So, I had hoped to write for each day of Lent based on the book I'm reading for my own personal Lenten daily devotions. The book is "Who Is That Man? Daily Lenten Devotional" by Ray Pritchard. Well . . . it's a good thing we have grace because I failed to write yesterday. Oops! But here we go for today.
"Who touched me?" (Luke 8:45)
Jesus was on his way to heal a little girl. Crowds were all around him pressing on him. Wanting to see him wanting to be next to him. All of a sudden Jesus stops and turns to speak to a women. Jesus was on his way somewhere. He had important business to tend to . . . a healing miracle to perform. However, Jesus stopped. He talked with a women, whom upon touching Jesus, had been healed from her long term affliction. An affliction that made her unclean in that society. She was essentially an "untouchable." Any respectable person would not go near her, would not touch her, would not acknowledge her. Yet, Jesus chooses to interact with her. He was not upset with her for touching him. Although according to that society he very well could have been. He was not too busy with his business to stop and speak to her. He was very open to interacting with her. Jesus was not embarrassed to be touched by the untouchables.
What an amazing thing . . . in the realm of Jesus, no person EVER is an untouchable. Everyone has value, everyone has worth. Every person no matter their affliction, no matter their social standing, no matter their societal acceptability . . . every person matters to Jesus. And so, should matter to us. We should reach out to those that our society may deem "unclean". This is not just reaching out with our pocket books either. This means reaching out and developing relationships with others. It means meeting them where they are. It means taking a risk that, we too, may seem "unclean" to the rest of society. We must step out of our comfort zone and into the footsteps of Jesus.
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