I am willing; be cleansed.

Luke 5:12-28 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” ¹³ And He stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately the leprosy left him. ¹⁴ And He ordered him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” ¹⁵ But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. ¹⁶ But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

¹⁷ One day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. ¹⁸ And some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. ¹⁹ But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. ²⁰ Seeing their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” ²¹ The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” ²² But Jesus, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴ But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—He said to the paralytic—“I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.” ²⁵ Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. ²⁶ They were all struck with astonishment and began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

²⁷ After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” ²⁸ And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.

Today’s text says:  While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” And He stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately the leprosy left him.  We need to have faith, like the man with leprosy, that Jesus can do what ever we need.   Jesus taught us to pray saying: …Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  In Mark 11:24 Jesus says:   “I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.”  What are we to think then if we ask in faith and do not receive? Is it that God is not willing? Isaiah 53:5 says: He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. It is not that we can be healed, it says we are healed.  So we can see then that it is God’s will that we be healed. On the cross Jesus said:  “It is finished!” There is nothing else that needs to be done for us to receive the finished work of the cross.

Yet still we see that some prayers seem to be unanswered. Is it that our faith is not enough?  In Matthew 17:20 Jesus says:  “Truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”  Surely we can muster up mustard seed size faith. What is more important than the size of our faith, is the object of our faith. Is it in the finished work of the cross that our faith is wholly based, or do we trust in our own prayers? Do we claim the promises of God, but not fully trust in the only way to receive them?  In John 14:6 Jesus says:  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”  So, if it is God’s will that we be healed and if our faith is rightly placed in Christ and the finished work of the cross, why do we still see prayers that go unanswered? Why do people remain unhealed? Why does death sometimes come?  Isaiah 55:8-9 says:  “My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.  “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”   If we return to the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray, …Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, We can see that our prayer is already fully answered and accomplished in heaven. What we sometimes don’t see is the circumstances on earth aligning with the reality of heaven. God’s ways and His thoughts are higher than our ways. God is not limited to our finite time. Heaven is not limited to what we experience now. God is eternal. We are healed for eternity and we are healed in eternity. Just because we don’t experience it in this finite time does not mean that it is not so. The sum of our days, even if we live a very long life, are but a twinkling in the scheme of eternity. We are healed by His stripes, whether we see it now or not.

The text continues saying:  …the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. And some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” But Jesus, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—He said to the paralytic—“I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.” Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God.  Jesus said it is just as easy for Him to heal as to forgive. It is important though that Jesus forgave the man’s sins even before He healed Him. It is important also for ourselves and for those who we pray for that their sins be forgiven. In order to receive healing in eternity, a person must first be saved. If we want to see the circumstances on earth align with the realities of heaven forgiveness of sins through the finished work of the cross is vital.  

One other thing that we can see from today’s text is that the friends of the man on the stretcher were dilligent to make certain that he was brought before Jesus and the power of healing. The action of these men is symbolic of our intercession for others. We too need to be dilligent to bring them into the presence of the Lord. Our prayers can carry others to Jesus where they can both be saved and healed.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, my faith, small as it might be is focused wholly on You and the finished work of the cross. I pray that Your kingdom would come and that Your will would be done. I pray that the circumstances of this world would come into alignment with all that is already accomplished in heaven. I lift those who are sick and suffering into Your presence where there is power to heal. I lift those who are worried and anxious to You; that You would grant them Your peace. In Jesus name, the only name by which people can be saved I pray.   Amen.