Matthew 8:1-13
The Daily Office
In both healings today, of the leper and the Centurion’s servant (or possibly son), Jesus risks being made impure. To touch a “leper,” that is anyone with a skin disease, would make that person impure, unable to worship with the community, and thus an outcast. To go into the house of a Gentile would also make a Jew impure, and not able to be part of the community of Israel.
In the first healing, Jesus touches the leper. In the second, Jesus says, “I will come and heal him.” Yes the Centurion demonstrates his faith that Jesus doesn’t need to come. But having lived among these people, the Centurion understands that Jesus cannot come under his roof without being made impure.
Do we do the same thing today? Do we go out of our way to avoid that which we consider “impure,” for fear of contamination? Can we, who have been fed with Jesus Christ himself, trust that with Jesus in us, nothing can contaminate us or make us impure? What do you most fear contact with? A person or a situation? Perhaps you really do need to avoid contact, just to protect yourself or others. But God has your soul in his hands, and the purity of Christ Jesus in your body, heart and soul, is more powerful than any impurity.
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