Monday, August 23, 2021
Lord, Matthew 8:1–4 details Your encounter with a leper. You just finished teachings Your followers the Beatitudes, in what we call the Sermon on the Mount. You taught how God is our heavenly Father, not some distant divine entity we couldn’t know. You taught how to love one another, even our enemies. These teachings were like none they ever heard. Many decided to become one of Your followers. As You came down the mountain a large crowd followed You, still listening and placing their faith in Your every Word.
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a leper came running and knelt before You. In ancient Israel, lepers were thought to be cursed by God and to be driven from society. They were afflicted because they or their parents had sinned. Leper were not allowed around healthy people.
I wonder, Lord. If I were in that crowd, how would I react to this encounter with the leper? Was my encounter with Jesus just an emotional experience, or did Jesus really touch my heart? Would my new-found faith stand? Society said to drive the leper from your midst, even casting stone if need be to drive them away. Besides, the leper knew better than to approach a healthy person unannounced, as he did to Jesus and all us. Would I revert to worldly ways and cast stones at this leper? Or would I follow what Jesus did, to show compassion for this poor soul and their plight.
Today, Lord, when I encounter a “leper” of society, I pray You do whatever it takes to keep me from taking up judgmental “stones” and help me take up Your compassion to love and reach out to this poor lost soul with the good news You change lives.
Praying I will live the Beatitudes, Jesus. Amen
THANKFUL 
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