Mk 1:40-45
40A leper came to [Jesus] [and kneeling down] begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” 41Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” 42The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean. 43Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once. 44Then he said to him, “See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” 45The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere.
The leprosy left him immediately: We often seek and expect this kind of healing—fast and immediate. But what we wish is not healing but magic—to be able to walk again, to be cleared of illnesses, to be freed from poverty, to be relieved of conflicts, to be rid of problems. We want the Lord to do magic for us at the snap of his finger.
Real healing does not happen thus. Sometimes we need to come to Jesus, kneel before him, and beg him. Look again at the leper’s actions. Add the condition set by Jesus: to be quiet about it and tell no one. Instead, we love rehearsing and proclaiming our own pains and illnesses. We do not want to kneel and beg and pray. We want things to be easy and comfortable, and we want it fast.
No, God does not operate a relief center or a health spa. God walks with us. God wants us to run to him first, like he is all we’ve got and not the comfort we used to know and want for ourselves.