Unclean! Unclean!
I cry out to the crowd…
Running away, they shutter and bow
Turning from me, fear strikes their hearts
Then suddenly without warning I look up in a start…
This man they call, Good-Shepherd, calls to me…
“Son of Adam, would thou be made whole?”
Shocked! Frozen in time…
I looked at him and said, “Are you out of your mind?”
Then, He, Touched me; tender and kind…
Unclean I cried, do not touch me, or you’ll die…
Slowly suffering, rotting, decay; I sighed…
With no thought for His being, the Good-Shepherd laid hold
Drawing me near, he said, “Behold,
I make all things new! Now leprosy, undo this man and set him free.”
Looking down at my hands, new skin appears, and then my eyes overflow with tears…
Dropping the rags that held me bound…I’m clean, brand new, and sing-out with new sounds…
Joyful songs of ecstasy… I’m free, I’m found…
I shout and jump and run about…then turning to Good-Shepherd I bow…
I’m no longer afraid for His well-being…
I can’t believe what I am seeing…
Humbly and with great joy…I hug Him and say…
Thank you, Good-Shepherd, for what you’ve given me today…
New life, New Hope, New Soul, New Born…how can I ever repay?
He looks at me with eyes of grace; love shrouds me with a tender embrace…
No longer shunned from the human race…
Loved, cleansed, body, soul and spirit, completely whole…just in time, one word from the Master and Jesus is mine!
~M.S. O’Neill September 26, 2017
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. Matthew 8:3 (NIV)