Lord if you are willing, you can make me clean

            When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said,  “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. (Matt. 8:1-3)

           Picture this: The pastor (Jesus) just preached the greatest sermon there ever was  (“Sermon on the Mount”, Matthew 5-7), the crowd was amazed (Matt. 7:28), and was cheering behind him as they followed. What could be next? What would they be looking forward to? On a typical Sunday, that would be lunch!

          But out came a leprosy, how inconvenient!

          Let me ask you a question: who was more blessed? The crowd who just heard the great teaching of Jesus? Or the leper who probably was NOT there (he would have been rejected by the crowd), but heard about Jesus and His power?

         The answer would be obvious – the one who experienced the power of Jesus. Yet many people are happy to just hear good teaching and go about their day…. Unchanged. 

         But “blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matt. 5:3) – those who know of their condition and need.

         And “those who mourn” (Matt. 5:4) – who are feeling sad about the situation.

         And “the meek” (Matt. 5:5) – those who realize they can’t fix themselves by just knowing more, but are humble enough to kneel before him and say, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

         Listen to these beautiful words from Jesus, “I am willing. Be clean!” God’s words are powerful and life transforming – don’t just settle with listening to them, kneel before him and ask, seek, knock - experience. 

 “主啊！如果你肯，必能使我潔淨。”

1耶穌下了山，許多人跟隨著祂。 2 有一個患痲風的人前來向祂跪拜， 說：“主啊！如果你肯，必能使我潔淨。”  3 耶穌伸手摸他，說：“我肯，你潔淨了吧！”他的痲風立刻潔淨了。 (馬太福音 8:1-3)  

        試想像以下的情景- 講員(主耶穌) 剛剛完成了一篇發人深省的講道 (「登山寶訓」馬太福音5-7 章)，眾人都驚奇祂的教訓 (馬太福音7:28) ，並在祂背後報以熱烈的歡呼聲。之後又會有什麼事情發生? 群眾會有什麼的期待? 在一個平常的主日，想到的當然是去哪裡吃什麼的午餐。    

       但這個關鍵時刻竟突然出現了一個患大痳瘋的人，真不通氣!     讓我問你一個問題：誰更有福？是那群剛剛聽了主耶穌的偉大講道的群眾？抑或是那個患大痳瘋的人 (他可能根本不在聽道的其中，因他一早已被人群排斥在外) ，但他卻聽聞過主耶穌基督的事及祂的大能!   

       答案是顯而易見- 就是那曾經歷過主耶穌基督大能的一位。可惜的是，有許多人只是喜歡聽一場偉大的講道，聽了以後繼續過着同樣的生活…生命並没有改變。   

       可是 「虛心的人有福了」(馬太福音 5:3) - 他們知道自己的景況和需要，

       及「哀慟的人」(馬太福音 5:4) - 他們會為自己的景況感到憂傷和懊悔，  

       及「温柔的人」(馬太福音 5:5) - 他們明白不能單靠頭腦上的認知能解決問題，而是要謙卑地來到主耶穌跟前，來拜祂，説 : 「主若肯，必能叫我潔淨了。」  

      聽到主耶穌基督美麗的回應，「我肯，你潔淨了吧!」

      神的話語是滿有能力，能改變人的生命–所以讓我們不要只是單單的聽道，而是來到主耶穌基督的跟前來拜祂，來得着「祈求，尋找，叩門」的體驗。