The account I’m reading in Mark 1 this morning is almost identical to the one I read in Matthew 8 back in January . . . but it didn’t leave the same impression then. Maybe it’s because of how the words fall on the page, right before a line break, that they jumped off the page . . . or maybe it’s a “Holy Spirit thing” where my Teacher has determined to remind me of truth stored in my head that needs to be refreshed in my heart. Whatever reason, what hits me this morning is that the leper who came to Jesus was a man of few words . . .

And a leper came to [Jesus], imploring Him, and kneeling said to Him, “If You will, You can make me clean.” Moved with pity, He stretched out His hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.   (Mark 1:40-42 ESV)

A leper . . . for a leper, the Levitical law was just “piling on”. In addition to already dealing with the physical effects of the disease . . . beyond needing to be quarantined if the disease was infectious . . . the person had to deal with the social stigma attached to being “unclean.” Excluded from “general population” . . . outcast . . . isolated . . . the one job posting they were qualified to apply for was beggar. Dependent on charity . . . disregarded most often by the “clean” . . . I imagine the leper’s life was a lonely life . . . a life of impossible dreams.

But on this day a leper came to Jesus. Now lepers were so not supposed to approach “the clean” and enter into their personal space. But this leper came . . . fell on his knees before the Teacher in humiliation and desperation . . . and he drew near to the Master and sought His help. And he spoke but eight words (nine if you’re reading the accounts in Matthew 8 or Luke 5). Three of those words were about him and his condition, “make me clean” . . . but the other five, the five that jumped off the page at me this morning, were all about Jesus. Five words that transcend the lepers situation . . . that transcend first century Israel. Eternal words . . . truth concerning the essence of my eternal God . . .

“If You will, You can!”

If my God will, my God can. For with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26) . . . His arm is not too short to save (Isa. 59:1) . . . “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for Me?” (Jeremiah 32:27) . . . Nope!

That man could have approached Jesus and spoken volumes of how difficult his life had been . . . could have pleaded his case as to why he deserved something better . . . could have debated with Jesus the merits of the law’s hard stance . . . could have complained of the societal injustice he was enduring. Instead, this man of few words, simply approached the Son of God, and said, “Lord, if You will, You can.”

Oh, that I might be a man of few words. Trusting in the Savior’s will . . . believing in the Savior’s power . . . all for the Savior’s glory.

You are God in heaven
And here am I on earth,
So I’ll let my words be few–
Jesus I am so in love with You.

And I’ll stand in awe of You . . .

– Matt Redman