Sunday, March 6, 2016

Matthew 8:1-3 -- Humbly Approaching Jesus


When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him; and there was a leper who came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.”  He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I do choose. Be made clean!” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
It is times like this that I, too, identify as the leper. Immediately following his teaching on the mount, Jesus is met by the leper. In an act of bold faith, for lepers were considered unclean and not permitted near others until they were declared clean by a Levitical priest, the leper approaches and petitions Christ for his healing grace: "Lord if you wish, you can make me clean" (2). Jesus immediately stretches out his hand and administers healing to the afflicted. Do I, too, boldly seek Christ's healing touch? As Jesus says earlier in his sermon, we have to seek, ask, and knock, and God’s grace will freely flow. We must, however, do as this leper does, plead for Christ’s healing. And in our asking, we have to reflect on and recognize the leprosy of our own faults, emptying ourselves of them, so God can fill us with His healing grace.


A Prayer:
Loving God, please make me clean, for although I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, you enter, heal, love, and send me forth to reflect your love. Thank you, Lord. Amen.


May the grace and love of Christ live in and through you all.

Stan

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