Jesus wasnt like that. Number two: Jesus doesnt want to wow people into belief. He knows that real faith happens when people are convinced by His teaching. Not by the spectacle of seeing someone get healed. Romans 10:17 says "Faith comes by hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." The leper was supposed to keep quiet. But he was so excited by what happened to him that he couldnt keep his mouth closed. We learn in verse 45 that he went out and

began to talk freely. When you get transformed by the saving touch of Jesus Christ, it is not easy to keep it bottled up. After I got saved, I went around telling people, "Hey, look

what happened to me! I feel like a new person!" God was willing to do some amazing things in the life of this Jewish leper. And I want you to know that God is willing to do great things in your life. All you have to do is come to Christ humbly like the leper did. And say, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. You can make my life beautiful. You can make my life worth living. You can do amazing things through me. Lets follow the example of this leper. And go to Jesus in prayer right now.