• 马太福音 8:1-3

1耶稣下了山，有一大群人跟着他。 2这时，一个痲疯病人前来拜他，说：“主啊，你若肯，你能使我洁净。” 3耶稣伸手摸他，说：“我肯，你洁净了吧！”他的痲疯病立刻就洁净了。

• 路加福音 4:18-19

18主的灵在我身上，因为他用膏膏我，叫我传福音给贫穷的人；差遣我宣告：被掳的得释放，失明的得看见，受压迫的得自由，19宣告上帝悦纳人的禧年。

当新冠病毒像滚雪球一样变成全球流行病的时候，我正在赶回家的路上。结束了被压缩的以色列之旅后，我还差到波兰转一趟机，再飞越大西洋就到家了。但是猜猜看，在飞机上谁坐在我旁边？一位咳嗽的欧洲老妇人。

若是在新冠疫情暴发之前，我肯定不会多想，她不过是稀疏地咳嗽几声罢了。但是在一个有波兰军人为乘客扫描额头、排查发烧的前提下，她的情况就严重了。事实上，真的很严重，以致于她每次一咳嗽，我就把身体倾向另一侧。

我想说，我对自己倾身的做法一点也不感到光彩。我猜想耶稣一定不会这么做的，事实上，这确实不是耶稣的所为。

“这时，一个痲疯病人前来拜他(耶稣)，说：'主啊，你若肯，你能使我洁净。'耶稣伸手摸他”。（马太福音8:2-3）出于爱，耶稣亲手触摸了一个病人。按照当时的文化，与麻风病人保持的距离可远不止两米，而耶稣打破了这些规矩，带来了祝福。

这样的耶稣你不爱吗？

因为耶稣本可以与我们保持距离。当愤怒就像高烧在我们脑中肆虐，当自私的话语就像咳嗽从无休止的争论中冲出，耶稣本可以待在天堂里，将自己与瘟疫一般蔓延在我们生命里的破碎隔离。但是他并没有那么做，而是行在我们中间，伸手为我们祝福，还伸出膀臂医治我们。

自从耶稣受圣灵感孕成为我们中的一员，他就未曾将自己在地上的生命看作一次前途未卜的冒险。他清楚地知道这会是怎样的结局。然而，出于对人类的疯狂之爱，他选择降世为人，好让我们灵性的疾病不致终于永死，而是在上帝里面得生。

这样的耶稣你不爱吗？

如果这种病毒和随其而来的社交疏离能让我们惊叹于耶稣无私的爱，那么一切都是值得的。这正是基督＞新冠病毒的另一个证据。

• 花点时间向神献上感恩与祈求

• Matthew 8:1-3

1 When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. 2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 3 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

• Luke 4:18-19

18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Right when the Coronavirus was snowballing into a global pandemic, I was trying to get home. After an abbreviated trip to Israel, I was one Polish layover and an oceanic flight away from home. But guess who was sitting next to me on the plane? A coughing, elderly European.

In the pre-Corona world, I wouldn’t have thought twice about her. Her coughs were few and far between. But in a place where the Polish military was scanning our foreheads for fevers, her situation was serious. So serious, in fact, that every time she coughed, I leaned in the opposite direction.

I’m not proud of that lean, by the way. I’m guessing it’s not what Jesus would do. In fact, it’s not what Jesus actually did.

“A man with leprosy came and knelt before [Jesus] and said, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man.” (Matthew 8:2-3) In love, Jesus physically touched a diseased man. In a culture that stayed more than six feet away from lepers, Jesus broke the rules and brought a blessing.

Don’t you love that about him?

Because Jesus could have kept his distance from us too. As anger raged like a fever in our minds and selfish words were coughed up in countless arguments, he could have isolated himself in heaven from the pandemic of our brokenness. But he didn’t. He walked among us. He reached out his hands to bless us. He even reached out his arms to cure us.

Jesus didn’t just take a chance when he was conceived as one of us. He knew exactly where his earthly life would lead. Yet, in crazy love, he chose that path so that our spiritual sickness would not end in eternal death but in life with God.

Don’t you love that about him?

If this virus and all our social distance make us marvel at the selfless love of Jesus, it will all be worth it. Just one more proof that Christ > Corona.

• Take a moment to give thanks and prayers to God