Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Then Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, ‘I do choose. Be made clean.’ Immediately the leprosy left him.”
NL Daily Devotion for Monday, January 27, 2025
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
It was Jesus’ touch that healed. In other stories, he just says “be clean.” But this is immediate. Intimate. Jesus reached out and made physical contact with someone who was considered unclean. The action carries far more weight than a simple healing. It is a deliberate crossing of boundaries. A rejection of the artificial barriers we place between ourselves and others through labels such as “unclean.” It is God proclaiming unequivocally that we are all equal, all beloved, all deserving of love without exception. Period. How unbelievably beautiful is that?
Is there someone I see as “other” that I can touch in some way?
