Traded my Sorrow, traded my shame. Am I Ready to Trade
my place?
40 “A leper came to
Jesus beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him and saying, ‘If You
are willing, You can make me clean.' Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out
His hand and touched him and said to him, ‘I am willing, be cleansed.' 45 But he went out
and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around to such an extent
that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopular
areas and they were coming to Him from everywhere.”
Mark 1:40-45
Trading
my sorrows
is a contemporary song which is a favourite for almost all the age groups, and
which is one of my favourites also. Darrell Evans, the writer of this song is one
of the best musician and song writer of contemporary Christian songs. Looking
at the lyrics of the songs I just felt it’s so easy to give away all that is
difficult for us to handle. Sorrows, shame, pain and sickness. We don’t want
these. And we are ready to give it away. But is it that easy to give away what we
hold dear? My position, my reputation, my job, my happiness, my peace for
somebody else. This is what Jesus did in this passage.
What was the problem with the man getting
healed in this portion? How severe was this problem? The read portion says he
was a leper. Luke says he was full of leprosy, Luke 5:12...visible, ugly,
frightening, a living death. Now the fact that he came to Jesus is a shock.
He's not supposed to do that. Outcasts were forbidden to come near anyone.
But this leper came to Jesus, through the
crowd because there was always a crowd. He violated all necessary standards of
exclusion in his desperation. He came to Jesus beseeching him, begging Him with
strong pleas, showing his desperation. Did this move make Jesus to heal the
leper?
The only thing that moved Jesus to heal a
man is indicated in verse 41, His compassion, He was moved with compassion. He
felt the man's pain. He felt the agony of this man's isolation, physical
distress, social isolation, religious isolation. The man's plight triggered
Jesus' compassion. God is a God of compassion. God feels the pain.
This is the heart of God who feels the
pain of suffering in this world. That's what motivated Him. It wasn't some
trigger by the man's level of faith, for Jesus healed everybody all the time,
faith or no faith. Jesus stretched out His hand, touched him and then said to
him, “I'm willing, be cleansed.” Now in Leviticus 5:3 there's a law forbidding
anyone to touch a leper. His touch was a touch of compassion. His touch was a
touch of connection.
His miracles were always creative. Making
the one who hears and sees to introspect and change their way of looking at
things. The healing had effects and after effects. In verse 45 we read “They were coming to Him
from everywhere, out to the wilderness, out to the mountain side, out to the
hills, out to the valleys, out to the fields, out to the seashore...massive
crowds. And He can't enter the city.”
This is what happens when we show
compassion. Jesus exchange or trades places with the leper. The leper started
in the wilderness in isolation and after meeting Jesus, was able to mingle in
the city. Or Jesus started in the city after meeting the leper, was isolated to
the wilderness. He is a God who is ready to take our place, be in our
situation.
And that is what He did at the cross, is
it not? We are the spiritual lepers who lived in alienation and isolation from
God. We met Him, we were brought into the presence of God in the Kingdom. But
the only way we could ever be taken from our isolation and brought into the
presence of God was if He left the presence of God and went Himself into
isolation. And that's what He did on the cross because Jesus was forsaken,
because Jesus was treated as an outcast we are accepted and welcomed into the
presence of God.
Good reflection Achen.
ReplyDeleteThank you Achen
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