Day 3, Friday, February 20, 2015
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| This is a great movie about Christianity and a leper colony in relatively modern times. |
I think it is difficult in this day and age of modern medicine to take in the power of the words, "Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him" in reference to the leper.
Maybe those that seek to minister to people dying of the Ebola virus today would understand it.
The isolation of leprosy in the first century Middle East was a terrible thing.
Jesus doesn't take a bow for this healing. Rather, he moves in accordance with the Law of Moses. He tells the former leper to seek a declaration of cleansing from a priest which would restore him formally to the community.
He skips this step and begins to proclaim about God's miraculous healing.
I wonder about our own reluctance to the discipline of the faith community.
Was this former leper spiritual but not religious?
Prayer by Steve Garnaas-Holmes:
God of truth,
you have spoken your Word to us and in us
but we have not listened to you.
We have not been mindful of your presence,
or attentive to your voice.
Have mercy on us, forgive us, and heal us.
Speak your Word in us now, and create us anew.
We open ourselves to your Word.
Prayer (c) 2011 Steve Garnaas-Holmes, from Worship & Song Worship Resources.
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