Several years ago I had shingles. It was May and the weather in Tucson was just heating up. I went for long walks early in the morning and when the rash started near my armpit I thought it was from the heat and my sports bra. By the end of the week, the rash had spread to my back. I googled "boil like rash" 1) because I Google everything and 2) because that's what those little blisters looked like. Up popped "shingles". And let me tell you, it is a painful as you have heard. It itches, but you do not want to scratch it, it makes it much worse. Those little blisters ooze leaving behind a sticky substance that doesn't go away just because you wash it. And it burns, boy does it burn. Nothing relieves the feeling of hot coals on your skin. You just have to wait out the three plus weeks until it runs it's course.
I am so glad we are no longer bound by the Law of Moses. If we were, like the leper in Matthew 8, I would have had to go through a "ritual" of purification before returning to church.
Thankfully, Jesus fulfilled those laws. Thankfully Jesus did away with those rituals. When Jesus died on the cross, He fulfilled all the previous requirements to purify us. He purified us from all our future imperfections. How? Because He was the perfect, pure, blemish free sacrifice. Because He was without sin.
Matthew 8:1-4 NLT
Jesus Heals a Man with Leprosy
1 Large crowds followed Jesus as he came down the mountainside. 2 Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. “Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.”
3 Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared. 4 Then Jesus said to him,“Don’t tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. (Leviticus 14) This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.”
Blessings, Cecilia
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