Saturday Ember Day in September
Posted on September 24, 2022 by under
Scripture: St. Mark 1:40-45 (NKJV)
1:40 Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”
41 Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” 42 As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. 43 And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once, 44 and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
45 However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every direction.
Devotion
Leprosy was no small matter in the ancient world. Lepers were ceremonially unclean, forbidden to enter the temple, and outcasts from society. Even today, though we have treatments for leprosy, we refer to being cast out from society as being “treated like a leper.”
Jesus had several people who trusted in His ability to heal them. The leper in our reading for today was one such person. He believed that Jesus could heal him, and he confessed that if Jesus was willing, He could heal him. Jesus did heal him, but commanded that he should offer the ordinary sacrifices according to the Mosaic Law for the cleansing from leprosy.
However, the man did not keep silent–unlike the nine lepers from a separate healing, whom Jesus healed and we never hear from again. This leper’s gratitude knew no bounds, and according to Mark, he told so many people that Jesus had to spend more time in the wilderness preaching.
Are we as grateful as we should be for the blessings our Lord showers upon us? And even though we have no command to be silent, do we keep silent, or do we let the source of our blessings be known? Jesus changed this man’s life; He changes ours as well. May we be found to be properly grateful, and to keep the Word of the One who blessed us!
Prayer: Keep, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy Church with Thy perpetual mercy; and, because the frailty of man without Thee cannot but fall, keep us ever by Thy help from all things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
