Be Willing to Pay the Price to Show Compassion

This did not come without a price for Jesus.  He had just shared with His disciples, immediately before this encounter (v. 38) that they needed to go to the ‘next towns’ in order to preach the gospel of His inauguration of His kingdom in their midst.  Although He instructed the cleansed leper to keep the event of his healing and deliverance a secret, the poor man, of course, just ‘had to’ go out and proclaim it everywhere!  (Wouldn’t we have done likewise?  Of course, we would!)  The dilemma this now created for Jesus , however, is that He was ritually unclean and could not enter the towns, let alone the synagogues to preach!  But, Praise God, the power of Romans 8:28 was just as alive then as it is today, and when Jesus went out into the ‘desert places, the people came to Him from every direction’ (v. 45). Therefore, instead of preaching to small assemblies in the local synagogues, Jesus was preaching to the multitudes!  Hallelujah!

Does this “price,” this “cost,” resonate with you?  Jesus had just declared His clear intention – His agenda, if you will – “But He said to them, ‘Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth” (Mark 1:38). Now, because He had displayed such compassion to a poor leper, He had become ritually unclean (see, for example, Lev. 5:2; 7:21, et al.) and His plans were, temporarily, at least, “derailed.”   He would have to wait for at least seven days, cleanse Himself and His garments, show Himself to a priest to be declared clean, and then resume His plans.

How about you, and me?  When we have our plans all laid out, scheduled and confirmed, and an opportunity to reach out with compassion to minister to another, knowing that it will throw our plans out of sync and disrupt our schedule, possibly costing us a lost business opportunity, or causing us to be misunderstood and/or criticized and possibly lose the esteem of others for “wasting” our time by “touching” someone “like that,” will we take the time to touch a “leper?”  Think about it.  Think long and hard, and then, please, have an ear to “hear what the Spirit says” (Rev. 2:7, e t al.), do not pass that leper by!  Seize the moment and the opportunity to be “the hands and the voice of the Master,” and ‘touch’ that person in His name.  You will surely be rewarded to a far greater degree than any cost you may experience or price you may pay, “do not be deceived; God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7).

Our next post: Jesus honors desperation wed with faith wed with action!