Day 3 of Lent: Friday

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A leper came to Jesus begging and kneeling in front of him:
‘If you choose, you can make me clean.’
Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him:
‘I DO choose. Be made clean!’
...immediately the leprosy left and the man was made clean.
~Mark 1:40


*Mark 1:35-45*
James 4:13-16










Moved with pity, filled with compassion, Jesus made the man—the begging, leprous, shamed and outcast man—clean. This scene shows the gentle, caring side of Christ the good shepherd, but it also depicts Jesus as the almighty one who defies and banishes sorrow; the victorious Lord who wields the power of justice and healing.
Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name, would care to feel my hurt?

Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love and watch me rise again?
This is the humble perspective that comes with the start of Lent.  With Ash-Wednesday-words echoing in our minds (“remember that you are dust”) we brush the brevity and impermanence of life, feeling the disproportionate comparison between the Holiness of God and the sickness of our own sin:
I am a flower quickly fading,
Here today and gone tomorrow.
A wave tossed in the ocean.
A vapor in the wind.
...and yet, Jesus DOES choose.
Still, You hear me when I'm calling.
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling.
And You've told me who I am.
I am Yours, I am Yours.
God sees the outcast. the imperfect. the sinner. ...and still chooses.
This God of compassion and grace still chooses to make us clean.


Prayer Practice:
Lepers were banished to social isolation and required to audibly warn others that they were ‘unclean!’ (Leviticus 13:45-46 ). ...
Put yourself in the place of the leper. You might not have a skin disease, but are there things that make you feel ‘unclean’? (Guilt for things undone? False judgments from others? ) What kinds of things separate you from God and others? 

Put yourself in the presence of Christ and pray the leper’s  prayer: (‘Jesus, if you choose, you can make me clean.’)
...And imagine Jesus’ response (“I HAVE chosen. Be made clean.”)



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