Matthew 8:1-4 NRSVue
1When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him, 2and there was a man with a skin disease who came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 3He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing. Be made clean!” Immediately his skin disease was cleansed. 4Then Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
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Some thoughts on this scripture
Reflection
Lord, let me taste the drama of this eager leper. He was breaking the law,
which forbade him to come closer than fifty feet to a non-leper or to
exchange greetings with others. When this man's faith broke through legal
limitations, Jesus not merely spoke with him but touched him. Jesus cannot
bear to see us isolated from him.
Reflection
When our Irish President Mary McAleese was visiting a leper colony in Uganda,
she was placed, for her speech, at a safe distance from the ring of lepers.
Like Jesus she broke protocol, walked across and, like her husband, shook
each of them by the hand -- or in some cases by the stump where the hand had
been. Overcome by her gesture, they broke into a spontaneous ululation of
joy: a moment of grace.
Reflection
Jesus’ welcome to the leprosy patient was the opposite of the current
social attitude. The leper was an outcast, contagious and shunned. That one
would even come near him was highly unusual. Because of fear, nobody touched
lepers. Many of Jesus’ meetings highlight the fact that nobody is unwelcome
in his house, at his table, in his presence. That is why we can pray at any
time, ‘relaxing into the mystery of being loved and healed.’
Reflection
Much of the life and work of Jesus was spent with the ill and the disabled,
and often with people like this leper who nobody wanted. In the mind and
heart of Jesus, nobody is unwanted. Throughout our lives, Jesus wants us with
him, offering us the gift of love and calling, asking only love and the
effort to love in return. ‘How can I repay the Lord for his goodness to
me?' is a psalm we might pray as we grow in awareness of all that Jesus does
for his people.
Reflection
Inspired by the man who suffered with leprosy, I begin my prayer not with my
demanding a request, but with the phrase. ‘Lord, if you choose to, you
can...’
Reflection
Jesus sends the field man away telling him to keep the miracle to himself,
bringing the wonder to God and showing his thankfulness. I think of how I may
need to take more time in reflection, prayer or in acts of thanksgiving.