During this week, devotions from the July 2000 archives will be posted.
Text: Matthew 8:14-17
When Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever; he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him. That evening they brought to him many who were possessed with demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and cured all who were sick. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, "He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.
One interesting note: In Matthew's gospel, Mark Powell writes, that only Peter's mother-in-law and an unnamed woman in chapter 26 serve Jesus. What caught my attention in the text was something that happens quite frequently with Jesus. He touches the woman and "the fever left her." It is like other cases when Jesus has contact with other with disease and those who are to be "untouchables." Their disease & their uncleanliness is not spread onto Jesus. He doesn't become diseased or unclean. But, at the same time those he touches actually become like him - well & clean. That's not the way the system (and nature) is supposed to work! But with in the Reign of God something new takes place. We can change the world when we are not afraid to touch that which is troubled by dis-ease and considerd untouchable. There is a promise that come in the touching...the compassionate involvement of one life with another.
Connection: How do we live today knowing that Jesus takes "our infirmities and bears our diseases!?" What then are we free to become in the days ahead of us? Even today.
Compassionate Lord and Healer of the World, when we are overcome by the day and become filled with dis-ease, touch us and make us whole that we might live wholly in you. AMEN
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