One of my favorite Bible stories appears in Mark 1: 40-45. A leper begs Christ to heal him. Christ reaches out, touches the leper, and heals him. Although Christ instructs the leper not to reveal this miracle to anyone, the leper tells everyone he encounters about the miracle. As a result, Christ is constantly mobbed by people, to the extent that He "could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places."
To me, this episode reveals how Christ saves us from our sins: Before Christ healed the leper, the leper had to live alone in the desert. After Christ healed the leper, Christ had to live alone in the desert. When Christ touches and heals us, he takes upon himself the shame and agony that our sins had caused us. We are healed, and Christ assumes the pain and suffering that we had brought upon ourselves. This reveals, among other things, His great love for us.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
One of John's favorite Bible stories...
John Fitzgerald said...
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2 comments:
I never thought about the story this way. Often I take it for granted how I am saved and how I am being saved. But the Lord had to pay the ultimate price and many are still paying the price so that we can grow in Christ.
Apostle Paul said "For we who are alive are always being delivered unto death for Jesus' sake that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death operates in us, but life in you" (2 Cor. 4:11-12).
I wonder if our lives can be outside in the desert so that some others can be blessed.
Amen.
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