Imagine the scene.  The city was crowded with people everywhere.  Sounds of selling wares were prevalent.  Feel the press of the people moving almost as one.  Off in the distance, a bell can be faintly heard, a sound that becomes louder with the passing of mere minutes.  As the sound registers in the peoples’ ears, they immediately part, making a space where space did not first exist.

“Unclean.  Unclean.  I am unclean.”

They see the disfigured man coming toward them, ringing the bell that hung around his neck, the one he was required to ring as he walked.  They pressed away, getting as far away as possible.  It was completely impossible to turn their eyes away, to not look at the person walking into their midst.  However, walking was not really what the man was doing because it was more of a dragging of his tortured body that came forward, moving toward them.  The tips of his fingers and toes were black, surely making it painful to walk.  Yes, it was more of a dragging forward of a dying body.  Slowly and agonizing, the disease of leprosy was taking his life, AND this disease was contagious if one’s body even accidently touched the diseased body.

More than likely, it had been years, even decades since the dying man had been touched.  He had not felt his wife’s loving hand because she was forced to live in another place, far away from him, her husband.  He had not placed his children on his lap, read to them, played with them, or hugged them tight.  He had not shaken a friend’s hand in what had to feel like forever.

Instead, the man was forced to live separate, joined with other lepers just like him, confined by duty in a colony.  Seeing death walking next to you day-after-day had to be excruciatingly painful, for in each leper’s mind, surely, he had to wonder:  ‘Lord, am I next,’ or maybe because of the pain, he even prayed:  ‘Lord, please let me be next.’

Jesus was in the area of these cities where the crowds were large.  He had just come from the seaside where He had called His disciples and commissioned them to begin fishing for men.

• What does a man do when all hope is gone?
• When there’s no healing found and when desperate, what’s a man to do?

HE FALLS ON HIS FACE ONTO THE GROUND AT THE FEET OF JESUS!

• When physicians and sorcerers are unsuccessful in healing the man of his disease, what’s left to do?
• What words are left to speak when all hope is gone?

HE FALLS AT JESUS’S FEET AND BEGS THE GREAT PHYSICIAN:  “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

WITH FAITH, ONE FALLS BEFORE THE SAVIOR & WITH FAITH, ONE EXCLAIMS:  “LORD, SAVE ME.”

Believers in Jesus, He calls each one of us to a radical mission, to be on HIS MISSION, as we walk through every one of our days.  In writing to encourage a young man named Timothy, the apostle Paul was led by the Spirit to write:

These ‘lost’ ones may not have visible signs like blackened toes and fingers, where the devil’s death eats away at their extremities; nevertheless, these lost ones are dying anyway.  We watch them drag through life, placing their hopes on getting all they can and enjoying all the pleasures this world has for them.  We watch, and if we choose to not see their sinful state, then we may find ourselves turning away and not sharing the love of Jesus.  You see, they are the walking dead.  They may not be crying out as they pass:  “Unclean.  Unclean.  I am unclean,” but still they are—LOST & NOT YET CLEANSED BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB.

Slowly and agonizing, the disease of their lostness takes away their lives, AND though not contagious if one accidently touches their body, still the disease takes their hope of eternal LIFE.

The decision has been made.

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord . . .” 

Our past has been redeemed.

“but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, . . .” 

Our future is secure.

“who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, . . .”

• Do not back down.
• Do not be quiet.
• Do not slow down.
• Do not let up, but lean in on JESUS, for HE promises to always be present with us.

Let us live by faith, “according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,”

Our present makes sense for there’s much work to do as we testify and allow our SAVIOR work through our hands and feet.