JESUS REACHED OUT HIS HAND AND TOUCHED THE MAN.
MATTHEW 8:3 NIV
‘Unclean!’ Imagine if you had to shout that every time you went any where near people because you had to warn them that a diseased and dirty person was coming. Well that’s what people with leprosy had to do 2000 years ago. Leprosy is a really contagious disease that people in some poor parts of the world still suffer from. In the time of Jesus it was totally incurable, a slow painful death sentence. If you had leprosy you were an outcast, feared, unloved and untouched. So when Jesus healed a man with leprosy, ‘He said, "Be clean!" And immediately the leprosy left him'(Luke 5:13 NIV), that in itself was incredible but the bit of the story that makes you catch a glimpse of how amazing Jesus actually was, is summed up in these few words, ‘Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man’ (Luke 5:13 NIV). In putting His hand on the man Jesus related to him as a valuable human being made in God’s image. In that one action He broke down every religious and social barrier and connected with his emotional pain. His touch was saying, ‘I’m not afraid to be associated with you.’ There would have been gasps from the crowd of seriously shocked onlookers. The challenge today is to be Jesus’ hands in your school, college, uni or wherever you work. Will you dare to associate yourself with the outcast and be someone who brings healing to those in pain? The man with leprosy wanted to know if Jesus was willing, Jesus asks you the same question today! Are you willing?
