Daily Reflection
Today’s daily reflection is for Mark 1: 40 – 45
A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said,
“If you wish, you can make me clean.”
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched the leper, and said to him,
“I do will it. Be made clean.”
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
Then he said to him, “See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them.”
The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.
He spread the report abroad
so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.
He remained outside in deserted places,
and people kept coming to him from everywhere.
My personal reflection
In today’s Gospel, we hear the account of Jesus healing a leper. Stories like this appear throughout the Gospels, and we’ve reflected on them before. The familiar themes remain rich and meaningful: the leper’s profound faith, Jesus’ willingness to reach out to the outcasts and ‘unclean,’ and the compassionate power of His touch.
But as I challenge myself to look deeper into this passage, one line stands out to me:
"So that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places."
Jesus, in His willingness to heal and perform miracles, took on a life of constant demand, relentless attention, and personal inconvenience. This wasn’t just an occasional disruption—it became the reality of His ministry. His life was marked by sacrifice long before the ultimate act of love on the cross.
By healing the leper, He traded comfort and anonymity for a life of burden, choosing to carry what others could not. He embraced this willingly, out of love for us.
Reflecting on this, how can we not be moved to make sacrifices in our own lives? For our families, for our communities, and most importantly, for our relationship with God? If Jesus bore so much for our sake, surely we can take small steps to live selflessly, modeling His example in our daily lives.