Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” (Mark 1.41)
Leprosy and the various skin diseases are not as common or untreatable as they were two millennia ago but soul decay still is. We can readily identify with the leper who came to Jesus, not because of a physical ailment that makes us unclean, but because we know and have experienced the heart-rending pain of our soul in decay. We know what it feels like to have the numbness of sin give way to the dark night and our desperate cry for help.
Like the leper who came to Jesus, falling on his diseased knees in a gasping plea, we know the feeling of a decomposing soul. He was seeking a willing healer, an accessible savior. Do we seek anything different? We long to meet with Jesus the Healer. For some of us at some times our prayer is for physical healing, but like the leper, who's disease was not just a physical barrier, we all know our desire for restoration.
And Jesus the Healer is faithful. He is compassionate when we come before Him confessing our failure. Jesus the Healer looks on us in our piteous state and stretches His holy hand and touches our sin-riddled souls. We cry to Him for willingness because even though we have found undeserved salvation in the cross we somehow still refuse to believe their could be more grace for us yet. Jesus the Healer hears our infant-like cry for cleaning and says, "I am willing, be clean."
Jesus, thank you for healing me in my miserable state, for hearing my confession of absolute need and embracing me in Your love.