Tuesday, March 8th, 2022
“Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” —Mark 1:41 (NLT)
Bible Reading: Mark 1:29-34
“As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them. That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.” (NIV)
Daily Challenge
The scripture story today tells us about compassion, specifically the compassion Jesus shared with those he encountered. Here’s a quote from the book I am reading that I found to be profound, “Part of the mystery of Jesus is that God took on human flesh to become man. And in His body, Jesus experienced the full spectrum of human emotion, including pity, indignation, and compassion — all words that describe Jesus’ reaction upon seeing His beautiful creation marred by the effects of sin. Yet Jesus didn’t just feel emotions in His body, He allowed His emotions to move Him to action, and we now are called to be His hands and feet, showing others His love in incarnate ways.”
We can ask Jesus to help us show love through appropriate means such as; shaking hands with people we meet, talking with people and making eye contact to really connect, visiting a care facility speaking directly to residents touching a hand or shoulder. The power of human touch is extremely powerful and can provide healing if only for a moment. The most important question to ask ourselves is, WHAT WOULD JESUS DO? (WWJD)
Bonus Information
The Greek word for “compassion” in Mark 1:41, is:
splagchnizomai (splangkh-nid’-zom-ahee)
σπλαγχνίζομαι (Greek)
Strong’s Number G4697 matches the Greek σπλαγχνίζομαι (splagchnizomai),
which occurs 12 times in 12 verses in the TR Greek.
The Greek word is splagchnizomai. The first part of the word (splagchna) means “internal organs,” so splagchnizomai literally means to be moved so deeply by something that you feel it in the pit of your stomach.
Author Asheritah Ciuciu writes this in her book on page 47-48, “And He was moved with compassion. Literally, the phrase means His intestines were twisted in response to what He saw (beyond the man’s skin disease into the loneliness of his heart. And He was moved with compassion). Jesus had a guttural physical reaction to the man’s brokenness, and He did the unthinkable: Jesus reached out and touched the man.”
Can you even imagine what the man with leprosy felt when Jesus touched his skin? After years of being an outcast and having to shout out to anyone you encountered “UNCLEAN” “UNCLEAN” which was the practice wherever he went. He must have felt so alone, ashamed and crippling isolation. We do not meet people with leprosy but we are guilty of treating people as if they have deadly diseases, mostly because they are different from us…but we must ask ourselves, WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?
~Charlotte, Seeker of unexpected Comfort, Happiness, Joy and Patience.
References:
https://www.biblegateway.com/
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g4697/kjv/tr/0-1/
A Lent Devotional ~ Uncovering the Love of Jesus by Asheritah Ciuciu (2020 Moody Publishers)
Further Study
HOPE SEEKER 
Amen🙏🏾
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