If we were required to produce a top ten list of life’s greatest mysteries phone bills ought to be near the top. Have you ever really looked at one of those things or do you just give up and pay what it says? Not only is there the basic charge and the long distance fees for each call, there is also the FCC Line Charge and the Federal USF Surcharge and the Local Number Portability charge. Whatever that is! And then there is the 49-cent charge for Touch-Tone Service. Whatever happened to just “Reach out and touch someone?”
Jesus once reached out and touched someone for free. It is such an exciting story that Mark put it in his very first chapter. While Matthew and Luke are talking about the nativity and John is writing about Jesus being the incarnate Word of God, Mark wants us to know right from the beginning that this Jesus he is going to tell us about touched a leper. By the end of the chapter he has Jesus being pursued by such large crowds He can no longer enter the towns because the streets were too narrow.
There is no doubt about it—Jesus is wonderful. And best of all He will touch each of us and there is no 49-cent charge.
Written April 27, 2003