The Leper is the man who knelt and said,
If You will,
You can make me clean.
Moved with pity,
Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him and said,
I will;
be clean.
Immediately the leprosy left him,
and he was made clean.
See that you say nothing to anyone,
but go,
show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded,
for a proof to them.
He went out and began to talk freely.
Jesus could no longer openly enter a town.
Touch had gone where no one else would put a hand.
Leprosy in the Law was a living death—torn clothes, hair hanging loose, Unclean, unclean cried up the road. Whoever touched the leper became unclean. This man comes near anyway. If You will is faith in power that still asks for willingness. He does not lecture Jesus on duty. I will is the shortest gospel in the book. The touch happens before the word finishes. Holiness travels the wrong way on the old chart: instead of Jesus becoming unclean, the man becomes clean. Immediately. Moses already had a ceremony for the day a leper was clean—birds, blood, the priest’s inspection. Jesus sends him there. The gift is not a revolt against Moses. It is Moses’ sign filled in. The man talks. Fame runs. Towns close. Wilderness and prayer become the Lord’s next room. Matthew sets the scene as He came down from the mountain, as if Sinai’s greater Teacher still honors the priest. Luke calls the man full of leprosy. Mark lets you see the pity. A later band of ten will stand at a distance and cry mercy; one will turn back. This man is the first clear picture: will, touch, clean, send to the priest, a mouth that will not stay shut.
If You will, You can make me clean.
Moved with pity, He stretched out His hand and touched him. I will; be clean.
Immediately the leprosy left him. Go, show yourself to the priest, for a proof to them.
He began to talk freely. Jesus could no longer openly enter a town.
Unclean, unclean—until I will.
Lepers are cleansed. He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.
Do not stop at He can. Ask if He will. Come near enough to be touched. When He cleanses you, honor the proof He names. If you cannot keep silent, let the fame be His mercy, not your skin. The hand that should have been unclean made the unclean clean.
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