A leper came to [Jesus] begging him, and kneeling he said to him, "If you choose, you can make me clean." Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, "I do choose. Be made clean!"
-Mark 1:40-41

In the world that Jesus knew, having leprosy was about as bad as it got. It was a lousy disease, for one thing. But on top of making a person sick, it rendered them an outcast. They lived on the outskirts of town, forced into a life of marginalization and begging. No wonder the man wanted help. No wonder Jesus was moved with pity.

As I read this story in Mark's gospel, questions and possibilities spring up out of the page. In the gospels, Jesus is constantly healing those who ask for it. Why doesn't it always seem to work that way now? Was Jesus moved with pity only because the leper asked? Why not heal all the lepers, and just have it done with? And, yet, people do still experience healing in their lives -- not only physical healing, but spiritual and emotional healing, and healing in relationships. Where is Jesus in all of that?

The answer is (ta-da!): I don't know. Sorry. So what can I say about this story from Mark's gospel? Fortunately, there was something else that caught my attention.

What impresses me about the man with leprosy in this story is how decisive he is, and how bold. He just comes right up to Jesus, and tells him what's up. "If you choose, you can fix this." I don't know, he may have had questions underneath the surface. But he decided to be optimistic, or brave, or something. He's outspoken with Jesus, and it's that combination of boldness (his attitude) and brokenness (his leprosy) that gets a response.

Another thing I like about the leper is his resolve. After all, it's hard to change. I don't care how bad things are. Inertia can still be a powerful thing. There are moments in all of our lives when we'd rather put up with a bad thing than get up the nerve to actually doing something about it. Not taking care of ourselves, being in a relationship that needs to end, being in a relationship that needs to be restored, any number of bad habits... how easy it can be to look at the broken places in our lives, and then turn a blind eye. It's the part of us that would rather sit on the couch and look at the mess than actually clean it up... even though we know we'd be happier if the mess were gone. You know how it goes, right? Anyway -- the leper in this story gets past the inertia. He gets past the whole self-pity thing. He knows what he needs to do, and he does it.

I won't pretend to understand the mystery of why some people are healed, and some aren't. But I do think that it's important to see how responsive Jesus is in this story. He was moved by this man's suffering -- and, I suspect, touched by his faith. You know, I think that Jesus can still be moved with pity, and still touched by faith. He may not always act in the way that we would expect, but that doesn't mean that he's uninvolved.

Perhaps, when we get past the inertia and actually confront the brokenness in our lives, we too will find Jesus, choosing to reach out to us. Or perhaps he's already reaching out, coaxing us to face whatever we need to face. I suspect that if we are so bold as the leper, we'll find that God's grace was there all along, ready to put us back on our feet and see us through.