The Touch The Matters

And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. Mark 1:40-42 (King James Version)

In our passage today, we read of an encounter where a leper reached out to Jesus.

In the days of the bible, lepers were ostracised from society. Leprosy was a very contagious disease, and so lepers stayed together in camps, outside of the community. It was typical for them to be stoned, just to push them back to their colonies- away from society. Lepers were considered outcasts, rejects and not wanted. They were not entitled to living freely with others.

We would like to highlight three main points from todays bible reading:

      i.         The bravery of this leper. He heard that Jesus was in town and took a brave step to meet Him. He came into society, risking the possibility of being stoned. He knew there was solution with Jesus.

     ii.         The baggage: The second lesson we see in this story is that though he was brave to step into society, he had a very heavy baggage on his shoulders. Baggage of an outact. In his statement to Jesus, “ if you will, you can…”, we see clearly the burden and shame he brought with him to Jesus. His statement meant; everyone rejects me. I know I am rejected by family and society, but I also know that you can heal me if you chose not to reject me like the rest of them have done. His statement to Jesus was heavy with the weights of various emotions. Historical scars and the accompanying emotions which he tightly held on to. Labels from relationships, family, doctors, society, etc. We can go on about the scars and emotions held in that baggage. From his words to Jesus, we can also decipher the way the leper saw himself and how he perceived that perhaps Jesus saw him too. Reciting to himself these words, as he came closer to Jesus, “I have nothing to loose, no one wants to associate with me, I wouldn’t blame Him if He chooses not to associate with me because of my condition, but I’ll just keep going,” he kept his pace, heading towards Jesus.  

    iii.         The Touch: The third point this story tells us is this, (and this perhaps culminates our message today), even in the touchy, sensitive, not-so-good areas of our lives, with all the labels, scars and emotions, Jesus can and wants to touch and fix us, if we would just keep going towards Him and reach out to Him.

So, what have men called you? What labels, scars, baggage and emotions fill your thoughts today? What has kept you in your shadows, what has prevented you from living your best life in Jesus? What are those pains, those guilts, those regrets, those experiences that no one will accept or forgive you for, and perhaps you haven’t forgiven yourself for?

Jesus can and is willing to touch you in that exact spot. Jesus has compassion towards you and can touch (and fix) what men refuse to touch and can never fix. So today, keep going. Reach out to Jesus, knowing that He has the special touch to fix your exact need.

You can do this by saying this simple prayer with us today:

Dear Lord Jesus, I come humbly to you by faith, just as I am. I know you will not reject me. I accept your love and compassion towards me and I ask for a special touch today in my life situation. Thank you for hearing me and for touching me today. Amen.

Jesus has heard you and has touched you. You are now free from the stones of the deceiver -the devil. Stay away from the colony of sin, guilt and shame and begin to enjoy your best life in Jesus. For prayers and counselling you can email us on faithaglow@gmail.com and a member of the pastoral team will be in touch. God bless you.