Devotional:

“12 While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 13 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. 14 And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” 15 But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. 16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.” — Luke 5:12-16

So, we know that this man was “full of leprosy,” according to Luke. Luke was a doctor and was probably more familiar with leprosy than most. So, the phrase “full of leprosy” could mean he was at the end stages of this disease and his life. This man had been living a life of complete isolation for years. Maybe he had a wife and kids at one point that he had to abandon because of this disease.

Leprosy meant you had to keep a distance from people, and they had to stay outside the city gates and live in colonies with other people stricken with the disease. According to Leviticus 13:45, they had to walk mournfully, with torn clothing and hair down and in their faces covering their upper lip, yelling out “unclean, unclean” so that everyone else would know to stay away. I can’t imagine anything more isolating or humiliating. It could have been years since this man had been talked to or physically touched by another human.

The man fell on his face begging Jesus, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” This man didn’t say, “Could you try to heal me?” or “If there’s still hope for me, will you make me clean?” He said, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Meaning this man knew without a doubt that Jesus could heal him. That wasn’t in question. The man was asking Jesus if He was willing to heal him. He had all the faith that Jesus could do it. He believed. He just didn’t know if Jesus would do it.

So, Jesus answers, “I will,” and at that moment, the man felt Jesus touch his skin. This man had not felt the touch of another person in years. And in that touch, the disease went away and he was made clean again. This man had complete faith that Jesus was Who He said He was and could heal him. And in his humility and desperation, he asked to be healed, but not only healed, but to be made clean again. Leprosy was not just considered an illness, but it was considered unclean and he had walked in shame and with a death sentence for so long.

Now, Jesus commanded the man to tell no one and to go straight to the priest with an offering as proof of his cleansing. The priest was the only one who could verify that a person was free and clear of this disease. And in Leviticus chapter 14, you can read about the extensive religious rituals and sacrifices that had to take place before the person could be officially considered cleansed and welcomed back into the community. Jesus knew this and told the man to do all the things, so that he could join his family and his community again.

This man asked Jesus if He would heal him, knowing that He could. But he also knew that Jesus had the ultimate authority and, in his humility, asked if it would be His will. His belief, reverence and understanding of the power and authority of God made him clean. He knew Jesus may not have been willing even though He had the power to do it. He was able to separate those two things, the will of God and the power of God.

What we ask for may not always be God’s will for us, but a “no” from God is not an unanswered prayer. Usually, it is God’s mercy and grace because we have no idea what He can see and what He knows. Our prayers should always be strong in the knowledge that God can heal all things, and, at the same time, we submit to His will because He is sovereign over all things that we can and cannot see.

After this, Jesus’s popularity kept growing and Jesus kept preaching and healing. But in the last verse, Luke says, “he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.” 

Jesus never let His ministry get in the way of His relationship with His Father. He withdrew to pray more and more as His ministry grew. It would’ve been easy for Jesus to fill that time with more ministry because such large crowds were lined up to hear Him and to be healed. But instead, He disappeared to places where He couldn’t be bothered.

Many accounts of Jesus’s healings in the Bible also talk about how it physically took a lot out of Him. In Luke 8:46, Jesus felt the power leave Him when the bleeding woman touched His garment. Every healing cost Jesus something. The more the crowds came and the more the people demanded from Jesus, the more He needed to be alone and withdraw to be with His Father. This was His strength. His time alone with the Father refueled Him, so that He could go and do it all again and again.

If Jesus required intimate time alone with the Father in order to be fueled and strengthened to continue His ministry, how much more important is it for us to spend time alone with the Lord? Too often, we consider our quiet time with God the one disposable thing on the calendar. When the schedule gets too busy, instead of that being the one thing we refuse to remove from our schedule, it is the one thing we erase to pencil in something higher on our list of priorities.

Who are we to give God our leftovers? Or erase Him from our calendar only to pencil in a hair appointment, tee time or a happy hour with friends?

Make it a point throughout Lent to keep your time with God the most important part of your day. Write it in pen on your calendar, so that you can’t erase your time with Him. And watch how you grow closer to Him and become refueled and strengthened by each moment you choose God first.