Mark 1:40-45 (NIV)
Today’s passage has always been one of my favorite passages. Jesus touching a leper, the giver of life touching death and bringing it back to life! But after this year, the whole situation of 2020 brings new meaning for me in this passage. Prior to 2020 it was hard to relate to a social environment where there would be things like quarantine and social isolation, the awkwardness of knowing what to do in unfamiliar social settings, the ambiguity of who’s really healthy and who’s not.
If there is ever a time when we need a story to remind us that Jesus’ desire is to reach into the situation and turn death into life, it is now. As you listen to today’s passage, allow some of the social angst and awkwardness that you’ve experienced in the last 11 months to inform your hearing of this passage? What would it have been like to see Jesus approaching this man? What would it have been like to have seen him reach out and touch him? How would you have felt being around him afterwards?
----------REFLECT----------
1. As you listened to the passage, what moment did you find to have the most tension? Where did things get awkward?
2. If you were this man, what would it have been like to experience Jesus reaching out his hand to touch you?
3. As a witness to this event, how does this moment shape the way you see Jesus?
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