“Lord, If You Are Willing…!”

“Lord, If You Are Willing…!”(Mt.8:1-5).
There is no fixed pattern to Jesus’ healing ministry. Yesterday, we saw how he healed an official’s son from a distance without setting eyes on the patient. Today, the scenario is different.
According to Matthew, Jesus has just come down from the mountainside after he has finished delivering the Sermon on the Mount. As usual, large crowds follow him. A man with leprosy comes and kneels before him, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reaches out his hand and touches the man, saying, “I am willing. Be clean!” The man is immediately cleansed of the leprosy. Jesus says to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift Moses commanded as testimony to them”
Both healings are preceded by faith. In the story of yesterday, it was the faith of the royal official who approached Jesus with the confidence that Jesus had the power to heal his son. In today’s pericope, it is the faith of the patient himself who kneels before Jesus with the conviction that Jesus has the wherewithal to cleanse his leprosy if he so desires.
Jesus cleanses the man through touch and speech; which are potent ingredients of healing.
One of the courses I offered at the Presbyterian Theological Seminary was “A Christian Response to HIV/AIDS.” A fundamental question we sought to answer in the course is, “How does Jesus deal with PLWHA?
We draw our inspiration from this kind of story in which Jesus dealt so intimately with lepers. Leprosy was a dreaded disease, and lepers were treated as outcasts. Lepers were isolated. If a leper received treatment and got well, he had to present himself to a priest, for the priest to declare that he was whole again. He had to offer a sacrifice before being restored again into the community.
Until recently, PLWHA were so traumatised because of stigmatisation. Some sero-positive people intentionally spread the virus as vengeance for being stigmatised.
Jesus touched the leper in the same way that he will not discriminate against anybody because of his health condition. For Jesus, your medical condition is not your conclusion!
Jesus again teaches that we cannot dig a new road without cutting across the existing road in some places. There is continuity of the new from the old. Change may be dynamic, but it doesn’t have to be dramatic. That is why Jesus asked the leper to go and do as Moses commanded(Lev.13:1ff)..
Bottom line: Bring your situation to Jesus with faith and put it to him as you want it to be.
He is ready to reveal his glory on you as he touches you and pronounce the words that fulfill your needs!
Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, I kneel before you with my condition. If you are willing, do it for me. Amen!
Have a blessed day! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.
30/01/2025.