Come Follow Me Insights This Week: February 26 -

This Week's Reading: Matthew 8; Mark 2-4; Luke 7

Come Follow Me Insight #1

Why are the disciples so dense? (Mark 4:37-41)

When Jesus calmed the stormy sea His disciples were shocked. They couldn’t believe that Jesus had so much power! Which makes sense until you remember that at this point the disciples had seen Jesus cast out devils, heal a leper and a paralyzed man and they even saw Him raise someone from the dead! So why were they still marveling that Jesus could perform miracles? Were they spiritually dense?

It’s important to remember that (according to the Bible Dictionary) “the Holy Ghost did not operate in the fulness among the Jews during the years of Jesus’ mortal sojourn.”

So the disciples were SEEING Jesus do all these amazing miracles, but they didn’t have full access to the Holy Ghost to change their hearts because of what they saw (Source). So no they weren’t dense– they just didn’t have the Holy Ghost with them full time yet!

Come Follow Me Insight #2

Leprosy in ancient Israel (Matthew 8:1-3)

In Matthew 8 we read about Jesus healing a leper through touch. Why was this a big deal?

Well, here is a graphic and horrifying description of what it was like to have leprosy in ancient Israel:

“Leprosy was the scourge of the ancient world. Nothing evoked more fear, more dread, or more revulsion than the sight of these walking dead. . . The smell of his decaying flesh would announce his coming long before the tattered scraps of his clothing would be seen, or his raspy “Unclean! Unclean!” announcement he was required to declare, could be heard. The stumbling shuffle of toeless feet, the wandering of sightless eyes and the moan of a cheek-less mouth, all pointed to Leprosy, this unseen attacker that slowly destroyed human bodies, and made the individual an untouchable to society” (Source).