"Once a leper came and knelt in front of him and begged to be healed. 'If you want to, you can make me well again,' he pled.

"And Jesus, moved with pity, touched him and said, 'I want to! Be healed!'

"Immediately the leprosy was gone---the man was healed!"

~ Mark 1:40 - 42 LAB

*

Bible Commentary:  "Jewish leaders declared lepers unclean - unfit to participate in any religious or social activity. Because their law said that contact with any unclean person made them unclean too, some even threw rocks at lepers to keep them at a safe distance. But Jesus touched the leper.

"The real value of a person is inside, not outside. Although a person's body may be diseased or deformed, the person inside is no less valuable to God. No person is too disgusting for his touch. In a sense, we are all lepers, because we have all been deformed by the ugliness of sin. But God, by sending his Son Jesus, has touched us, giving us the opportunity to be healed. When you feel repulsed by someone, stop and remember how God feels about that person-------and about you!"

***