Friday 7 Jan 2022

January 7: Luke 5:12-16

Key Verse: Luke 5:13
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ And immediately the leprosy left him.

Devotion:
Leprosy was one of the diseases everyone feared because they assumed it was much more communicable than we now know. The law was to put the lepers far away from the people in the towns and cities so they would feel a bit safer; the last thing anyone wanted to do was to get too close to a leper, never mind touching one!

Jesus knew this man was being put through an awful time by being shunned by everyone. Jesus could see in this man's heart and knew he wanted nothing more than to be healed so he could get back to normal life – which probably included going into the temple and worshipping God! The mercy of our Lord Jesus is on clear display as He reaches out and touches the leper to heal him.

What Jesus then told him to do was in accordance with the Jewish law. He would have to present himself to the priest to show he was ‘clean’ and no longer had leprosy. He would also have to offer the right sacrifices according to what was told through Moses – not because the sacrifice would make any difference to his health, but it would be a testimony to others who were seeking healing from God! He was giving them hope!

Because of the manner of this man’s rise to health, people talked and crowds began to gather to find out what had happened – so much for the man being able to quietly sneak to the priest to get it all sorted! Everyone was going to hear about this miracle and a lot of people were going to get to know a bit more about God! Sometimes it is the way we do things which makes the biggest difference and not the actual act of doing it!

Points to Ponder:
Do you seek glory for things you do?

Have you given Christ the glory for anything you were able to do today?