Devotion Corner

Matthew 26:6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,

If anyone ever asks for a practical demonstration of who Jesus is as the Son of God, this verse is a powerful witness. Pressed in between the climactic events of Passover week, we have this statement that tells us all about the tender goodness of Christ Jesus.

In the sleepy village of Bethany, a small dwelling outside the bustling city of Jerusalem, the Son of God chose to come and visit a man whom all the world had once declared unclean. Prior to this blessed day of receiving Jesus into his home, Simon would’ve been a social outcast, unable to dwell in a normal home, let alone contemplate receiving visitors. Yet as some point known unto God, Jesus had gone where no mortal man would dare, and He had healed the deeply diseased Simon. 

Far from chalking Simon up to one of the many beneficiaries of His healing grace, and never seeing him again, Jesus went back to spend time with the one He had selflessly healed. Jesus’ time in the mortal flesh of man was fast coming to a close, and yet He chose to spend in His last days with those the world had no time for. 

We were once lepers of the heart. Truly diseased in all our ways, hideous in the blackness of our sins. Yet God took pity on us and came to visit us in our sickness of soul, healing us by His stripes (Isaiah 53). We were once far outside the walls of the Heavenly City, destined to be cast out from the New Jerusalem, just as Simon had once been as a leper. Yet through Jesus Christ, we are made clean so that we may step into the glories of eternity. We know that we are bound for this eternal destination, for the Son of God has dined with us in our reborn hearts, declaring us clean. 

Praise the name of the Lord Jesus Christ forever and ever. For He came to us when none other would; when none other would do; and He healed us so that we may be with Him always. Amen.