Gospel

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The leper knew what he was--filthy, unclean, suffering. Only his desperation was more obvious than his disease. He was so determined to encounter Jesus that he was even willing to venture out into the public, to mix with people, to risk it all.

There He was! The leper didn't have to push his way through the crowd--that was one advantage the condition gave. Throngs parted while he passed, keeping as much distance as possible. When a natural clearing formed in the street that day, the leper wasted no time. He fell to his knees and began begging in the loudest voice he could muster: "If you are willing, you can make me clean."

Jesus looked at the pitiful creature before him, and knew all. He knew every searing pain, physical and emotional, that this man had endured. He knew the spark of hope that had kindled deep within him when he heard the news of the traveling miracle worker. He knew the man's faith; He knew it through and through.

He touched the man, whom no one had touched for such a long time, and the words echoed in His mind: "...if you are willing." He healed the leper with the simple declaration, "I am willing. Be clean!"

As His ministry continued, did Jesus meditate on the idea of willingness, and what that meant for Him? In the quiet moments, alone with His Father, did He pray for strength? Did He wonder if His own willingness could be the difference in the event that was waiting for Him, waiting in Jerusalem?

When the time came, He knew He was spending His last private moments in prayer. Echoing the leper's opening words, His heavy heart murmured, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." (Luke 22:42, NIV)

The Father's will was done.

"I am willing." Jesus clung to that idea as He took the first bitter sip from that cup--His closest friend, His "rock," Peter, denied knowing Him, denied it three times.

"I am willing." He endured another unimaginable drink as He suffered through a beating at the hands of the guards.

"I am willing." He was spit on and lied about and condemned, and the cup emptied some more.

"I am willing." The flogging drained a significant portion from the hideous cup, that beautiful cup that He drank from for us.

And then He was crucified.

He was as willing to touch and heal the leper as He was to die that horrible death. His compassion fueled both of those actions.

With the crown of thorns piercing His brow, and while bearing the sin of the world, the cup was upended and He drank deeply. He finished what God asked Him to do, finished it to the final drop.

He was willing.

Brenda Kern

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