The scripture for today, August 2 (8/2), is Matthew 8:2 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, ‘Lor if you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.’ “
People in Jesus’ day who had leprosy had to live outside of town in what we would call a leper colony. And if someone without leprosy started getting close to them, they were required to call out, “Unclean! Unclean!”
But here was a man who apparently pushed his way through a crowd where he didn’t belong. He didn’t ask Jesus if he could heal him; he asked if he was willing to. After all, he was “unclean”. Remarkably, Jesus said yes.
Then Jesus did another remarkable thing: He touched the man. He touched the leprosy. Not only was he willing to be seen with an unclean man, he was willing to touch him.
Jesus still does this today. When we come to him with a diseased heart wondering if we are good enough, Jesus reaches out across the centuries and touches us. And his voice echoes across the centuries and says, “I am willing.”
No matter how much sin mars your life, Jesus still today can say, “Be clean.”
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“You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.”
“There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.”
“These are the regulations for the guilt offering, which is most holy. The guilt offering is to be slaughtered in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, and its blood is to be sprinkled against the altar on all sides.”
“What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
“There he is to present his offerings to the Lord…a year-old ewe lamb without defect for a sin offering…. “
“God made him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God.”
“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, and
“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”