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Jesus Fulfills

Daily Devotional • January 15

Christ Healing a Leper, Painted by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669) | Reed pen, brown ink, and wash with white gouache on paper | Drawn circa 1650 | © Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

A Reading from Mark 1:29-45

29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 31 He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

32 That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed by demons. 33 And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34 And he cured many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons, and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

35 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37 When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” 38 He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also, for that is what I came out to do.” 39 And he went throughout all Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

40 A man with a skin disease came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” 41 Moved with pity,Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I am willing. Be made clean!” 42 Immediately the skin disease left him, and he was made clean. 43 After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, 44 saying to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded as a testimony to them.” 45 But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly but stayed out in the country, and people came to him from every quarter.

 

Meditation

Just as Jesus came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it, we must always see his actions that transgress the law in word to be fulfilling it in spirit. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus heals a leper who comes to him seeking to be clean. Interestingly, in St. Mark’s version of the story, there is an implied sense that this man approaches Jesus while he is teaching in the synagogue. Before declaring the man clean by his will, Jesus reaches out and touches him.

There are two things that we can learn about the law here, both from Jesus and the leper. First, as noted above, Jesus acts in fulfillment of the law, so even though it is forbidden to touch an unclean person according to the Law, Jesus revealed the Law’s true aim: health. Thus, if the achievement of healing (attaining the aim of the Law) required touching an unclean person (breaking the letter of the Law), then that action is permissible.

However, we learn something else of the Law from the leper as well. These laws of cleanliness have obviously made this man’s life miserable. Not only must he suffer from his skin condition, but that same condition, by law, forbids him from entering a stranger’s house or sharing a loving embrace. Notice, however, that the text does not say that he resided in the shadows, nor that he hated the Law that forbid him human contact. On the contrary, he sought healing in precisely the place that locally was most closely associated with the Law: the synagogue. Rather than fleeing or cursing the Law that separated him due to his condition, he ran toward it.

Thus, we learn two lessons from today’s Gospel reading. The Law is good, and there is One who is even greater than the Law.




James Cornwell is an assistant professor of psychology and management who lives in the Hudson Valley north of New York City. He and his wife, Sarah, have five children.

Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:

The Diocese of Langtang – The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
St. George’s Episcopal Church, Fredericksburg, Virginia

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