Jesus wants to…

 

Matthew 8:2-3 (GNT), as it is written,

Then a man suffering from a dreaded skin disease came to Him, knelt down before Him, and said, “Sir, if You want to, You can make me clean”. Jesus reached out and touched him. “I do want to”, He answered. “Be clean!” At once the man was healed of his disease.

Beloved like this suffering man, you must never be in doubt of Jesus’ ability to heal you or whether He wants to. The man somehow knew that if Jesus wanted to, if it was His will, He could easily make him clean. The man demonstrated great humility by kneeling before the Lord and strong faith by what he said; his approach was both humble and bold.

This passage shows us that Jesus not only cares, He cares enough to reach out to us and touch us. His touch gives us a sense of comfort and calms our spirits – it’s reassuring. Jesus has compassion for us and is willing to attend to our condition whatever it may be.

Jesus wants to come into contact with us today. He wants to form a very personal relationship with every one of us; Jesus wants to be close to us, to literally touch us wherever we’re hurting – our pain and our affliction.

Jesus wants to fulfill our hearts’ desires because the desires of our hearts are His desires. Jesus has a heart for all of us and wants to bathe us in His love. When we realize the love of Jesus, something happens within us and at once we become clean. We no longer feel shunned or rejected but accepted and embraced by a love we’ve never known. We no longer focus on the condition of our skin, but we feel the cleansing that starts taking place from within.

When we kneel before Jesus, He reaches out, touches us, cleanses us and heals all our diseases because Jesus wants to.

Amen †

Shelley Johnson “Jesus wants to…” ©2013 (20-Mar-13) revisited September 21, 2026