I had a skin condition for many years.
I was told it was leprosy.
All over my body, all over my skin, were sores and disease and discolouring. You could see it on my arms, on my face, on my body and my legs. My skin had bumps and big wart-like growths. My fingers were distorted, and some of my toes had disappeared. I had lost feeling in them long before that.
In speaking to others, no one remembers a time when I didn’t have this disease. I don’t even remember when I had clean skin.
Because of this disease I was an outsider. I’d been outcast from the community a long time ago. I was separated from everyone; my friends, my family, my neighbours. When people saw me they would walk by me. They didn’t deign to look at me, let alone interact. If anything they might insult me as one not worthy of life. All of this would remind me of my position in life.
People who knew me and my family would blame me for this condition. It was like I’d done something wrong, or something my parents had done wrong in those early years.
And so I would just shuffle from place to place. I would sit alone. I would eat alone. No one would reach out to me, no one would talk to me, no one would come close.
There was no cure for this condition. There was no ointment that could help my sores. There was no medicine to help the skin. I didn’t even have a place to go to wash and get clean.
When others would go to worship at the synagogue I was unable to go. I wasn’t allowed. I couldn’t worship God like others, and instead sat wondering whether there was a God.
I was forever unclean.
But then I heard of this man called Jesus.
Jesus came to the village. The word on the street was that he was one who could heal. He had healed others before and it made me wonder if this Jesus could heal me too.
I took courage. He found out where he was and approached Jesus. I knelt before him and asked, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” I said this with real belief, real openness, and honesty.
Jesus looked down upon me and had compassion for me. Everyone could tell, you saw it in his eyes. Others around thought Jesus was indignant and annoyed for being interrupted, but that wasn’t the case. Jesus had real pity on me.
And suddenly, for the first time in who knows how long, I felt the touch of another human being. Jesus reached out, not concerned about his own uncleanliness, and took a risk and said he was willing to make me clean.
You wouldn’t believe it, but this is what happened. Right away I was clean and healed and the disease was gone. I couldn’t believe it. No one could believe it. My skin changed, the growths were gone, I didn’t scratch or itch. Even my fingers and toes were all back and in working order.
I was so happy. I was smiling and laughing and full of joy.
Jesus not only cleaned me on the outside, radically changing my life, but he also made me clean with God.
This Jesus made me clean and whole.
I thought my greatest problem was my skin. I thought that if the sores disappeared, the isolation ended, that I could just walk back into town then everything would be right again. This is what happened but it’s only part of the story. What I came to realise was that my greatest problem wasn’t my skin, it was my separation. Not just from people but from God.
When Jesus reached out and made me clean he did more than restore my body. He restored me to worship. He restored me to a relationship. He restored me to God.
King Jesus: A Series in Mark’s Gospel
Part 1: King Jesus: The Beginning of The Good News
Part 2: King Jesus: The Messenger
Part 3: King Jesus: The Love of God the Father
Part 4: King Jesus: The Kingdom of God
Part 5: King Jesus: The Calling of The Ordinary
Part 6: King Jesus: Place and Purpose
Part 7: King Jesus: The Authority Behind The Words
Part 8: King Jesus: The Power of Jesus
Part 9: King Jesus: The Leper
Part 10: King Jesus: The Paralytic
Part 11: King Jesus: Restoration From Chaos
