Mark 1:40-45
I recently finished reading Second Touch by Brock and Bodie Thoene. It chronicles the story of a young woman with leprosy and what her life was like as an outcast during the time of Jesus. She lived apart from society, among a group of other lepers, who formed their own community and watched each other waste away and eventually die.

It must have taken great courage for the man in this story in Mark to come to Jesus. Lepers had to cry out "unclean" as they approached a group of non-leprous people. Others would have shrieked and run away from their hideous deformities and foul smell.

But Jesus reached out to this man and healed him. As before, he cautioned this man to tell no one about the miracle, since it could bring unwanted attention from those who would eventually seek his life, and since the time was not yet right for Jesus to fully reveal himself as Messiah. But the man could not keep quiet, so grateful for the touch (literally) that God had on his life.

So Jesus withdrew from that area, but the people still found him and came to him. How fortunate we are now to be able to come to him at any time. We may not have diseases that appear on the outside, but we have leprous hearts that need the healing and cleansing of the Savior.

Thank you, Lord, for your healing touch. Whether we need physical healing or spiritual healing, or both, we know that you are capable of making us whole. Amen.

- posted by Suzi @ 7:07 AM