Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Your sight O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
As we grow older we sometimes have to see a doctor or a number of doctors to help us with our illnesses. Some elderly people do not leave their home or apartment often, except to go see a doctor because of some health problem or for a regular check up. Some doctors are better than others. Some doctors are able to diagnose and treat certain health problems that many other doctors fail to correctly diagnose and treat. Doctors tend to make a higher salary than most people since we value our health highly.
People around 2000 years ago had their health problems like we still do today. One of the worst health problems back then was the illness of leprosy. People with leprosy were social outcasts because of their skin disease. People with leprosy were supposed to stay away from people.
Mark’s Gospel tells us about a man with the skin disease of leprosy. This man had heard about Jesus and he did something that lepers were not supposed to do. He approached Jesus and asked Jesus to heal him or cleanse him of his leprosy. This man kneeled down in front of Jesus and made a remarkable statement of faith. This man said to Jesus, “If you will, you can make me clean.” This man believed that Jesus was the great physician of body and soul. This man believed that Jesus could cleanse him of his skin disease of leprosy.
Jesus was moved with pity and compassion by this man’s disease and bold faith. Jesus did something that no one was supposed to do. Jesus actually touched the diseased skin of this man with leprosy and risked becoming unclean. Jesus spoke a few words that the man with leprosy most likely would never forget: “I will, be clean.” The result was immediate and the man was cleansed of his leprosy.
So how does this healing miracle of Jesus apply to the lives of Christians today who don’t have leprosy? Christians today still struggle from time to time with the problem of temptation and sin. Sins of thought, word, and deed are all around us. From time to time we give in to temptations and we sin by our evil thoughts, unkind words, and hurtful deeds. No matter how well we have battled against temptations to sin in the past. We regularly face temptations to sin each day. Those sins of ours can lead to shame, guilt, and despair. Sometimes we think evil thoughts and those evil thoughts turn into name calling and trying to make ourselves look better than others. Other times we misuse the name of the Lord by yelling out the Lord’s name when we are shocked or angry about something. Still other times we have a me-first attitude and we fail to show pity and compassion to those around us.
For every single one of those sins we need forgiveness. That forgiveness depends totally on what the Lord has done for us in His great pity and compassion. We cannot save ourselves from our sins. Only faith in the forgiving work of Jesus on the cross is able to rescue us from our sins that lead to shame, guilt, and despair. Saving faith in Jesus is a gift of God that is freely given to us by our loving and compassionate God for the sake of the saving mission of Jesus that caused Him to die a shameful death on a cross for us around 2000 years ago.
After Jesus had healed the man with leprosy, He sternly told him to go and show himself to the priest and offer the sacrifice for cleansing required by the Law of Moses in the Old Testament. Jesus sternly told the man to say nothing to anyone about what Jesus had done for him. The healed man told people anyway. He couldn’t help telling others the joyful news that Jesus had touched him and made him clean. One reason that Jesus might have wanted the healed man to keep his healing a secret was because Jesus knew that He would not be able to openly enter a town without attracting big crowds after the news was spread. Mark’s Gospel tells us that the healed man spread the news about Jesus, “so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to Him from every quarter” (Mark 1:45).
Jesus is still the great physician of our body and soul. According to His gracious will, He listens to our heart-felt prayers and gives us what He knows is good for us. Sometimes we might be healed of an illness or we might see a friend become a Christian or we might grow in our faith in the Lord. In His love and compassion Jesus reaches out to us and takes care of our needs of body and soul.
Jesus was willing to become like a social outcast for us on the cross. Even though He never sinned once, He took our sins upon Himself and died for them on the cross. Jesus was willing to be considered a criminal and die by the hands of Roman soldiers for us. Jesus suffered through the pains of hell for us on the cross that we should have suffered through because of our sins. Jesus even allowed Himself to be forsaken by His Father in heaven on the cross for us. Jesus died for all, so that no one is beyond the reach of His forgiveness and mercy. As proof of His heavenly Father’s approval of His saving mission, the Son of God, Jesus, was raised from the dead on the third day for us. Jesus has won the victory for us by dying and rising in our place. Jesus continues to work in our lives, so that we can be like a “little Christ” to our neighbors and friends and family. Jesus is still today the great physician of body and soul. Amen.