No If – February 4, 2022

A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.
Mark 1:41-42


Military Devotion – February 4, 2022

Devotion based on Mark 1:41-42

See series: Military Devotions

Our hearts must go out to this man. Leprosy was a hideous and painful disease. There was no cure. Lepers were forced to quarantine themselves from the rest of the population out of fear of being contagious. That means his family suffered too.

It took courage for the man to approach Jesus. He was desperate but determined.

He was absolutely certain of the power that Jesus possessed. He had faith.

To Jesus, he said: “You can make me clean.”

There is another man that our heart must go out to. He told Jesus, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not” (Mark 9:17-18).

Jesus responded with anger. “‘O unbelieving generation,’ Jesus replied, ‘how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.’”

“So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.”

When Jesus asked how long this had been going on, the father said, “From childhood—It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

How sad! How horrible! Surely, Jesus will respond with tenderness, won’t he?

Not exactly.

“If you can?” Jesus retorted. Then he added, “Everything is possible for him who believes.”

The father should not have said, “If.” Not when he was speaking about the ability of Jesus to do something.

The “if” showed something was lacking in the father’s faith. “If you can do anything…” infers Jesus might not have enough power to take control of this vicious demon.

The man admitted his mistake. He accurately identified his problem. Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

The difference between this man and the leprous man was the quality of their faith.

The leper said to Jesus, “You can make me clean.”

The distraught father said, “If you can….”

This was not just a slip of the tongue. He had already seen the disciples fail. He thought maybe there was no way to overcome the power of this demon.

Jesus rebuked his disciples as much as he did the father. Lack of faith is not uncommon among us humans.

Jesus could have said, “No!” to the leper’s request. The man knew that. “If you are willing,” he told Jesus, “You can make me clean.” He left the decision up to Jesus.

That’s really what it comes down to, isn’t it? In the end, it is the will of God, not the power of God, that determines what he will and will not do.

Faith has confidence that his will is good for us. Faith declares, “Not my will, but Thine!”

Come to think of it, that’s the kind of confidence Jesus showed on the eve of his execution.

In Gethsemane, he prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).

We pray that too, do we not?

“Our Father, who art in heaven…thy will be done.”

No “if.”

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we need you to overpower the control that evil in all its forms has over us. We will not presume to tell you how to do this. We place this into your hands. Thy will be done! Amen.

Written and recorded by Rev. Paul Horn, WELS National Civilian Chaplain to the Military, San Diego, California.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Note: Scripture reading footnotes are clickable only in the web version.

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