March 15 - 21, 2020: Matthew 8:1-4
Refresh: Pray for God’s healing touch in our world and in your life.
Reflect: Just four short verses but a full display of God’s healing power and His compassion for humanity.
Michael Green notes in his commentary on the book of Matthew, “Chapter 8 opens with three miraculous healings of Jesus. The authority of God is manifest not only in His preaching but in His mighty deeds.” The Message of Matthew,
Michael Green, edited by John Stott.
Those suffering from leprosy were shunned, driven from their loved ones, and the life they had always known. As our world struggles with a pandemic and social distancing, just imagine what their life sentence must have been like. No touch, viewed with fear and disdain, and the understanding of the day was that it was due to their sin. Still, they came to worship Jesus. One man, perhaps sensing the love and compassion of Jesus, expresses his faith that Jesus can heal him, and then he is touched by Jesus. One touch and he is healed. His nightmare is ended. The touch of Jesus restores not only health, but allows him to once again be a part of the human family.
Jesus sends him to take care of a legal matter. He must be officially proclaimed healed. “Here in a small way, Jesus is ensuring that the law once again includes rather than excludes........Jesus advocates for a society that does not discriminate or exclude, that does not damage souls in the interest of some faulty idea of purity. “Your skin should not keep you from this community “ is a powerful message for every generation, including our own.”
Alex Bryan, “Living God’s Love”
Respond: Who can you touch today with understanding and care? How can you make life better in a community filled with uncertainty and fear?
Research: Read Steps to Christ, Chapter One