Photo courtesy of Lick Observatory, © Laurie Hatch
A leper came to Jesus and begged, “If you wish you can make me clean.”
Moved with pity, Jesus touched him and said, “I do will it. Be made clean.”
And so it is that He who made the moon and the stars
Has lived among us and made His home in this world of ours.
I imagine myself to be but a simple piece of wood.
I plead with Him to make of me as He would.
Imperfectly grained and gnarled are my strands
I become a splendid statue through the work of His hands.
I imagine myself to be a shapeless lump of clay.
I ask Him to shape me in any fashion that He may.
He turns me around and around in His potter’s wheel.
He turns me into an elegant vase, magnificent in look and feel.
I imagine myself to be a blank sheet of paper.
I bid Him to write on me a poem, a story, whatever.
He composes a song with such moving melody and words.
It’s the story of my life: unique and never before heard.
And so it is that the Creator who made the moon and the stars
Can come into my life to heal and make whole all my wounds and my scars.
Those in the dark, He brightens up and the unhappy He enlightens.
The poor, He enriches and the dying and the dead, He eternally enlivens.
I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation.
~ Psalm 32
A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said,
“If you wish, you can make me clean.”
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched him, and said to him,
“I do will it. Be made clean.”
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning the him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
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.”
The 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.
Mark 1:40-45