People were being healed. There was no question about it. A young itinerant preacher had just arrived in the city and was teaching something wonderful about the kingdom of God. Later, that first evening in town, he went to stay with his friends, and everyone from the community gathered in front of the house. Among the crowd, there were many who were sick. Many were healed by this man. See Mark 1:21-39.
Of course, the young preacher was more than just one among the spiritual teachers of his day. This was Jesus, the Saviour, and this incident took place two thousand years ago, when he came to the city of Capernaum in Galilee, spreading the gospel. The next day, he brought his disciples together and told them that he must preach in the other towns of the region as well. He taught and healed throughout Galilee.
One of the people he healed after he left Capernaum was a man with leprosy. See Mark 1:40-42. The New Testament tells us that the man came to Jesus "beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." Christ Jesus had such great love for all of God's children, and he was moved with the tenderest compassion for the man. Then Jesus did something so simple, yet so extraordinary. He "put forth his hand, and touched him." Any person with leprosy was considered unclean, untouchable. People feared the disease. Leprosy was so offensive that sufferers were barred from all normal contact with society. Who knows the last time this man may have felt someone's hand in his or been embraced, cared for?
