Embraced By The Savior
"Jesus is a friend who walks in when the world has walked out."
-author unknown

Why should he get up? He has no place to go, no boss to please, no dreams to chase. he rolls over and shuts his eyes. Maybe if he goes back to sleep, he won't have to watch himself die. Then he remembers. His wife is coming.

Twice a week, without fail, she comes out to see him. He should feel lucky. She hasn't abandoned him like the wives of some other men here. But then, she's always been stronger than most women, and more beautiful. He should feel lucky. Instead, he feels rotten.

He'd like to blame someone. The priest? But the priest had only done his job when he'd sent the man into isolation for a two-week waiting period. "Just a precaution," the priest had said. But during the two weeks the man's condition had not improved. His whole world went black. The priest pronounced him "unclean" and sentenced him to life in the caves with the other curse-carriers.

"I'm sorry. I have to do this. It's the law," the priest had said. Sitting up, the man explores his scalp with his fingers until they find a festering sore. Bigger, he notes. Some days his disease creeps along, unnoticed like a giant glacier. Sometimes it's a man-eater, chewing through his face and hands like a glutton.

"Got any food in here?" asks a toothless beggar, scrounging through the man's food bag.
"Keep your dirty hands off that?" the man yells, grabbing his bag and stuffing it under his blanket. What's the matter, boy?" the old man cackles. "Afraid you might catch leprosy? Better watch out for that leprosy. It'll eat your lunch," he howls and hobbles off.

Outside, the man pitches rocks at a bush while he waits for his wife. After every other toss, he glances up at the ridge. Where is she? She usually comes early, carting his food and wine. The man doesn't eat in front of her though. Instead, he drinks in her hair, savors her smile, and tastes her cheeks with his eyes. he hasn't held her in five years. Each time she leaves, he begs her not to return. But she always says, "Don't talk foolishness," and comes back anyway.

A mile away, in the village, a crowd swarms around a young girl sitting on her mother's lap. It's a curious scene. Laughing and crying, the mother rocks the child in her arms. The daughter looks bewildered.

"Only God could do this," whispers one man to another.

"This child has been blind since birth," a woman announces, "but today she can see! Praise God! He's finally sent a prophet!"

Then the crowd rushes off to find the man who gave sight to the blind girl. Everyone needs a miracle. But who knows how many miracles God will allot per day? If they hurry, maybe they can reach him before all his power dries up.

Still waiting near the caves, the man aims another rock and smacks a branch dead on. What's keeping his wife? She's never this late. Maybe she's not coming, mocks a voice in his head. Maybe she's tired of walking so far to see your scabby face. Or maybe, the voice stabs and twists like a knife, she's found someone else. The man flings a rock into the blinding sun. Then he turns to head back down the ravine.

"Wait!" calls a voice behind him. "Honey, don't go!"

Horrified, the man watches his wife sprint down the steep path, past the safe zone, until she stops, out of breath, dangerously close to him.

"What are you doing? Get back!" the man yells, covering his mouth with his sleeve.

"I know I'm late. I'm sorry. But something remarkable is happening in the village," his wife says, wild-eyed. "I've come to get you. You must see this."
"Are you crazy? You know I can't leave here," the man says.

"Trust me," she pleads. "You have to come with me, right now, before he's gone!"

"What are you talking about? Before who's gone?"

"I've seen a man. Some say he's a prophet, I don't know. But everyone he touches is healed. I'm telling you, I've seen it with my own eyes. Just now, a little blind girl...The most amazing thing I've ever seen. So, I thought, if he can heal a blind girl..."

"Did you see him heal a leper?!

"Well, no. But why not a leper? I'm telling you, this man has incredible power. Please, come with me. What do we have left to lose? If for no other reason, do it for me."

By now, villagers have flopped down and sprawled out in front of a merchant's house. Toddlers nurse. Tradesmen bicker. Teenagers nap. Every few minutes, a different voice rises above the murmur shouting, "Jesus! Come out!"

Finally, the door jerks open. Right there in full view of the clueless people stands the Son of the Living God. People scramble to their feet as disciples spill out of the doorway and form a wedge. They lock arms and clear a path for their teacher through the sea of hands. Then they freeze, startled by the image before them. Out of the shadows walks a highly contagious leper.

The sick man panics in the middle of the street. Quickly, he covers his mouth with his dirty sleeve and shouts the warning, "Unclean! Unclean!" Fear scatters the villagers as if bullets had been shot through the crowd. Even the disciples back off until only Jesus is left standing ten feet from the man.

The Great Physician doesn't ask his patient where it hurts. Leprosy speaks for itself. It make s a meal of a body; It eats away self-worth, chews a man's chances, and devours his destiny. The man's ragged clothes and foul complexion lodge like arrows in the Lord's heart, wounding and weighing it down with compassion.

Jesus surveys the empty street, then folds his hands against his chest. He raises his eyebrows and invites the man closer with a smile.

The man gasps like a fish out of water. His heart flaps and flutters. His thoughts jumble. Why is this total stranger taking such a risk? What if nothing happens? Why had he listened to his wife" But the look in Jesus' eyes quiets all his frantic questions. Dropping his sleeve from his mouth, the man bows his head, sinks to his knees, and says, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."

Looking down on his head, Jesus spots a whitish sore. He takes a deep breath and lifts his right hand-the mighty right hand of God, gloved for the moment in tough callus skin, the same hand that will be punctured for every plague and stabbed for every sin. He lifts that hand, the hand of the Lamb, and does an unthinkable thing. He lays it flat on the sore, jolting every dead cell in the man's body. Then he nods and says kindly, "I am willing. Be clean!"

Instantly, a flash of warmth washes from the man's head, across his face, and down to his palms. Infections seal shut. White hairs turn black and his skin yanks tight like a drawstring. Then the same potent power that restored his flesh scours out the contamination in his soul.

"Oh, Lord. Oh, my Lord!" the man moans in amazement, sliding his hands down his arms. "It's gone. All gone." He searches his body.
"Look! Every bit of it is gone!"

The man's wife races from the shadows. She circles him, her eyes pooling tears, repeating over and over, "My Lord and my God!"

Then it happens. The man does what he thought he'd never get to do again. Cleansed and fee, he reaches for his wife's hand and pulls her into his arms.

Stunned and cautious, the crowd trickles back. Is it true? Leprosy? Cured? By nightfall, the whole town is singing and dancing and celebrating. They seat the man at the head table, and everyone competes for a chance to sit next to him.

Christ gave the ultimate reception to a man who expected rejection. When the rest of the world ran from him, the king of kings drew closer in. When the situation seemed terminal, God produced a miracle.

Do you have a wound that won't heal? There is hope. You may live in a different time, lead a different life, or long for a different cure than the leper, but you share the same Savior. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. There's not sickness he hasn't seen or sin he can't forgive. Tell him the whole story. Let him know where you hurt. Then ask the Great Physician to touch those tender, hidden places of your heart and renew your prescription for joy. Let him clean out your bitterness, purify your perspective, and launder your life with His love. Step out from the shadows today. He's waiting. Know that He'll never refuse you. He's willing to make you clean. Click Here For Something Special.

Scriptural Account
man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." Filled with compassions, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

Mark 1:40-42

Your Friend, Melinda