Mark 1:40-42
A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”
Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.
(Mark 1:40-42 NIV)
I have a feeling we may be reading these verses without hearing what is going on, and without seeing ourselves in the picture.
I certainly lost count years ago of the number of times I had heard the phrase: “if it be thy will, please heal so-and-so”.
I will come to the second part of that sentence in a minute, but the first part – “if it be thy will” is precisely what the leper said to Jesus: Ἐὰν θέλῃς, “if you should be willing”.
How does Jesus respond to this approach?
The NIV has “Jesus was indignant”. In fact, it is a little stronger than that: καὶ ὀργισθεὶς is “and having been made angry”. That’s right. Saying “if it be thy will” makes Jesus angry. Why would that be?
In the context, the leper was someone who was already a beneficiary of the Mosaic covenant (as demonstrated by the instruction Jesus gives him in v 44 to go and show himself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for his cleansing). His healing was already a matter of covenant promise on the part of God.
Expressing doubt about whether His Father really meant what He had promised in the Law made Jesus angry. Since we are those who have an even better covenant, with even more clarity about God’s absolute intention to bless, prosper and heal us, I will leave to your imagination how Jesus may respond when we pray “if it be thy will…”
But hold on Jon – the leper was healed! Surely there is no problem if we get our healing anyway?
And there is the difference: the leper was healed because – despite the Ἐὰν θέλῃς – he then made a faith declaration: δύνασαί με καθαρίσαι, “you are able to cleanse me.” (literally “carry away from me”, meaning the leprosy). I still don’t recommend saying “if it be thy will”, but “you are able to cleanse me” is streets ahead of “please heal me (or so-and-so).” There is literally nothing to work with in what that latter formulation. It is begging, rather than faith. As I have noted before, Jesus, in the Gospels, does whatever it takes to find the point of faith, in order to help people receive what is already theirs; but sometimes there is nothing there.
And despite my provocative (or perhaps provoking) heading, I absolutely believe that we can see answer whenever we pray together (since Jesus promised it). But read Matthew 18:18-20 for yourself, and noting every instruction and promise there, structure your prayer meeting like that; and you will receive what you ask.
And please: no more telling God we doubt His goodness and good intentions and ability to keep His promises.
Seeing the Kingdom 