Friday after Epiphany
Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three who testify: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and the three agree as one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is God's testimony which he has testified concerning his Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who doesn't believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. The testimony is this: that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has the life. He who doesn't have God's Son doesn't have the life.
These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
Praise the Lord, Jerusalem! Praise your God, Zion! For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. He has blessed your children within you.
He makes peace in your borders. He fills you with the finest of the wheat. He sends out his commandment to the earth. His word runs very swiftly.
He shows his word to Jacob, his statutes and his ordinances to Israel. He has not done this for just any nation. They don't know his ordinances. Praise the Lord!
While he was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man full of leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, saying, "Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean."
He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, "I want to. Be made clean."
Immediately the leprosy left him. He commanded him to tell no one, "But go your way and show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing according to what Moses commanded, for a testimony to them."
But the report concerning him spread much more, and great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities. But he withdrew himself into the desert and prayed.
What strikes me most about this leper's encounter with Jesus is the raw honesty of his request: "Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean." He doesn't question Jesus's power—only his willingness. In a culture where leprosy meant complete social isolation, this man had every reason to doubt whether anyone, even the Messiah, would choose to help him.
Jesus's response is immediate and tender: "I want to. Be made clean." That simple declaration—"I want to"—reveals the heart of God toward us. Christ doesn't heal reluctantly or conditionally. His desire for our wholeness runs deeper than our ability to ask for it.
What I find beautiful here is how this connects with John's letter about testimony. The leper becomes a living witness to God's mercy, just as we're called to be. When Jesus touches the untouchable, he's showing us that no one is beyond the reach of divine love. The water, blood, and Spirit that John mentions aren't abstract theological concepts—they're the very real ways God continues to cleanse and heal us through baptism, Eucharist, and the ongoing work of grace in our lives.
Notice how Jesus withdraws to pray after the crowds gather. Even in his ministry of healing, he maintains that essential rhythm of action and contemplation. We need both—the willingness to reach out to others and the wisdom to step back and reconnect with the source of our strength.
The psalm reminds us that God's word "runs very swiftly." His desire to heal and restore moves faster than our doubts, faster than our shame, faster than our fear that we might be too broken to fix.
Where in your life do you need to hear Jesus say "I want to" heal you? How might you become a witness to that healing for someone else today?