If You Are Willing
Pastor Tim Johnson
"If You Are Willing": What a Leper's Desperate Cry Teaches Us About Encountering Jesus
What if the thing standing between you and healing isn't Jesus's ability — but your belief in His willingness? That question stopped me cold as I prepared this message. We know Jesus can do the miraculous. But deep down, many of us wrestle with a quieter, more personal question: Is He willing to do it for me?
That's exactly where we find ourselves in one of the most powerful encounters recorded in the Gospels. And I believe God has something for you in this story today.
At Some Point, We Are All Lepers
Let me say something that might catch you off guard: at some point in our lives, we are all lepers.
In Luke 5:12-16, Luke — who was a physician — makes a point of telling us this wasn't just any case of leprosy. It was advanced leprosy. This man had been living with this disease for many, many years. In that culture, leprosy didn't just destroy your body — it destroyed your entire life. You were declared unclean by the religious authorities. You were cut off from your family, your community, your place of worship. You were required to call out "Unclean! Unclean!" wherever you went, announcing your own shame to anyone who came near.
Picture him — standing just outside the city, close enough to hear the women chatting at the well, close enough to smell the cooking fires, close enough to hear children playing in the streets. But closeness without acceptance was crueler than distance.
We're not lepers in the natural, of course. But in the hidden places of shame, we've all felt it. We've all questioned, God, why? Why is this happening? Why am I where I'm at? We've all experienced a harsh word. We've all wondered if our disease was somehow our fault, or if our disease is noticeable to somebody else.
The Power — and Destruction — of Shame
Shame is one of the most powerfully destructive things we hold onto. And Jesus came to get rid of it.
Shame is that ugly feeling that there's something fundamentally wrong with us. A sin that has not been dealt with leads to shame, and that shame drives us into secrecy and hiding. And the result? Secrecy and hiding always isolate us. When we're isolated, the enemy corners us. He gets into those moments of isolation, and we are completely hidden away — like the leper, wrapped in his cloak, not wanting anyone to see him.
Here's what I want you to understand: shame is an identity attached to our sin. Freedom is an identity attached to grace and forgiveness.
Step Out From Behind the Tree
So what did this leper do? He stepped out. He pressed through his greatest fear toward his greatest hope. He moved forward without a word, hunched over, a torrent of emotion swirling inside him — repeating under his breath the line he'd rehearsed a thousand times: "If you're willing, if you're willing, if you're willing, Jesus, you can heal me."
Notice something important here. He wasn't questioning Jesus's ability. He was questioning whether Jesus was willing. And isn't that the question we ask ourselves? Jesus, I know you can perform the miraculous — but are you willing to do it for me?
What tree are you leaning against and hiding behind today? What questions of doubt keep you back from risking for Jesus?
What Jesus Did Next Changed Everything
When the crowd spotted the leper and backed away in fear, when shame dragged him to his knees and he began to weep — Jesus turned and saw him. He lifted his hand and quieted the crowd. And then He did something no one expected.
He moved close enough to smell the infection. He reached down and touched the man's covered head.
Luke 5:13 tells us Jesus said, "I am willing. Be healed." And instantly, the leprosy disappeared.
The Gospel of Mark adds a crucial detail — Jesus was moved with compassion. But there's another translation of that word that's worth sitting with: indignant. There was something at tension within Jesus. He wasn't angry with the man. He was angry with the evil that ravages the life of someone exposed to it. Jesus hates the feeling of rejection. He hates how the devil can use disease — and sin — to isolate and condemn.
Grace moves into the struggle. Grace moves toward the pain. Grace touches sin before sin reaches and touches grace.
Our Faith Doesn't Rest in Our Worthiness
Here's the truth I want to leave with you: our faith should not rest in our worthiness, but in Jesus's willingness.
Because that's the problem, isn't it? We feel unworthy. We look at the leprosy in our own lives — the things we've done, the things we've said, the places we've been — and we say, I'm just not good enough to come to the Lord. So we stay in the camp outside the city and we just deal with life as it comes.
But Jesus is willing to meet us no matter where we're at.
Putting It Into Practice
Here are some steps to move from hiding to healing:
Come out of isolation. One of the most powerful things you can do is find somebody of accountability — somebody that loves you, somebody that will listen — and tell them your entire story. James 5:16 says, "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." There is power in confession. The moment I told my story to a group of guys who didn't reject me — that's when healing began to happen.
Rewrite your identity. Here's a simple exercise: write down honestly how you see yourself. Then write down what God says about who you are. Find the discrepancy. God says you are loved, accepted, forgiven, and redeemed. He has a plan for your life and amazing gifts He wants to use for His glory.
Don't let your pain have the final word. Revelation 12:11 reminds us that we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. Tell your story. Share what God has done. That's how we become an overcoming people.
Risk moving toward Jesus. The leper stepped away from the comfortable camp of other lepers — people who empathized but offered no hope — and risked everything to get to Jesus. Don't get stuck in an environment where all you hear is complaining and woe-is-me. Find somebody in your life who will lift you up and bring you to Jesus.
Don't let your pain or your past have the final word in your life. Jesus is reaching for you. And He is willing.