URC Daily Devotion Saturday, 22 November 2025

St Matthew 8: 1 – 4

When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him;  and there was a leper who came to him and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.’  He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’ Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.  Then Jesus said to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’

Reflection

Jesus had been busy talking to a large crowd who followed Him down from the mountain.  A leper came to Jesus.  Not a particularly nice way to describe this man.  A man suffering from leprosy would be a better way to describe him.  

How do we judge people?  Do we talk about “the disabled”, “the insane”, “the coloured” or do we talk about a “person with a disability”, “a person with mental illness”, “a person with brown skin”.  It is easy to be judgmental.  The news often reports very judgemental comments about people who flee to the UK seeking somewhere safe to live.  We should think of verses such as Colossians 3:11 “Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers”.  

This man who suffered from Leprosy would almost certainly have been marked and disfigured by the disease.  I worked with a painter in Jerusalem who had been treated for leprosy and modern medicine had completely cured him.  He had spent months in hospital, and his face and arms were still badly marked as a legacy of the disease. 

In today’s passage, the man approached Jesus with a simple statement that showed his faith, “if you choose, you can make me clean”.  He had no doubt in the ability of Jesus to heal him; he just wanted Jesus to be willing.  Jesus responded by touching him, he was unclean, one of the untouchables, but Jesus touched him and made him clean.  I believe this would be a perfect cleansing and the man would not show any scars or disfigurement after Jesus said he was clean. 

We need to be open to Jesus reaching into our lives, touching us spiritually and transforming us into people cleansed from all our past sins and free to live a new life rejoicing in the love that Jesus has shown to us. 

Prayer

Loving God, thank you for your love,
let me feel your closeness to me as I travel through life.
Let me follow Jesus and share love with those people I meet.
Thank you Jesus for your willingness to touch me with Your love.
Help me to live a life that is true to You
Amen