Good Morning
Stand with me and lift your bible and repeat after me.
This is my Bible.
I am what it says I am.
I can do what it says I can do.
I am going to learn how to be what it says I can be.
Today I will learn more of the word of God.
The indestructible, never ending, living word Of God.
I will never be the same.
I will never be the same.
In Jesus Name
Amen?
Today I am going to do something a little different. I am going to share a story with you that I saw many years ago when I entered the ministry. I don’t know who originally wrote it and I have seen it in different ways. Max Lucado shared his version in one of his many books also. I going to share a story with you from the view of a man that is a leper in the time when Jesus walked among us. It is based upon the lepers that Jesus touched and healed in Mark 1:40-45.
Open your Bibles to Mark chapter 1 and say, ‘Amen” when you are there. Let us read together.
Jesus healed those that needed healing and still does. It may be physical or other needs, but we also need to wait and have faith.
Here is the story:
The Healing
For five years no one has touched me. No one.
Not one person.
Not my wife.
Not my child.
Not my friends. No one has touched me.
They saw me.
They have spoken to me. I even sensed the love in their voices.
But I saw concern in their faces as they talked to me.
And there was no touch. Not once. No one has touched me.
What is common to you, I want.
A handshake. A warm hug. A tap on the shoulder. A kiss on the lips.
Such moments have been taken from my world.
No one touched me. No one bumped into me. What I would have given to have been bumped into, to be caught in the crowd.
For my shoulder to brush against someone else.
But for five years it has not happened. How could it?
With my disease I am not allowed on the streets of any town. I am not even permitted in my own synagogue. I am not even welcome in my own home.
I had become an untouchable, A leper.
And no one has touched me since.
How did this happen?
Why?
Five years ago, during the harvest, my grip on the scythe seemed weak.
The tips of my fingers numbed.
First one finger. Then another.
Within a short time, I could grip the tool but not feel it.
By the end of the harvest season, I felt nothing at all.
I said nothing to my wife, but I knew she suspected something. How could she not.
I carried this hand against my body like a wounded bird.
One afternoon I had put my hands in the wash basin to wash my face.
The water turned red. My finger was bleeding. I didn't know I was wounded. Had I cut myself? With a knife?
Did my hand slide across the sharp edge and me not feel it? It must have, but I didn't feel anything.
"It's on your clothes, too, " my wife said softly.
Before looking at her, I looked down and saw my clothes. Blood.
I knew my life was forever altered.
"Shall I go with you to tell the rabbi?" she said.
"No, I'll go alone."
I turned and looked into her eyes. She had started crying.
Standing next to her was our beautiful little girl.
I squatted down and touched her cheek.
I stood up and with my good hand I touched my wife. It would be our final touch.
Five years have since passed and no one has touched me.
The rabbi didn't touch me. He looked at my hand, now wrapped in cloth. He looked in my face. I never faulted him for what he said. He was just doing his job.
He extended his hand, palm forward and said, "You are unclean. You must go."
With one sentence he made me know that I had lost everything.
My family, my farm, my future, and my friends.
My wife met me at the city gates with a sack of clothing and bread and coins. She didn't speak. My friends had gathered.
What I saw in their eyes is what I have seen since. Pity.
As I stepped out, they stepped back.
PAUSE
Oh, how I have repulsed those who have seen me.
Five years of leprosy had left my hands gnarled and the tips of my fingers were missing as were portions of my nose and left ear.
At the sight of me people would pick up their children and head in the other direction. Who could blame them?
People pointed and stared.
I could not hide my sores with my clothes, they were too many.
The clothes could not hide the rage in my eyes either.
Many nights I just shook my fist toward the heavens and yelled. "Why me, what did I do?"
But there was never a reply.
Some think that I sinned. Some think it was my parent’s sin.
I don't know. All that I know was that I was tired of it all.
“God, if you are truly there, help me.”
I grew tired of the bell that I had to wear around my neck to let people know about me. Everywhere I went it sounded a reminder.
As if I needed it.
One look at me and it began. "UNCLEAN, UNCLEAN!
Several weeks ago, I walked to my village. I could see them working in the fields.
With hope I looked to see her, my wife, my treasure from God, but she was not anywhere I could see.
The children playing nearby and for one moment,,,,just a moment,
I forgot about myself and watched with enjoyment.
No longer a leper. Just a farmer, a man, a father.
I was so enjoying their happiness that I stepped out from behind the tree, and it happened. "LEPER, LEPER, GOOOO AWAY."
I left as quickly as I could trying to make a distance quickly. I climbed the hill to get away and hide behind some rocks.
Deciding to move on, I walked down a hill calling out to God, “Why me, why me?”
Then I saw Him. There was a large crowd of people walking with Him.
I hid behind some rocks on a hill.
When I saw Him, something happened, and my life began to change in a way I never expected.
I can't explain how.
But that morning it was happening.
It was a very special morning. The sun was up on the horizon and the sky was beautiful. The smell of the air was even different.
I just can't describe it. Things were just different.
When I looked at His face, I saw where that sunrise came from.
Before He spoke, I knew He cared.
Somehow, I knew He hated disease more than I did.
My anger and frustration became hope.
I watched from behind a rock as He headed down the hill toward me.
The large crowd of people followed Him as I watched and then it happened.
He was only steps away from the rock and I stepped out and called out, "Master!"
He stopped and looked at me as did all the others.
A flood of fear swept across the crowd as they saw me.
"UNCLEAN, UNCLEAN!"
Everyone stepped back except Him.
The words just came out of my mouth.
"Lord, you can heal me if it is your will."
Had he healed me with a word, I would have been thrilled.
Had He cured me with a prayer, I would have rejoiced.
But He was not satisfied with just speaking to me.
He drew near. He touched me.
Over five years ago my wife had touched me.
No one had touched me since.
Until today.
"I will." He said, "Be healed."
His words.
Energy flowed my body, like water in a dry field.
In that moment, I felt warmth where there had been numbness.
I felt strength where there had not been any.
My back straightened and my head lifted.
I now stood eye level with His face. His smiling face.
He cupped His hands and drew me so near; I could feel His breath on my cheek and see the tears in His eyes.
He said, "Don't tell anyone about this. But go and show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded for people who are made well. This will show the people what I have done."
And this is what I am going to do. I will show myself to the rabbi and embrace him.
Then I will find my wife to hold her and kiss her as I have wanted to do for over five years.
I will pick up my daughter and hold her.
And I will never forget who dared to touch me.
He could have healed me with His word, but He wanted to do more,
He wanted to honor me, to renew me.
Imagine that...........unworthy of the touch of man, yet worthy of the touch of God.
Let us go to the Lord in prayer. If you have a prayer need, come forward now and let us pray to the Lord our Savior.
