Roughly two thousand
years ago, the Savior came down from the mountain
after teaching the Beatitudes and other gospel principles. As He walked, He was approached
by a man sick with leprosy. The man showed
reverence and respect as he knelt before
Christ, seeking relief from his affliction. His request was simple:
"Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." The Savior then extended
His hand and, touching him, said, "I will; be thou clean." We learn here that our Savior
always wants to bless us. Some blessings may
come immediately, others may take longer, and some
may even come after this life, but blessings will
come in due time. Much like the leper, we can
find strength and comfort in this life by
accepting His will and knowing that He
wants to bless us. We can find the strength
to face any challenge, to overcome temptations,
and to understand and endure our difficult circumstances. Surely, in the most
crushing moment of His life, the Savior's strength
to endure was deepened as He said to His
Father, "Thy will be done." The leper did not make his
request in a pretentious or demanding manner. His words reveal a humble
attitude with high expectations but also with a sincere desire
that the will of the Savior be done. This is an example of the
attitude with which we should come unto Christ. We can come unto Christ
with the certainty that His desire currently
is and always will be the best for our
mortal and eternal lives. He has an eternal perspective
that we do not always have. We must come unto Christ
with a sincere desire that our will be swallowed up
in His, which will prepare us for eternal life. It is very hard to imagine
the physical and emotional suffering that weighed on the
leper who came unto the Savior. Leprosy affects the nerves and
skin, causing disfigurement and disability. Additionally, it led
to great social stigma. Someone stricken with leprosy
had to leave their loved ones and live isolated from society. Lepers were considered
unclean both physically and spiritually. For this reason,
the law of Moses required that lepers
wear torn clothing and call out, "Unclean!" as they walked. Sick and despised,
lepers ended up living in abandoned houses or tombs. It is not hard to imagine
that the leper who approached the Savior was broken. In one way or another,
we too can feel broken, whether due to our own
actions or those of others, due to circumstances we
can or cannot control. In such moments, we can
place our will in His hands. Some years ago, Zulma, my wife,
my better half, my best part, received some difficult news. She had a cyst in
her parotid gland, and it was growing rapidly. Her face began swelling, and
she was to immediately undergo a delicate operation. Many thoughts ran through her
mind and weighed on her heart. Was the tumor malignant? How would her body recover? Would her face become paralyzed? How intense would the pain be? Would her face be
permanently scarred? Would the tumor
return once removed? Even if she could attend the
wedding of one of our sons that was going to take
place two weeks later. As she lay in the operating
room, she felt broken. In that very important
moment, the Spirit whispered to her that she had
to accept the will of the Lord. Then she decided to
place her trust in God. She felt strongly that
whatever the result, His will would be
the best for her. Soon she drifted
into surgical sleep. Later, she wrote
poetically in her diary: "On the surgeon's table
I bowed before Thee, and surrendering to Thy
will, I fell asleep. I knew I could turn to Thee,
knowing that nothing bad can come from Thee." She found strength and comfort
from surrendering her will to that of the Father. That day God
blessed her greatly. Whatever our
circumstances might be, we can exercise our
faith to come unto Christ and find a God we can trust. As my son once wrote: "According to the prophet, God's
face is brighter than the sun and His long hair
is whiter than snow and His voice roars like
the rushing of a river, and next to Him man is nothing. ... I am crushed as I realize
that even I am nothing. And only then do I fumble
my way to a god I can trust. And only then do I discover
the God I can trust." We can trust Him because He
loves us and wants what is best for us in every circumstance. The leper came forward
because of the power of hope. And hope is emboldened by
a god that we can trust. The world gave him no
solutions, not even comfort. Thus, the Savior's
simple touch must have felt like a caress
unto his entire soul. We can only imagine the
deep feelings of gratitude the leper must have had
at the Savior's touch, especially when he heard the
words "I will; be thou clean." The story states that
"immediately his leprosy was cleansed." We too can feel the touch of the
Savior's loving, healing hand. What joy, hope, and
gratefulness comes to our souls in knowing that He wants
to help us to be clean! As we come unto Him, God
will come to our rescue, whether to heal us or
to give us the strength to face any situation. At any rate, accepting His
will--not our own--will help us understand our circumstances. Nothing bad can come from God. He knows what is
the best for us. Perhaps He will not remove
our burdens right away. Sometimes He can make those
burdens feel lighter, as He did with Alma and his people. Ultimately, because of
covenants, the burdens will be lifted,
either in this life or at the holy Resurrection. A sincere desire that
His will be done, along with an understanding of
our Redeemer's divine nature, helps us develop
the kind of faith that the leper showed
in order to be cleansed. Jesus Christ is a God of love,
a God of hope, a God of healing, a God who wants to bless
us and help us be clean. That is what He wanted before
coming to this earth, when He volunteered to rescue us
when we fall into transgression. That is what He
wanted in Gethsemane, when He faced humanly
incomprehensible pain during the agony of
paying the price of sin. That is what He wants now,
when He pleads on our behalf before the Father. That is why His voice
echoes still: "Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He can heal us and lift us
up because He has the ability to do it. He took upon Himself all
the pains of body and spirit so that His bowels would be
filled with mercy in order to be able to help
us in all things and to heal us and lift us up. The words of Isaiah,
as cited by Abinadi, put it beautifully and movingly: "Surely he has borne our
griefs, and carried our sorrows. ... "... He was wounded for
our transgressions, he was bruised for
our iniquities; the chastisement of
our peace was upon him; and with his stripes
we are healed." A similar concept is
taught in this poem: "'O Carpenter of Nazareth, This heart, that's
broken past repair, This life, that's
shattered nigh to death, Oh, can You mend
them, Carpenter?' And by His kind and ready hand, His own sweet life
is woven through Our broken lives,
until they stand A New Creation--'all
things new.' 'The shattered [substance]
of [the] heart, Desire, ambition,
hope, and faith, Mould Thou into
... perfect part, O, Carpenter of Nazareth!'" If you feel that in any
way you are not clean, if you feel broken, please
know you can be made clean, you can be mended,
because He loves you. Trust that nothing
bad can come from Him. Because He "descended
below all things," He makes it possible
for all things that have been broken in
our lives to be mended, and thus we can be
reconciled with God. Through Him all things are
reconciled, both things that are on the earth and
things that are in heaven, making "peace through
the blood of his cross." Let us come unto Christ,
taking all necessary steps. As we do, may our
attitude be one of saying, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou
canst make me clean." If we do so, we can receive
the Master's healing touch alongside the
sweet echo of His voice: "I will; be thou clean." The Savior is a
God we can trust. He is the Christ, the Anointed
One, the Messiah of whom I testify in His holy name,
even Jesus Christ, amen.
