Loving God who made us all, make aware in the life of this dear reader, the worth and value they have to You in all things; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Our text for today comes from Mark 1: 40 A leper came to him, begging on his knees, "If you want to, you can cleanse me." 41 Deeply moved, Jesus put out his hand, touched him, and said, "I want to. Be clean." 42 Then and there the leprosy was gone, his skin smooth and healthy. 43 Jesus dismissed him with strict orders: 44 "Say nothing to anyone. Take the offering for cleansing that Moses prescribed and present yourself to the priest. This will validate your healing to the people." 45 But as soon as the man was out of earshot, he told everyone he met what had happened, spreading the news all over town. So Jesus kept to out-of-the-way places, no longer able to move freely in and out of the city. But people found him, and came from all over. (The Message)
The omitted verse from this passage comes between verses 41 and 42, "And immediately, Jesus took the antibacterial hand soap, coated a generous amount on the palms of his hands and then rubbed it all over both sides of his hands to prevent the spread of germs and bacteria." We could also add, "For Jesus had seen this done many times in the celebration of His Holy Communion by those called to serve Him." Okay, those are not real verses. And I am not condemning those who use antibacterial soap before the Lord's Supper, for I am one of those. But do you notice the power of Jesus' touch in verse forty-one. Those who were declared to have this dreaded skin disease were as good as declared dead. They could no longer live among the living, they had to live among the tombs. They were isolated from their families and friends and all they could do was to await their death. Yet, even lepers hear good news. They heard about a man who had the power to heal even leprosy. This one leper comes to Jesus and very convinced in his heart about what Jesus could do said to Jesus, "If you want to, you can cleanse me." His hope was that Jesus would want to; and He did. I believe the last thing this poor man expected was to feel a human touch ever again, and that's exactly what Jesus did. Jesus touched him and immediately, the disease left the man. Jesus' touch gave the man new skin, smooth and soft. And it's interesting to note that Jesus tells him to tell no one about this healing, but instead to go to the priest of his village, offer up the sacrifice for healing, fulfill the Mosaic law about having been healed, and that would be it. The man reacted as anyone of us would had we been the one to receive new skin and more importantly, new life! He told everyone who would listen.
The touch of Jesus sometime in your life gave you new life. The touch of Jesus may have even brought healing to you. What did you do about it? Were you obedient to Jesus and tell no one? Or, like the grateful man, have you told everybody? Imagine if everyone we met knew about the touch of Jesus in our lives, we might have a run for the place where Jesus still touches folks, our worship settings, our hearts, our minds, and our bodies.
Tell someone!
PRAYER: Loving God, for the touch of Jesus I am thankful. That touch made me new in many respects. May I receive from You the boldness and courage to give witness to what You are willing to do yet for others. I ask this in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
