lepers

Don’t Forget To Say Thanks

“Jesus asked, ‘Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?’” – Luke 17:17,18 Yesterday, we learned about a special ceremony that was held in honor of those who were healed from leprosy. However, even after this ritual cleansing, any leper seeking to be reintroduced into society had to stay on the outskirts of town for another eight days, just to be sure. In the interest of not infecting anyone else, they slept outside, and before they showed themselves to the priest one last time, they were required to shave off every bit of their hair — from head to toe. Once they had been thoroughly examined and finally declared clean, they took a bath, offered a sacrifice, and received fresh clothes. After that, they were allowed to go home to their families and communities. And this

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Love the Least Likely

“When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.” – Matthew 8:1-3 One of the most powerful things Jesus did after He started His earthly ministry was to touch a man with leprosy. In the culture of His day, lepers were outcasts, and everywhere they went, they were required to announce their presence by shouting “unclean” so that others were warned and could scatter. Furthermore, in many regions, those diagnosed as leprous were required to leave their homes and families to be isolated from everyone they knew, lest they spread the illness to them. Banished to a life of separation and obscurity, the disease

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Touching the Untouchable

“A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.” – Matthew 8:2,3 Yesterday, we looked at the story of four lepers who gathered treasure left by their enemies and turned it over to their king on behalf of their city, which was in distress. Though they had been outcast and marginalized for years and were tempted to “take what was theirs,” they did the right thing by God and their fellow man by sharing it. While it’s difficult for us to comprehend how rough their lives had been to that point, the current pandemic offers us a more realistic glimpse into their pain. For the first time, many of us understand the isolation of quarantine

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