Nothing is Impossible
Today’s reading gives us two examples of Jesus healing someone who, by all worldly accounts, was hopelessly disabled. First, we are told of the man who was “filled” with leprosy. Obviously, this was more than the onslaught of the disease. He was completely filled, hopelessly corrupted. Not only was leprosy a death sentence in the ancient world, but it was also a moral sentence as well. Rabbis had deemed a person afflicted with leprosy to be scorned and condemned by God. Leprosy was often used to demonstrate sin. The decay associated with the disease represented the decay of one’s soul when engulfed in sinful living. Because of the horrors of the disease mingled with the social condemnation that came with it, a sufferer was especially distraught, isolated, and shunned.
While in almost all countries of the world, leprosy has been eradicated, it still exists in some places. From 1923 to 1954 A.B. MacDonald founded and then acted as the medical superintendent of the Itu Leper Colony in Nigeria. He once explained the mental aspect of the disease by commenting, “The leper is sick in mind as well as body. For some reason there is an attitude to leprosy different from the attitude to any other disfiguring disease. It is associated with shame and horror, and carries, in some mysterious way, a sense of guilt…shunned and despised, frequently do lepers consider taking their own lives and some do.” This was the man who approached Jesus. Still, there was an unwavering believe that Jesus could completely heal him. Notice that he doesn’t ask if Jesus will try to heal him. He confidently proclaims, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” (verse 12)
Nothing is too big for our God. If He will, He can. Whether we are talking about physical infirmity or a spiritual sickness, God is more than able to wash us clean. This is what Jesus showed us with the second man from our reading. He was paralyzed. Like the first man, he needed a physical restoration of a body which had refused to function the way of its creation. Yet, in this case, Jesus pointed out the spiritual sickness from which the man suffered. His response to the man was, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” To God, this is the greater issue. Our physical lives will soon pass away. Our spiritual life is eternal – either in paradise or in torment.
No matter the condition of your body and spirit today, God can handle everything you have to offer. Are you heartbroken? He knows how to fix us. Are you sick? He can make us well? Have you sinned? He has the cure for that as well. No matter what we face, let us make our way to the Lord for healing, cleansing, and restoration. Nothing is impossible for those who believe.
(Written by Keegan Harkins.)
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