God's Compassion To Heal

And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand and touched him. ---Mark 1:41

“Moved with compassion,” Jesus touched the leper. This may have been the first time in years that someone touched this man. No one wanted to touch him. He wasn’t even supposed to come near people.

In another story about lepers, Luke 17:12, Jesus came to a place where ten lepers cried unto Him from afar. Why didn’t these ten lepers walk over to Jesus? Because it was illegal. If a leper came within 100 paces of a healthy human being, he had to get out of the way and call out, “Unclean! Unclean!”

So these ten lepers, knowing they couldn’t’ legally come within 100 paces of Jesus, cried to Him from a distance away. Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priest, and they were healed as they went. (V. 14)

Yet the leper in the story we have been studying, came close to Jesus. Though he could have been stoned for being there, he had the tenacity of someone who wanted healing so badly that he was willing to take a risk for it.

The leper fell down before Jesus and said, “Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.” Jesus immediately settled that question. Moved with compassion, He put forth His hand and touched the leper, saying, “I will; be thou clean.” The word, compassion means to have pity or sympathy for someone.

You see, God’s ability shows His power, but His willingness shows His compassion. In the Word, God’s compassion or sympathy is magnified above His power. The Bible says, “God is love.” (1 John 4:8) but it never says , “God is power.”

So trust in your heavenly Father’s love for you. As you come to Him in faith, cry out for mercy and His compassion will flow freely to you to heal and make you whole.

Confession: God’s love and compassion reach out to me and heals me of every sickness, disease and torment. He is not only able, but willing to make me whole. I am healed and whole!