Christ Is Compassionate Toward You

On Sunday, we talked about how, in Mark 1:35-45, Jesus healed a leper. A leper was someone with a skin disease in the ancient world; sometimes their disease even caused their flesh to rot. A leper was forced to remove their self from society, they weren’t allowed to have physical contact with anyone, they had to tear their clothes, leave their hair unkempt, cover the lower part of their face, and if they saw anyone from a distance, they had to cry, “Unclean! Unclean!”

            In our passage, we see that Jesus meets this leper, and he drops to his knees and asks Christ, “If you will, you can make me clean.” This was a desperate cry for help, and even though he was supposed to stay away from people, because of his great faith in Christ The Lord, he reaches out to Him and asks for cleansing.

            Because of His great love for the leper, Jesus cleanses him. Jesus showed this love for him by touching him. This touch made it personal; it wasn’t some distant healing where Jesus simply does the miracle for him and they never speak. The two of them share a moment, as Jesus lays His hands on the leper for his cleansing. Not only that, Jesus gives him everything necessary to be restored back into the religious life of the community and to be socially reincorporated.

            Jesus’ care for this man was on full display in this situation, and church, if you’re reading this, I want you to know: He loves you the same way today. Scripture tells us that Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). God and His attributes do not change.

            I know it seems so simple and fundamental, but I believe it’s so important that we are reminded that God loves us so much. I could quote John 3:16 here, which would be appropriate, but I want to quote 1 John 4:19, which reads: “We love because He first loved us.” Even our ability to love one another properly comes from the fact that we have been loved by God. Yes, God wants us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourself, but before we do that, He wants us to know how loved we are by Him.