14th January, ThursdayI. Heb 3:7-14
II. Mk 1:40-45
Theme: Blessed to be a blessing
Today’s gospel passage from Mark brings to us the encounter of the leper with Jesus. This encounter of the leper with Jesus brings blessing to him and in turn he becomes a blessing by sharing the good news to others. In this encounter of the blessing, we notice the element of faith and compassion bringing the blessing of healing to the leper. The leper who was considered outcast of the society comes to Jesus with a firm faith that brings healing and restores him back to the society with good health and his lost dignity. The leper takes a leap into the dark by his strong decision to approach Jesus for help by breaking the religious rules of those days. It was prescribed by the Torah to keep away from the community the one with the leprosy, and that person was not allowed to come into contact with people. But in the case of this leper we find in today’s gospel, he breaks that rule only to seek the blessing of healing from Jesus.
Jesus approached by the leper moves with pity only to choose to heal him. The act of choosing to heal the leper manifests the merciful nature of Christ who is ready and waiting to heal us from all our brokenness. Jesus, the merciful face of the God the Father, is ever ready to make us new and restore us to the state of children of God provided we approach him like the leper who did in today’s Gospel with firm faith and strong conviction. When we take the firm step towards God, God inevitably choose to welcome us and make us his children. All we need to ask ourselves is do I move towards God to seek his blessings in order to be a blessing.
Bro. Anthony Peter SMM
II BTh