And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. (Mark 1:40-42)

As we read the account of the leper in the first chapter of Mark, there are a couple things we can learn from it.

The first thing we can learn is how to come humbly to Jesus. We read that the leper came to Jesus with the words, “if thou wilt.” There wasn’t a demand, but a humbleness in his asking to be made clean. It wasn’t for him to decide, but for God to decide, as with anything in our lives.

Unfortunately, there is teaching that God will bring healing if we ask with the right amount of faith. If this were the case, Jesus would have rebuked the leper for his “lack of faith.” We also read that the Apostle Paul asked God to take away his thorn in the flesh and God didn’t. (2 Corinthians 12:8)

Secondly, we learn more of the compassion of Jesus. Jesus could have easily just said the words “be clean.” Instead he reaches out his hand and touches the leper. Luke’s gospel record of this account says that the leper was “full of leprosy.” (Luke 5:12) This wasn’t a case of a few spots, but a body that was covered. He probably hardly resembled a man and was shunned from society. Yet, Jesus, who is God, reached out his hand and touched the man with compassion. What a beautiful sight this would have been to see!

As we study this scripture, let us learn to humbly come before God as the leper did. We can also learn to show compassion to those who are hurting and have been shunned from society as Jesus did.

Show the humbleness of the leper and the compassion of Jesus today. Amen.

I feel there is so much we can glean from this but I was just recently praying for God to help me show more compassion so when I read this it blessed me and the showing compassion part stood out to me. It shined a different light on my current situations and circumstances. I may never come across someone with leprosy but when I don’t show love and compassion I might as well be treating someone like they treated those with leprosy in the times past. It’s our responsibility as children of God to show love and compassion no matter how we may feel about the individual or circumstance. We must do as Christ did, reach out our hand and touch those in our lives who are hurting or have been shunned by society with love and compassion. When we do that Christ’s light will shine so much brighter in a world that needs more of God. It starts with you and I.

Have a wonderful day in The Lord!

Today’s Reading is Colossians 3:12-15