The Look in His Eyes

The Look in His Eyes (Mark 1:40-45)

“Deeply moved, Jesus put out his hand and touched [the leper]…” (Mark 1:41)

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So, we were walking along the road when a man came and threw himself at Jesus’ feet. He was a leper, a man whose disease had put him in the classification of “unclean.” Clean people like me aren’t allowed to interact with people like this man. In fact, it was a leper’s duty to cry out “Unclean! Unclean!” so that people like me could be sure to give him a wide berth. I was aghast at the nerve of this man, daring to come near to Jesus and the rest of us. I quickly took a few steps back. And then a few more steps for good measure. 

I wasn’t so far away, though, that I couldn’t hear the conversation between Jesus and the leper. “If you are willing,” the man said to Jesus, “you can make me clean.” 

Then I saw the look in Jesus’ eyes. Jesus was filled, not with horror that an unclean man had the audacity to draw near to him, but with compassion. The look in Jesus’ eyes conveyed pure pity and sympathy for this man’s condition. Clearly, Jesus was deeply moved. There was even a hint of anger in Jesus’ eyes – anger at a religion that pushed “unclean” people away from the very God whom they need, anger at a system of rules and regulations that saw personal holiness as more important than showing compassion to those who desperately need to experience the kindness of God’s people.

That hint of anger in Jesus’ eyes was meant for me. I can get so caught up in my own efforts at faithful living that I see some people as a threat to my own righteousness, and I avoid them like the plague, ...as if they were lepers. My self-righteousness, by default, has consigned those who are not righteous – really, those who are not like me – to a lesser class of human beings.

The look in Jesus’ eyes tells me I need to refocus my own understanding of godly living. The look in Jesus’ eyes tells me that, instead of being repulsed by the “uncleanness” of others, I should be deeply moved, and I should want them to be made whole. 

I watched as Jesus looked straight into the leper’s eyes and as Jesus touched him – he touched the man with leprosy! He said to the man, “I do want to make you clean. I do want to heal you. I do want to make you whole. Be clean! Be healed!” And immediately the man’s leprosy was cured!

As I walked with Jesus today, I was both amazed and convicted. I was understandably amazed at his compassionate healing of the man with leprosy. But I was also deeply convicted of my own attitude toward people who might “contaminate” my own sense of righteousness and holiness.

I have a long way to go in my walk with Jesus. I’m grateful that Jesus looks upon me with the same compassion with which he looked upon the leper.

Create in me a new heart, Jesus, one that is filled with compassion and concern for my fellow human beings, for all of them, even (or especially) those whom I go to great lengths to avoid. Amen.