1 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. (Matthew 8:1-3)
So, here’s Jesus preaching His “Sermon on the Mount.” He just came against many religious paradigms and flat-out blew people’s minds away concerning a “new take” on the Law of Moses. The people were stirred, inspired, and evidently flabbergasted! They’ve never heard such teaching!
Actually, for several decades they’ve been under the teaching and heavy hand of the Pharisees (an instructional religious/political group in Israel) who have their own harsh and difficult interpretations of the Law of Moses in which they cannot keep. And on that day, I’m sure Christ also made many of them His enemies.
So, after the sermon, Jesus was faced with a situation where He needed to “practice what He preached.” A leper, who apparently cloaked His disease, was in the crowd and was able to find his way before Jesus. His disease was concealed because it was “very unlawful” for a leper to be seen in public.
This leper heard the Sermon on the Mount and realized his answer to His prayers was right before Him. As He stood before Jesus and unveiled His disease, I’m sure the crowd pulled back with great awe! I could almost hear the sighs! The leper asked one question, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
He wasn’t asking if Jesus was willing or desiring to heal Him… rather he was asking if Jesus was willing to practice what He just finished preaching. And that was to ignore the rules and regulation of “The Law” in order to see a person made whole. In a sense, he was asking Jesus if he could be an illustration to his sermon by disregarding the law and touching a man with leprosy. And of course, Jesus was willing and healed him.
My point… Are you willing to practice what you preach? Are you willing to break old paradigms of religious thinking? Will your passion for God and compassion for people cause you to think and act away from old paradigms?
Blog entry# 40 – I AM WILLING!
