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Jesus reached out and touched the man...


Mt 8:3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.

 

          Years ago I read the Matthew Henry commentary on this verse. It gave a description of leprosy in all its gory details. To put it simply, the description was of a person whose flesh is rotting off. Zombie movies come to mind as a parallel. So does someone suffering from flesh-eating bacteria. To put it mildly, ew. At the end of the description, he quoted, "Jesus reached out his hand and TOUCHED the man."

          Lepers were excluded from society by necessity. They might live for years with the disease, but it was contagious. It was a good picture of sin in a person's life. As Jesus looks at each one of us, He sees the rotting flesh, horror movie visages. As He reaches out and touches you, He makes this revelation: "I am willing."

          The Son was, and is, willing to make the unclean clean. What faith other than the Judeo-Christian has a willing god? Most other (so-called) gods are distant. They exist separately from man. Some are so impersonal that they are incapable of willing anything. Most leave it up to us to be (or not to be) sufficiently whatever they require. They leave it up to us to pass the test and it really doesn't matter to them whether we do or don't. They are not willing to become one of us, except for their amusement. They are not willing to make us clean. Most of the gods and goddesses described in literature could hardly claim to be clean themselves. Against a backdrop of moral corruption, one stands up, reveals that "I AM....willing.".
 

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On the Calendar: Birthday of Giocommo Antonio Rossini

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