Salvation starts with a tremendous sense of need, and a sense that our condition is so serious that there is no one on earth who can help us. Many others did not think he would help and did not go to him in their need. This man was healed because he came. The forgiveness of sin and the giving of new life is beyond any human power. We may go to a doctor for help with pain or illness and in our day many wonderful cures are available, but Christ deliberately came into the world at a time when medicine was not well advanced and many conditions could not be cured. He did this to set before us a good illustration of the nature of the cure of souls. Just as leprosy was incurable in those days, so sin is incurable in every day and age. Just as the leper despaired of help from any human agent, so the sinner despairs of being set free from the guilt of sin, and knows the impossibility of repaying the debt he owes to God.
The sinner must come near to Christ. He will never be healed if he remains at a distance. There must be a personal interaction with the Lord. But of course to do that we need to allow him to know our true condition. The Lord knows everything about us already, but it is essential that the seeking soul stops hiding from him and confesses his sin. Leprosy was a disfiguring condition and the leper may well have hidden from society not only because the law required it, but also out of shame. The shame of sin is stronger in the presence of the righteous than in the presence of the wicked, and to come to Jesus Christ is to come to the perfectly holy one. Nevertheless, our shame should not make us distance ourselves from him, but come to him as our only possible source of help.
We are not lepers, but in God’s sight it is as if our souls had the disease of leprosy. We don’t realise that we are spiritual lepers. We say, ‘I am a good person. I have a few flaws.’ A few flaws? When we flail out in temper? We are so carnal. We are in our heart so proud and we don’t know it. But this man did. Oh to be like him! He was very sincere in his approach to Christ. You cannot approach God lightly but you must come with humility and ask for help. ‘I am full of disease, worth nothing, but Jesus of Nazareth, if only you would help me! I am a shallow person, satisfied with only the sensual. Have mercy on such a fool and make me different.’ If we come with pride and self-satisfaction, God will not hear us. Like leprosy, sin has made us ugly in the sight of God. You could have pity on him at the beginning of his illness, but now he has become repulsive. So it is with sin in its advanced state. We are arrogant, vicious, self-centred, shifty. It begins to show in our faces and it is obvious to all; we have repeated the same sins so often.
This man wanted to be healed. He had the faith to believe that Christ could do this – he did not doubt his power – but he was not sure that he would be willing to heal his particular case. ‘Will he do it for me?’ What it implies is this: Can a creature like me be healed and saved? Can I be forgiven? Am I discarded for ever? Our hope lies entirely in his willingness, and we realise that he is the master of his own will. We do not know why he wills to save anyone beyond what he tells us: that it is his good pleasure to do so. He alone decided to come into the world and to bear the tremendous cost of salvation. All that the sinner can do is appeal to his compassion and resign his case into his hands. We must believe not only that he is the Saviour of the world, but he is willing to be our Saviour also. This is often where the seeker gets stuck, and where salvation has to become personal. We need the Saviour of the world to consider our individual case and take away our particular sins. Will he do so? It is such a tremendous question, and the Lord gives his answer. God is merciful and Christ’s answer tells us that those who ask for mercy and who sincerely trust in him will never be turned away.