A Personal Touch
Opening Prayer
Thank You, Lord, for answering my prayers and touching my life.
Read LUKE 5:12-16
[12] While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” [13] Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him. [14] Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” [15] Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. [16] But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
How did the man approach Jesus?I love the faith of this man: he is absolutely sure that Jesus is able to heal him (12b). He has probably heard accounts of the healings Jesus has been performing, and maybe even watched from a distance. Today it is his turn.When a person developed leprosy, he or she would be declared “unclean” and required to live separate from the community (Lev. 13:45,46). It must have been a terrible wrench, followed by a lonely existence with little human contact. Luke tells us that the man in today’s reading was “covered with leprosy” (12), implying that the disease was in a fairly advanced stage and therefore that the man had been “unclean” for a long time. Jesus could have healed this man in passing; he could have simply spoken a word and moved on. But instead Jesus reaches out and touches him (13), a man who for so long has been an outcast and kept at a distance from people. In so doing, Jesus not only heals the man’s disease, but also communicates to him that he is loved and valued. Jesus does not want simply to answer our prayers; he does so in a way that reminds us that he loves us and cares for us deeply and personally.
Apply
Pray for those you know who need Jesus’ touch today. Take action to reach out with that same love.
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