What Jesus Did : Mark 1:40-42 - Compassionate Power

    by Phil Ware

    Compassionate Power - Mark 1:40-42

    A man that had leprosy came to Jesus. The man bowed on his knees and begged Jesus, "You have the power to heal me if you want." Jesus felt sorry for the man. So Jesus touched the man and said, "I want to heal you. Be healed!" Immediately the leprosy disappeared, and he was healed. (ERV) Full Text

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    Key Thought

    This translation uses the expression "felt sorry," but the better translation is probably "felt compassion." In his heart, in his "gut," Jesus feels the anguish of this man afflicted with leprosy. So before he speaks healing into the man's life, he does the unthinkable: he touches the leprous man. By Jewish law, Jesus makes himself unclean by touching the man. Yet Jesus wants to show the compassion he feels in a way this man would understand. Jesus spoke the words of healing only after he has connected to the man's deepest emotional need and bridged the barrier that enforced this man's isolation. Mark has two messages for us in this story. First, he wants us to know that Jesus has come and bridged the distance between us and God and he will let nothing separate us from his love. Second, he wants us to do the same with others.


    Today's Prayer

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    Dear Father in heaven, thank you for your mercy and grace. Thank you for bridging the distance between your holiness and my weakness by sending Jesus. Use me to help others find their way to Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.


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    Today's Verses in Context


    A man that had leprosy came to Jesus. The man bowed on his knees and begged Jesus, "You have the power to heal me if you want." Jesus felt sorry for the man. So Jesus touched the man and said, "I want to heal you. Be healed!" Immediately the leprosy disappeared, and he was healed. Jesus told the man to go. But Jesus warned him strongly. Jesus said, "Don't tell any person about what I did for you. But go and show yourself to the priest. And offer a gift to God because you have been healed. Offer the gift that Moses commanded. This will show people that you are healed." The man left there and told all the people he saw that Jesus had healed him. So the news about Jesus spread. And that is why Jesus could not enter a town if people saw him. Jesus stayed in places where people did not live. But people came from all the towns to the places where Jesus was.

    -- Mark 1:40-45 (ERV)

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