One day as Jesus came down the mountainside large crowds of people follow him. In one of the villages, suddenly a man with advance leprosy came toward Jesus. The man fell to his knees in front of Jesus with his face to the ground, begging to be healed. The man said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me well again."
Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched the man with leprosy. Then Jesus said to the man, "I am willing, be healed!" And at that very moment the leprosy was gone, and the man was healed.
Then Jesus sent the man on his way with a warning: "Do not tell anyone what has happened! Instead, go over to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering that is required by the Law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been healed."
But the man didn't obey Jesus! For even after Jesus' warning, the report of His power spread even faster. For, as the man went his way, he was telling everyone that Jesus had healed him. Soon a great crowd of people had surrounded Jesus, they came to hear Him teach and to be healed of their diseases.
Well, it wasn't long before Jesus couldn't even enter a town anywhere, without the people coming to Him. Jesus had to stay in private or hidden places, but the people from everywhere would soon find Him and come to Him there, also. But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.
Think about this:
Leprosy was a terrifying disease, because there was no known cure. But did you know that sin is also an incurable disease, and we all have it! Only Christ's healing touch can take away our sins and cure us. But first just like the man with leprosy, we must realize we can't cure ourselves, we need Christ's to take our sin away. So ask Christ for His saving help.
Now, the Jewish leaders said that people with leprosy was unclean. This meant that people with leprosy had a disease that couldn't be healed, and others could catch the disease. Because the law said that touching any unclean person made a person unclean, too. Some people would even throw rocks at a person who had leprosy to keep them at a safe distance. How astounding it had to be, when Jesus reached out and touched this man who had leprosy.
After Jesus healed the man, people were coming to Him to hear Him teach and to have their diseases healed. But Jesus made sure that He had time to pray! For Jesus often went to a quiet place by His self to pray. Like Jesus we should take the time to go somewhere that is quiet and no one is around and pray. Our strength comes from God.
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