I Really Don't Want To Do That!

Jesus Heals a Man With Leprosy

40 A man with leprosy[h] came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

41 Jesus was indignant.[i] He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” 42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.

43 Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44 “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” 45 Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

I Really Don’t Want to Do That!

Have you ever had a really bad day? A really hard day where you have worked your fingers to the bone and you are exhausted both physically and mentally. And it takes all your will power just to get ready for bed. And then, just as you put your head on the pillow, A small voice comes to the side of your bed and says Daddy, I feel sick. These words just begin to sink in as he or she begins to prove it by getting sick all over your bed and your floor. As you desperately try to contain something that just will not be contained you grab the kid in a vain attempt to make it to the bathroom. And of course, it’s pretty much all over by the time you get there. And when I say all over, I mean all over! And the thought come to you, why they didn’t go there in the first place? Your spouse desperately cries for your help as she tries to deal with a mess you has just helped spread. And that small voice asks for you to hold her hair as she has to do it all over again. You are not the type of person who can watch someone get sick without the urge to join them. And the though that comes to mind is, “I really don’t want to do this!” But you turn your head and grab the kids hair and wonder if you will ever get back to bed. 30 minutes later the kid is back in bed, the mess is cleaned up and the soiled bedding has been put in the washer, and new clean sheets await, when you hear the kid start to cry again. Your wife has already made it into the bed before you and you’re the last man standing. Here we go again.

We don’t want to do it but because we love our kids we do. It has to be done. We might not like it but we do it anyway. It is our job. It part of being a parent. It is a expression of our love.

Life is full of situations where we are forced to do what we don’t want to. We have to pay taxes. We have to work to provide for our families. We have to show up for jury duty. That’s life.

In this morning’s scripture lesson, there is a part that I want you to hear again. 40 A man with leprosy[h] came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

41 Jesus was indignant

I wonder why Jesus was indignant. Then it hit me. Jesus was tired, worn out physically and mentally, and here comes one more guy to be healed. But this wasn’t family. He was a stranger. We would have turned him away.

My first job was as a bag boy at my home town grocery store called Woody’s. And the only day it this store was closed was Christmas. On Christmas eve, the store would close at 10:00PM and reopen at 6AM the day after Christmas. And I was one of the lucky ones to work on Christmas eve. And On Christmas eve, the store was slammed. I remember how tired I was. We closed the doors at 10 and it takes about a ½ hour to clean up close the registers. So it was about 10:45PM and I was dragging myself up the stairs to get my coat and meet my parents out back just in time to make the 11:00 service at my church. When a man came to the front door and pounded! Please he said, I need batteries! The manager called back sorry we’re closed. But All I need was one pack. I mentioned that I could go back and get what he wanted, but the manager said she was sorry but the registers were empty and there was no way he could even check out. Now I knew that if She really wanted to she could have made the sale happen. But as the man left dejected, she said that We deserved a Christmas too and he should have planned better. I remember this because I thought we should have made it happen, but I was just a bag boy. It wasn’t my call. We could have helped him but we didn’t.