And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him.

Luke 5:12-13, KJV

I can only imagine what it must have been like for the man described above. He was a leper, and therefore an outcast from all of society. The passage above reveals that he didn't have just a little leprosy, rather, that he was full of leprosy. So he was not only a social pariah, but he literally carried a death sentence - one that would slowly eat away at his body until he was mercifully taken in death.

Then Jesus came along. This leper, a man who would not have been permitted to come in contact with the lowliest of people because of his uncleanness, was actually permitted to approach Christ. He was allowed to do so because Jesus let him. And when this man who had carried this death sentence wherever he went came into contact with Jesus, he was made clean.

Clean! Can you imagine what it must have been like for the leper? Jesus will do the same thing for you, if you will let Him.

The fact is that all men have sinned, and the wages of sin is death (Romans 3:23 & Romans 6:23). So you see, we are not all that different from the leper, for we too are unclean and we too carry a death sentence with us. Yet Jesus, by the grace of God, brings us the same free gift of cleansing if we will only come to Him according to the terms set by His Father... and we can be clean!

The reading for today (and yesterday) is Mark 4 & 5. They reveal much about the love of God and the healing that Jesus brings to those who will come to Him.