Hi friend! Welcome to episode 78 of the Tending Your Soul podcast, where we invite God to tend to our souls with the refreshment of His Word like a gardener tends to her garden. I’m Mariel and I’m so glad you’re here.
We are tending our souls through the gospel of Mark in order to seek to know and love the One who is always pursuing us, Jesus. We are continuing the conversation more deeply over at marieldavenport.substack.com. There is a free reading plan schedule released every few weeks that you can download and paid members are invited also to join along with weekly videos.
If you would like to join me the link is in the show notes.
For today, we are going to use the TEND method of bible study to cultivate intimacy with Jesus today through Mark 1:40-45.
TEND is an acronym to guide us through a simple, inductive and effective method. So we begin with T for take time to pray. Join me as we pray.
Father, we thank you for your Word and the way You reveal yourself through it. Open our understanding, Holy Spirit that we might know you better and love you more as we lean into it today. In Jesus name we ask. Amen.
After T we move to E for examine the scripture. It is imperative to have the verses you are tending through in context. So I have been tending through from Mark 1:1 a few weeks ago and daily I am moving to the next verses. The verses preceding today’s verses are so beautiful and I share how I tended through those on a video in marieldavenport.substack.com. In those verses we see Jesus take time with the Father and then move on throughout all Galilee.
So let’s now look at what the scripture says for these next verses in Mark 1:40-45.
“And a leper[h] came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” 41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” 42 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. 43 And Jesus[i] sternly charged him and sent him away at once, 44 and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” 45 But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.”
When we examine the verses we want to clarify who the pronouns are referring to and we want to picture the scene of what is happening. So we know from the previous verses and the context that the HIM that the leper came to is Jesus. Likely Jesus is there with His followers since in verse 38 He invites them to “let us go on to the next towns.”
Leprosy was a disease that some commentaries say could refer to several different skin diseases. But the one who was leprous could not live near society, could not touch or be touched and could most definitely not go anywhere near the temple. They were believed to be unclean and had to warn others around them of such my crying out loudly “UNCLEAN.” Can you imagine? Humiliating and isolating.
In this scene Jesus is moved with pity or compassion. And He not only will heal the man but He actually touches him. The book of mark repeatedly points out Jesus touching people that society considered unclean. Jesus is holy. He is the only one ceremoniously and perfectly clean. By His touch the unclean man cannot make Jesus unclean but rather Jesus makes the man clean.
Let’s look at the N in TEND which stands for notice the lesson. We want to begin by asking what does this teach about God? Jesus is God, as we see through the book of Mark. God alone can heal leprosy, no one was actually ever healed apart from the touch of Jesus. God alone can forgive sins and Jesus does both, proving His deity.
Other lessons we see here might be the example of this sick man and how confident he was that Jesus had the ability to heal him.
We also see the example of Jesus being willing to act on compassion for those society discounts. Yes, Jesus alone could heal with His touch, we cannot. But we can act when we are moved with compassion. We can love, touch, pray for and give dignity to those society discredits or overlooks.
Also we see that Jesus went beyond what was even asked. The leper asked for healing but Jesus offered a touch, which gave the man dignity and surely broke walls of loneliness that had surrounded him for so long.
As we move to D in TEND and consider doing what the lesson says, we want to ask ourselves how today will I respond to this? How today can I respond to the example Jesus gave us of acting with compassion towards others?
Another question we might ask ourselves from this is how can I respond today to going beyond what is expected? The man wanted Jesus to heal him yet Jesus touched him too. So then how do I respond to knowing THAT is the same Jesus who loves me and hears my heart. And how can I respond with that kindness towards others too?
We often forget that the way Jesus responds to people in Scripture is also His heart towards us today. The compassion of Jesus moves Him to come towards you. The kindness of Jesus reaches out to you. We might consider how we can remember that He is that same Jesus towards us today. It might be taking personally the beauty He places around us as He seeks to touch our heart. Thanking Him for the sunset, the scent of a flower, the warmth of the sun on my face.
How about for you, friend? How today do you sense Jesus reaching out to you? In what ways is He inviting you to act on the compassion of God? Who might you touch, love, serve today out of the overflow of the love of God poured out in your heart?
It is by taking a few minutes each day to tend your own soul with Truth that the Holy Spirit will enable you to overflow and bear fruit for His glory. The master Gardener is pursuing you to tend to your soul today, slow down, soak in the Word and let Him refresh you.
IF you want to know more about the TEND method, I have a free download for you at marieldavenport.com/start. Also for tools to continue to tend your soul, join me at marieldavenport.substack.com. See all the links in the show notes.
Until next time, friend, keep tending your soul by the Word.
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