2007-03-15 - Jesus vs. OxyClean

Matthew 8:3, "I am willing be cleansed."

The above verse is from a passage where a leper came to Jesus, bowed down before Him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, You can make me clean." Jesus responds in the verse quoted above, says that He is willing and cleanses him. Verse three continues in the passage, "And immediately his leprosy was cleansed." Jesus Christ had amazing healing abilities. No one can read the gospels and not grasp this truth very quickly. He could heal ailments and conditions that the physicians of his day couldn't even dream of tackling.

When Jesus was asked by the disciples of John the Baptist if he was the "expected One," or should they look for another (Matthew 11:3), Jesus replied that they should return to John and report what they had seen. He told them, "The blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them," Matthew 11:5. That was his answer. It was not a simple "yes," but He spoke about what He was doing, as evidence that He was the expected Messiah.

Someone might ponder how nice it would be if Jesus was still healing today. If He happened to have a jet layover in Detroit, all the lame, AIDS patients, cancer sufferers, you name it, would flock there to touch the tip of His plane. I would suggest that while Jesus does not have such a publicly-viewed ministry today, He still does heal ailments, and I would always encourage you to pray to that end.. We may not see it as dramatically today, but He is still the Lord who is willing to cleanse.

There is another form of cleansing that Jesus does, that is maybe more profound in people's lives, and He does it all the time. He cleanses from sin. This is an inner healing that may not look as dramatic as cleansing the leper, but the effects are far greater, and of a far deeper significance, than the outer cleansing of a leper. He takes our sin. He takes our wretched, vile, ugly sin, and He cleanses us from its power and effect. He takes the thief and cleanses Him so that he becomes a giving person. He takes the adulterer and turns him into a loving husband. He takes one to whom life is not precious and makes that same person a preserver of life. This is what Christ does for the sinner. He cleanses us from sin. He has always cleansed those He loved, and He still does so today. He says to us vile sinners, "I am willing, be cleansed."

Soli Deo Gloria,
T-

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