Reaching out his hand, Jesus touched him, saying, “I am willing; be made clean.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Matthew 8:3 (CSB)
A man with leprosy had just said to Jesus, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus answered him with the man’s own words: “I am willing; be made clean.” The man was healed on the spot.
As Jesus spoke, He did something people avoided: He touched him. Under God’s law, touching an unclean person made a person unclean too, and the law required people with leprosy to live alone. Jesus could have healed the man with a word, but He chose to put His hand on him, because He cared about him (Mark 1:41).
We can be tempted to keep our distance from people whose troubles make us uncomfortable, like someone who has been sick for a long time or someone whose mistakes everyone knows about. Jesus shows us that we ought to go near them, whether that means a visit, a phone call, or just sitting with them.
Jesus did even more for us than touch our uncleanness. The Bible says, “He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). On the cross, Jesus took the punishment for our sin, and everyone who trusts Him is made clean before God.