Holy Grit — Battling Sickness with Compassion - Tuesday
Today’s Verse
Mark 1:40-42
A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. (NIV)
Have you ever met a germaphobe? Like a real, true, don’t-come-close-to-me-with-your-unwashed-hands germaphobe. I had a friend in middle school like that (we’ll call her Georgia), and needless to say, we didn't stay friends for very long. If you know anything about me, you know that I’m a rub-some-dirt-in-it kind of person. I licked swingsets as a kid to build my immune system. And look where it got me! I’m fit as a fiddle! But, back to our germaphobe friend.
If I think really hard, I can still smell her, that sterile combination of hand sanitizer and latex wafting after her down the middle school halls. Not a super inviting smell. But then again, is any smell in middle school inviting? The oozing walls and gum-ridden desks were truly no match for Germaphobe Georgia. She wiped down her desk before she sat down every time. She had no less than 5 of the mini Bath and Body Works hand sanitizers clipped to her backpack. Her lunchbox was always organized and spotlessly clean. (Meanwhile, mine was growing a science experiment.)
I remember clearly why we didn’t stay friends for long. We were just too different. I couldn’t fit into her spotless world. The group we were a part of slowly dispersed, and we made new groups. Each person was faced with a choice: which smell do I want to follow around these halls? The sterile alcohol of wet wipes, or the science experiment in the lunch box?
Now, I know what you’re thinking: Duh! Wet wipes any day! And I’m here to tell you that for thousands of years, everyone has agreed with you. But Jesus came to flip the script. Jesus didn’t choose the stuffy, sterile message the religious leaders were hawking. He chose the sick and the hurting. Jesus touched the leper and the dead—two things that would make him ritually unclean by all of the Jewish standards. But Jesus’ power was greater than their sickness. As the embodiment of holiness and purity, Jesus instead cleansed the leper and raised the dead. Jesus has authority over sickness of the body and purity flows out of Him to make the unclean clean.
REFLECTION
We all will deal with or encounter sickness of the body in some way in our lives. And let’s be honest, sick people are not easy to be around. Sickness is hard to watch. Sickness leaves you with a heavy heart. Sickness smells. But Jesus called us to take care of the sick and the hurting, just as He did. Jesus chose the sick over the healthy every time because He knew they needed Him and He had life-giving power to offer them. Jesus has called us and equipped us with His same power. We can minister to the hurting and bring comfort to the sick. So now you have a choice. Will you choose passive sterility? Or will you choose the lunchbox?