
I was a leper. You were too.
Like the leper in Mark’s first chapter, we were infected by a deadly disease that left us damaged, destitute, and destined for a painful death.
Doctor Luke diagnosed the patient. He was “full of leprosy” (Luke 5:12, NKJV). In other words, the pitiful man “had leprosy all over him” (Luke 5:12). The leprosy was in its most advanced stages. Soon, the festering, oozing, gangrenous infection would kill him. Yuk! Somehow, he found the strength and courage to approach the Great Physician.
When he heard that Jesus was in the neighborhood, he “came to him and, on his knees, begged him, ‘If you are willing, you can make me clean’ ” (Mark 1:40). He believed that Jesus was fully “able to save to the uttermost those who draw near” (Hebrews 7:25, ESV).
Jesus didn’t gasp at his grotesque figure. He didn’t turn him away. Nor did He rebuke the leper for not announcing himself with the required, “Unclean! Unclean!” Jesus was “moved with compassion” and “reached out his hand and touched him. ‘I am willing,’ he told him. ‘Be made clean’ ” (Mark 1:41). He “touched him!”
The touch of the Master changes everything. When we were “dead in our trespasses and sins” … “God who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ” (Ephesians 2:1,4-5). When Jesus touched the leper, “immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean” (Mark 1:42).
What happened next? “He went out and began to proclaim it widely and to spread the news” (Mark 1:45). Of course he did. Wouldn’t you? Shouldn’t you?
Someday we’ll know the rest of the story!
“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).

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