Mark 1:29-45 (NRSV)
As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed by demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons, and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also, for that is what I came out to do.” And he went throughout all Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.
A man with a skin disease came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I am willing. Be made clean!” Immediately the skin disease left him, and he was made clean. After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, saying to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded as a testimony to them.” But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly but stayed out in the country, and people came to him from every quarter.
Devotion
Selflessness – The quality of caring more about what other people need and want than about what you yourself need and want.
In Mark 1:29-45, Jesus heals many with diseases, sicknesses, and in one particular passage, leprosy. He is always willing to make others clean. This is one of many examples of Jesus’s love for others, either in hospitality or service. One of my motherly “10-cent lectures” has always been “thinking of others.” Some may complain about the latest technology, but in this day and age, thinking of others, hospitality/service, could be a quick text or email asking four words: How can I help?
From HeGetsUs.com: “Jesus was radically selfless. The love he showed others sought nothing in return; he gave his time and energy freely to anyone who asked for it and plenty that didn’t; he even humbled himself to the point of washing his friends’ feet – an act reserved for a servant. He was selfless. His life suggests that the best way to live, the way that is most fulfilled, is one where we give of ourselves right up to our limits and then recharge so we can do it again.”
Prayer
Guide me to make sacrifices this Lent in the spirit of selflessness and with greater attention to you and to those around me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Karen Flagg