Scripture: Luke 5:12-13
Once, when Jesus was in one of the cities, there was a man covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.” Then Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I do choose. Be made clean.” Immediately the leprosy left him.
Thought for the Day: My colleague in ministry, Rev. Glen Miles (our denomination’s current moderator), recently posted the following: “Grace cannot be confined or contained or constrained. We don’t dole it out to the deserving. We spill it… to anyone and everyone” (by Terry Hershey). This fits well with my Wednesday study on Who Is This Jesus? Once we move beyond titles and declarations surrounding the Jesus of theology and tradition, we find a magnanimous and grace-filled individual in the Gospels. His love was inviting and transformative, though annoying to some. He welcomed everyone, including the arrogant and haughty. He touched those society declared unclean. He constantly flipped things upside down, rearranged the order, and brought the outside to the inside…and then erased the line that been used to define who was in and who was out. All this to say, Jesus did a marvelous job of communicating the amazing nature of grace. So let’s not mess it up by trying to confine, contain or constrain it.
Prayer: When my opportunity to be gracious comes, Lord, help me to not mess it up. You have given me a marvelous model in Jesus, the One who has reached out to me when no one else would. Amen.
