Verse 12 In the city of Capernaum was this leper. Leprosy is a chronic, curable infectious disease mainly causing skin lesions and nerve damage. It looks like bumps on the skin, eyes, and nose. It can be lifelong and cause numbness in the hands and other parts of the body. It can spread in the air when a person who has it coughs or sneezes. Ick! Today we have prescriptions people can take for a year to get rid of it. If you want to read more about it, the book of Leviticus, chapter 13 outlines leprosy and the laws set up about it.

This man with leprosy knows Jesus can heal him and asks if He is willing.

Verse 13 Remember how contagious leprosy is. You can catch it by air. So certainly if you touch the skin lesions, you will get it. The laws in the Old Testament (the Mosaic Law) about leprosy required those with leprosy to separate from others. But Jesus reaches out His hand and touches him anyway. Our God isn’t afraid of disease. He can touch us and disease flees from the skin immediately. Instead of Jesus being contaminated, the man was cleansed.

Verse 14 Jesus tells this man to go to the priest and show that God has healed him. And make an offering of praise to God for this healing.

Leviticus 14 gives us the laws for what a cleansed leper must do. He must go to the priest and show him that the leper is healed. If the leper is to be found healed, the healed person must take two clean birds, some hyssop (a plant with healing properties), Cedarwood, and red yarn and give it to the priest. One bird will be killed and the other bird dipped in the blood with the yarn and hyssop over flesh water. And then the healed person is to be sprinkled seven times with this blood/hyssop cocktail. The priest declares the healed person clean and they let the live bird go. Oh, and then the healed person is allowed to go mingle and live around others once they shave off all the hair from their head, including eyebrows and beard. And sleep outside for seven days. And then after eight days, they need to get a lamb… the law goes on and on. Isn’t the lengths of the law a lot!! Thank you, Jesus, we don’t have to do all of this!! Because of Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross, we don’t have to go to these lengths for an offering to God. Living a life of praise is our offering. Sharing God’s mercy with others by giving money, resources, or serving is our offering.

Verse 15 Naturally word spread about Jesus’ healing and people were coming out of the woodwork to be healed. They were eager! I wonder how eager we are to bring our diseases, pain, and sin to Jesus. If we have the faith to ask, He is willing to heal. Every chronic pain, ache, hurt, sorrow. I’ve continued to seek God for a few of my own. Just because His healing doesn’t happen immediately, shouldn’t mean we give up asking. You will hear of people in the Bible who are persistent in seeking Jesus and asking Him to heal them. I mean, they get very desperate! That’s how we should be with our prayers. Persistent. Desperate! Our prayers should cling to our faith knowing He will perform it when the time is right. We can’t give up praying for healing now.

Verse 16 And though people were seeking Jesus for healing, He often went off to the wilderness alone to pray. The greater the demand on Him, the greater He depended on God the Father. What a lesson for us! The more that is required of you, the more you should be carving out that time and space with Jesus to pray and fill up on Him, His strength, His patience, His comfort, His wisdom, etc.

Prayer: Jesus, You alone are my Healer. You alone are my Savior. Thank you for who You are. You are fearless. You are Peace. You are Love. You alone are deserving of my praise. You are willing to heal if I am willing to ask. Heal my heart, Jesus, from the sin that plagues my soul. Heal me from a defeated attitude when the burden in this world feels like too much. Heal me of any negativity and any part of me looking for an easier way out of what feels so hard right now. You assigned me to this place, these people around me, for a purpose. Help me to turn to you for strength, rest, and peace. You see what is required of me, Lord. I cannot do it without You. Help me carve out that time I need to come to you, sit with you, fill up on you before I face the day. You see the aches and pains in my body. The disease that is holding me back. Jesus, heal me for the glory of Your name. Heal me now, let all this disease plaguing me be gone in the name of Jesus. I am desperate and my faith will show me as persistent when I refuse to let go of these prayers until Your healing comes, Jesus. Help me to lean into You for complete healing and not rely on anything else to pacify the chronic pain. I trust You, Jesus! I’m relying on You. Touch me now and let all of my pain be gone. I know you can do it. My heart is filled with praise already for who You are and what you’ve done on the cross for me. And I will praise You today for what I know You will accomplish tomorrow… Even greater things still! My faith rests on You, Jesus. Bring to mind, Holy Spirit, how I can share Your mercy with others. Help me to be quick to act and eager to praise You, Jesus. Amen!