"He Touched Him"

   Then a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, "If You are willing, You can make me clean."
   Then Jesus, mobs with compassion, put out His hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; Be cleansed."
   As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. Mark 1:40-42

One of my most favorite encounters with Jesus is this one right here, with this particular leper. The reason is really simple. He touched him! It says that Jesus was moved with compassion, and He reached out His hand to touch him. I love that Jesus wasn't repelled by the man's uncleanness but instead was moved to compassion to do for him and touch every area of his life in the process. 

I love that His response was "I'm willing," despite the fact that technically the guy was sinning against the law by even being being there in the first place. He was supposed to be crying, "Unclean, Unclean!" and keeping his distance. Instead adhering to the law his desperation caused him to seek out Jesus and declare his faith and trust in Jesus as he put his situation in Jesus' care.

Jesus, of course sees his every need and takes care of them all. We know this because it tells us that His healing came as He spoke the healing word to Him and so the touch? Why was it necessary? The touch took care of the spiritual and emotional needs as well. Why do I say this? Because Jesus, by touching him was breaking the law as well. According to the law you weren't supposed to touch a leper. Therefore, when His compassion moved Jesus to reach out His hand and touch him it was for a specific reason. It was to touch more than just his body but the part of him that had been wounded and unloved because of declaring himself unclean everywhere he went. It was to touch a man who had gone without human contact for so long because a leper wasn't allowed to touch or be touched by their loved ones. 

Jesus, when He responded with, "I am willing," truly was! With both word and deed He not only cleansed his body but brought health and wholeness to His inner man as well! Why? Because ....one word ....one touch from Jesus is all it takes for any unclean wretch to be made new again!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17