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First Leper to Be Cleansed by Christ
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there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores.”
Isaiah 1:6
. But Jesus has healing virtue. Whoever will fall
at His feet, saying in faith, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make
me clean,” will hear the answer, “I am willing; be cleansed.”
In some cases of healing, Jesus did not immediately grant the
blessing. In the case of the leper, though, as soon as the sick man ap-
pealed for help, Jesus granted it. When we pray for earthly blessings,
the answer may be delayed, or God may give us something other
than what we ask for. But not so when we ask for deliverance from
sin. It is His will to cleanse us, make us His children, and enable us
to live a holy life. Christ “gave Himself for our sins, that He might
deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our
God and Father.”
Galatians 1:4
. “If we ask anything according to his
will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we
ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.”
1
John 5:14, 15
, NRSV.
In healing the paralyzed man at Capernaum, Christ again taught
the same truth. He performed the miracle to show His power to
forgive sins. Like the leper, this paralytic had lost all hope. His
disease was the result of a life of sin, and remorse made his sufferings
all the more bitter. He had appealed to the Pharisees and doctors,
but they coldly pronounced him incurable and gave him up to the
wrath of God.
Seeing no prospect of aid from anywhere, the paralyzed man had
sunk into despair. Then he heard of Jesus. Friends encouraged him
to believe that he too might be cured if he could be carried to Jesus.
The Burden of Sin
It was not physical restoration he longed for as much as relief
from the burden of sin. If he could receive the assurance of forgive-
ness and peace with Heaven, he would be content to die. The dying
man had no time to lose. He begged his friends to carry him on his
bed to Jesus, and this they gladly set out to do. But the crowd was
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so dense where the Savior was that it was impossible for the sick
man and his friends even to come within hearing of His voice.
Jesus was teaching in the house of Peter with His disciples close
around Him. And “there were Pharisees and teachers of the law