And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." Luke 5:12.



This passage touched me as it shows an example of humility and courage in the fact that the leper was not afraid to publicly show his belief in the Messiah. Too often these days we tend to be embarrassed to show our faith in Christ. Our society today, with all its profanity has turned from GOD. People choose to ignore the truth of GOD's word, opting instead to accept the flawed reasoning of man. Our leaders are arrogant and self serving and our society has gone as far as to publicly ban GOD. To show ones faith outside of a church will most likely invite ridicule and scoffing and even anger. I'm in no way a doomsday zealot but I can't help to think that GOD must be at a boiling point with today's society.



During the time when Jesus healed the leper, public opinion must have been pretty divided as well. Even though the proof was in the pudding, so to speak, with Jesus displaying m,any miraculous works of GOD, the leaders of the community back then were set on defaming Him as He threatened their power and authority. To publicly show faith in the Messiah could have easily led to persecution for blasphemy but the afflicted believer didn't care. He chose to honor Jesus with his faith in Christ's power.



The leper also showed a willingness to accept whatever was GOD's will through Jesus. He didn't ask Jesus to please "make" hom clean, he first displays his acceptance of GOD's will one way or the other by saying, "If you are willing," then he shows his faith by stating, you "can" make me clean.



WE, in all our modern day comforts, have much to learn from this afflicted man who, with a simple sentace, showed courage, faith and humility.