Veer

And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean." Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, "I will; be clean." And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. Mark 1:40-42

Can you imagine the horror and astonishment of the Disciples when Jesus violated the Hebrew purity code? When healthy people approached a leper, they would literally veer to the other side of the road to avoid potential contact.

How often do you "veer" to the other side of the road to avoid someone? I believe if you're honest with yourself, you do it quite often. Why do we veer away from people? What are we worried or scared of?

Jesus could have easily said from a distance to the leper, "you are healed" and the leper would have been healed. Instead, Jesus looks at the man that no one wants contact with and walks over and touches him. To Jesus he was not unclean; he simply was a human soul in desperate need of healing. The Leper had no right to be spoken to at all, but Jesus meet the desperation of a human need with and understanding of compassion.

There are so many people who get passed by simply because of their "leprosy." As Disciples of Jesus it is our mission to "touch" those with "leprosy." Because if we don't, what makes us different? Our religious affiliations doesn't. How we worship on Sunday doesn't. What kind of Bible we carry around doesn't. Saying your a Christian doesn't.

Jesus was not worried about what the crowds would say. Neither should we. Jesus was not worried about the reactions of the Disciples (Church folk), neither should we.

My challenge for you this week is simply this: Don't "veer."

May the Lord bless you and keep you.