Lent – 6th reading for discipleship reflections

I’m attending training for SRI instruction today and the (understandable and necessary) restrictions on SRI volunteers make an interesting contrast with Jesus’ free range proclamation
of his message of good news.

The reading for today is Mark 1:40-45

Part of Jesus’ proclamation is healing. The good news is good news in a physical and spiritual sense. Jesus didn’t heal every person with leprosy, nor did he preach to every person in Judea and the Galilee region. What he taught and what he did, despite his attempts to keep the miracles secret, created a following that generated expectation in places he’d never visited.
Our reputation as a church is more equivocal. Misdeeds, scandals, hypocrisy, abuse, cover-ups and intolerance have tainted the healing, education, assistance, support, advocacy, understanding, comfort, grace and renewal that God, through the church, has brought. This account reminds me that Jesus made the effort to go to where people were to bring good news, without force or coercion, and that needs to be my starting point.


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