"Refine my faith; purify, confirm and increase within me a living hope and joy in the Lord that I might love you with an undying love" (Paul Chilcote, Praying in the Wesleyan Spirit, p.144)

"If you are willing, you can make me clean," pleads the leper before Jesus in Mark 1:40-45.

Void of self-esteem, broken, an out-cast, this leper takes the highest risk in approaching Jesus.  There is no guarantee of how Jesus will respond.  What will be the pay off for his risky investment? Rejection? Anger?  Humiliation?

It reflects a high degree of trust in this person, Jesus, to risk retaliation by a mob...to risk rejection at the hand of the only person who might change your destiny. 

But he is so driven for purity; for wholeness, for healing, that he throws himself before Jesus: "If you are willing, you can make me clean."

Contrast this with Namaan, the leper in 1 Kings who comes to Elisha by way of a servant girl's confidence and a letter from his own king to the king of Israel.  "I have sent you my servant Namaan, so you can cure him of his leprosy."

These kings weren't on the best of terms.  The King of Israel is sure it is a trick to have an excuse to invade again...

Word comes to Elisha of the predicament.  He sends for Namaan, who arrives with his entourage.  When this decorated general with diplomatic status and all his finery show up at the prophet's door, Elisha doesn't even look up from his book.  He sends a servant to the door to convey the message: Go dip 7 times in the Jordan.

Namaan is furious.  He had no reason to believe that God shouldn't be willing to make him clean!  That's what gods do!  They serve the interests of human beings!  Especially important, national figures like Namaan! 

Elisha was supposed to fall all over himself, entertaining such an illustrious client and all.  Namaan could put this prophet's business on the map! But the prophet didn't come to the door--call on his God--wave his hand over the spots and make them go away...Worse!  He insults him by telling him to dip in the nasty, muddy Jordan... Namaan is ready to head home-- and probably return with a raiding party.

His servants stop him and ask the important question: "What's the problem?  If he had asked you to do something hard, you would have done it, right? So, why can't you do this easy thing?"

The "easy-hard" thing God asks us to do in order to receive the wholeness, the healing that we desire and God desires to give is always bound up in this: God appeals to our weakness, not our strength.

Namaan would have gladly proven himself worthy of the cleansing by way of battle, money or influence.  But God asked him to do the easy-hard thing:

1) Be willing to ask God, and

2) Be willing to receive it on God's terms.

Namaan's hang up was pride.  The leper in Mark was already a study in humility having no self-esteem whatsoever.  Both needed the healing that only comes from God.

Both needed to have their faith refined; purified, confirmed and increased to provide the living hope and joy in the Lord to increase within them the undying love that is a response to God's amazing love.

Lepers are the broken among us who struggle to ask God for help or healing because the wonder if they are worthy of something so wonderful!  What if God won't or doesn't want to?  What if God doesn't care?

Namaan's are those who shake their fist in God's face and say, "If God loves me, why doesn't He just make me clean?  Look at who I am --all that I influence!  If I'm down others suffer!  Look at all I do: for God, for country, for community...

The Truth that applies to them both is that God is absolutely willing to make them clean outwardly but will do so in ways that cleansed them inwardly as well.  God's healing is always a holistic, complete healing.  God won't do anything half-way.  When you are ready to ask and willing to receive the work that only God can do in your life-- on His terms--for your total restoration, you'll walk away clean at last!

For reflection:
1 Peter 1: 13-22
James 5:13-15