The Touch That Made Him Clean

Observe. A man with leprosy comes to Jesus and kneels, saying that if Jesus is willing he can make him clean. Mark records Jesus' response with unusual detail: he is moved with compassion, he reaches out his hand, he touches the man, and he says that he is willing. The leprosy leaves at once. Jesus tells him sternly to show himself to the priest as the law of Moses required and to say nothing to anyone. The man instead talks freely, and Jesus can no longer enter towns openly.

Interpret. Under the law in Leviticus 13 and 14, a person with a serious skin disease lived outside the camp, and touching him made the one who touched him unclean. Uncleanness flowed from the sick to the healthy. Jesus touches the man and the flow reverses. Cleanness goes out from him. This is a picture of what he does with sin: he does not become defiled by contact with sinners; they are made clean by contact with him. The man's request, if you are willing, is answered with a plain I am willing, and that answer is the heart of the gospel.

Apply. Many people believe that God can help them but doubt that he wants to. This passage speaks directly to that fear. Where have you been kneeling at a distance, unsure of his willingness? What would it mean to hear him say I am willing over the thing you have hidden longest? And who in your life has been treated as untouchable, whom you might approach as Jesus approached this man?