2107AFC021221 – Where there’s a will
Read it online here, please. And please, when you visit there, use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.
Mark 1:40-41 – 40 A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” 41 Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!”
1 Corinthians 10:31, 11:1 – 31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. 1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
I have been thinking this week about how wonderful it is to know the Lord and how important it is to know that we know him. Does that sound like double-talk or circular logic? Perhaps I can explain what I mean.
Most people, even non-Christians, can recognize Jesus. Hopefully you read the story I sent on Tuesday about the little girl who had never heard about Jesus until the murder-suicide of her parents. Recognizing him is not the same as knowing him. Tens-of-thousands of people in Jesus’ day saw him, recognized him, watched him, but not all of them knew him, and of those who did know him, not all of them followed him. Some of us “of a certain age” can remember a song from 1958 sung by The Teddy Bears’ Annette Kleinbard with lyrics “To know, know, know him is to love, love, love him … Everyone says there’ll come a day when I’ll walk along side of him.” The song continues with a complaint that the object of the young lady’s affection ignores her. Just as in Jesus’ time, not everyone paid attention to Jesus. In fact, the longer he was around, the wider the separation became for those who loved him and the many who were indifferent to him. Jesus did and does notice those of us who love him, who follow him. A few years after that release of the Teddy Bears’ hit, Little Peggy March took off with “I will follow him.” (↔ Music Link) Much to our surprise, that song was revived in the 1992 movie “Sister Act 1.” I say it was surprising because the lyrics (↔ Click Link) were “remarkably adaptable” under a religious connotation.
1958 was also the year Bill Harmon’s song came into popular play. It is called Reach Out and Touch the Lord as He Walks By. It’s a great way to be closer to God – reach out and touch him like an old friend. There is something so consoling in a touch. When infants are in the PICU, it is essential that someone touches and holds them, otherwise they will not – cannot – thrive. When we are hurt, or frightened, or in love, or feeling welcomed, we like to touch and be touched. If we think about those times in our lives when someone gently touched us, those are pleasant memories. They are even more pleasant when the touch is unexpected. If someone special reaches out and takes our hand or touches us on the shoulder, we feel a shudder of warmth. Most pleasant of all is when we ask for that touch or hug, and it is given with love and received with joy. Now, we can consider that as we try to imagine the reaction of the leper described in our Key Verse today.
This man has seen Jesus heal others. In humility, he approaches Jesus – even risking rejection because of the Law regarding lepers (↔ Click Link), and begs Jesus to consider healing him. His request is in a unique form: “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Some biblical sources phrase that as “If you are willing.” (← Check it out!) He is expressing faith that Jesus will gladly heal him. Indeed, Jesus come back with, “I do choose. Be made clean!”
The Greek word for choose or willing or wish or want to is thelo {thel’-o}. This word also includes the concept that one would take delight in, or have pleasure in, doing so because the person is ready and willing to act, and the act will be in the best interest of the person requesting it. If we stretch it a bit we could read this sentence as “If it would please you, you can make me clean.” However we look at what the man said, Jesus response was and emphatic I WILL as in “I do will it.” The man requested “Jesus Best Offer” – healing, and he was cleansed immediately. A couple of verses down the page we read that Jesus ordered him not to tell anyone other than the Priests that he no longer had leprosy (See Leviticus 13-14) Why did Jesus say that? He said it because he knew if other people heard what he had done (remember this was very early on in his ministry), he’d have many, many more people after him for healing. Well, the man spread the news everywhere, and sure enough, Jesus had to stay out of the towns and villages for a time. Nonetheless, people went into the countryside and looked for him (remember last week’s lesson?) The point here is that Jesus did some unexpected things: He didn’t chase the man away. He didn’t just speak a healing word (← Check it out!). He did the unthinkable – he went toward the man and actually touched him! What do you think about that?
Would you like to have Jesus reach out and touch you? I sure would! I’d love to see him standing right here with his hand out and saying, “Come on, let’s go! Walk with me. We’ve got places to go and things to do.” We all would love that, but take a moment to reflect on the demeanor and posture of the man who was healed. HE reached out to Jesus first in humility and faith. He was willing to take the risk that Jesus would ignore him like everyone else did. If we know we know the Lord, then we know what he does. Now, look at our second Key Verse for today. The Apostle Paul says, “… whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. 1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” When a stranger reaches out to us these days, we’re more likely to go into “Stranger-Danger” mode; not without good reason, mind you, because there are plenty of dangerous strangers out there. However, we can be prepared to give strangers Jesus’ Best Offer – a hand in help, a touch in Love, an embrace in Faith. That is at least one way we can imitate the Apostle Paul and Jesus! I heard this song by JM Talbot recently, and I think it would be “my best offer” to share it with you right now: Healer of my Soul (↔ Music Link) We need to ask ourselves, “How are we making other’s lives better?” Jesus said, “I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” (See John 15:15). Do we realize that have the authority to teach and do what Jesus did, the means to live out what we believe, to know that we know him? We have an obligation to tend to the maintenance actions of faith. We are called to mercy, to engage (← Check it out!) with Jesus and with neighbors to make a difference (↔ Music Link). What happens to us Belovéd when we reach out, go out, and make a difference? We take Jesus’ Love and his Best Offer with us! John 15:9-11 – 9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
That reaching-out must begin in humble Faith – Faith that comes from a clean heart. We must remember we are sinners, but Jesus still loves sinners because Jesus loves all of us who love him and each other. And what is the Key Verse that tells us how to find that demeanor and posture taken by the leper in this lesson? Psalm 32:5 – 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah. Oh Belovéd! How deeply we long for that healing touch, those healing words, that smile of Love and acceptance! No longer will the leprosy of our soul separate us from our brothers and sisters in Christ. See Leviticus 13:45-46 for how the Law required lepers to be shunned.
We must also say something about those instances in prayer where we start out with “Lord, if you are willing, …” Many of us have experience with receiving no response to that prayer, and we wonder, “Why? What did I do wrong?” “Lord, if you are willing” is the right prayer, just as is “thy kingdom come, thy will be done” is the right prayer. It is the right demeanor. It is the right posture. It is that readiness to accept HIS will that makes us open to Jesus’ Best Offer which is often a better offer than healing. We can be like Jesus and the Apostle Paul – reach out and touch someone with our best offer – joyfully, willingly, lovingly giving solace from our hearts to theirs. That empowers our faith by empowering theirs. God bless you, Belovéd, for all the times and ways you have touched me because it was your will to do so!
1 John 4:6-7 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. We know we know him because we Love as he Loves.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
