One day in one of the villages there was a man covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus he fell down before him in prayer and said, “If you want to, you can cleanse me.”
Jesus put out his hand, touched him, and said, “I want to. Be clean.”
Then and there his skin was smooth, the leprosy gone.

(Luke 5:12-13, MSG)

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, he had life changing encounters with people along the road.  Healings, exorcisms, bringing the dead back to life – amazing and miraculous, life changing, chance encounters. 

Our theme this lent is “Everything Changes,” as we look at some amazing encounters with Jesus that changed everything.  Drastic, unbelievable healings that changed the course of their lives.  People of no significance who are not even given a name.  People who were the invisible of society, the social outcasts.  Those who resigned themselves to live life alienated from family, alone and afraid.  They were people on the edge, ready to give up, reaching out with one last grasp of hope. 

We begin in Luke 5:12-16, a brief encounter with a man plagued with leprosy.  A man who had not felt the touch of human kindness in decades.  A man that had to wear sack cloth, keep his hair unkempt, and precede any potential contact by proclaiming, “Unclean!  Unclean!”  

All that changed one day as Jesus came his way.  He cried out to Jesus to be healed.  Jesus heard his cry, reached out, touched him and in an instant he was healed.  I get goosebumps even thinking about that moment and how, for that man, everything changed.

It is a moment of faith, a moment of hope, a moment of restoration.  Faith that Jesus could heal him.  Hope that he could return to his former life.  Full restoration of his body, his soul, his life and his place in society. 

Do we have those moments in our lives?  A moment of faith, or hope, or restoration where in a moment everything changed? 

Friends, Jesus changes everything.  Because of Jesus – his life, death and resurrection – we are not the same person we once were.  This Lent may we see how Jesus changes everything, in the lives of the outcasts along the road and in our lives as we continue to live for him.

Blessings,
Pastor Jenni

Jesus put out his hand, touched him, and said, “I want to. Be clean.”
Then and there his skin was smooth, the leprosy gone.
(Luke 5:13, MSG)