Mark 1:40-45 (NRSV)
Read Mark 1:40-45 on biblegateway.com
Verse 40A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, "If you choose, you can make me clean." Verse 41Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "I do choose. Be made clean!" Verse 42Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. Verse 43After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, Verse 44saying to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." Verse 45But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.
Devotion
He Who Is Coming comes with a touch. It is a touch of cleansing. Sometimes it feels as if my inner self is tattooed with the stains of sin: the bad decisions I have made in life, the people I have hurt, all those times I have been self-centered. Others may not see them, but I know they are there. The Coming One is coming precisely to wipe me clean of those tattoos. May his name be praised!
Prayer
Cleansing God, you know the many stains that have dirtied my life, and you wipe them clean. May we live today as forgiven, cleansed, purified people in the joy that is your will for us. Amen.