As I read through this text and then meditated on the meaning of the story, it occured to me that Jesus knew the value of spending time in God's presence, or as a man once said, "Wasting time with God"
The ministry had already been launched. He had already engaged the enemy, he had already articulated his message, he had already exercised the power that would drive his ministry. Yet in the midst of mission, he reconnected to the power source, the purpose of his mission was reviewed and reflected upon and re-centered. We don't get a lot of stories about this discipline, but we get glimpses. I will tell you from my journey over the last 10 years or so that when I ignore the disciplines of silence and solitude I get distracted and lose my focus. We get an early read from Jesus, that while "totally God" and "totally man" he never forgot to reconnect through the inner disciplines of prayer, silence, solitude, meditation, and study.
Then there is the leper. I think these stories are related. He responds with "indignant" An odd word for the response. I will do some word study before Sunday and see where it leads. But on the surface if you come out of a time of worship with God and see disease that both alienated physically as well as socially, doesn't it make sense that Jesus would be offended? Wouldn't the leprosy be viewed as the work of the evil one? Isn't this just what the evil one wants to do? Create a world where we are alienated and cast out?
Do we have people today, that given their circumstances we should respond with indignance? Can we look around and find the modern equivalence of leprosy?
God, open our eyes to current methods of the evil one. Make us aware of his purposes and manifestations.
Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment