This is Spoken Gospel.

We’re dedicated to seeing
Jesus in all of scripture.

In each episode, we see what’s
happening in a Biblical text

and how it sheds light
on Jesus and his gospel.

Let’s jump in.

Jesus heals a man with an
unclean spirit in the synagogue.

Just before casting it out, the spirit
declares that Jesus is the Holy One of God.

The people were amazed
at Jesus’ authority.

The whole town came out to
Jesus looking for their own healings,

and a leper is among them.

According to social and religious
law, the leper was supposed

to stay outside the city
and avoid human contact.

But Jesus reaches out and touches the
man, and immediately the man is healed.

The new flood of attention forces Jesus out
of the city and into a “lonely place”.

When Jesus returns home to Capernaumn
not only does he heal a paralyzed man,

but he forgives his sins as well.

The religious leaders condemn this as
blasphemy, but the crowds glorify God.

After this, Jesus calls Levi, a tax
collector, to be his next disciple.

Tax collectors were
considered sinners and traitors.

The religious leaders demand an explanation
for why Jesus is associating with this outcast.

Jesus explains it simply—people who
claim to be well don’t need a doctor.

Jesus didn’t come to call the
“righteous, but sinners”.

The leper, the paralytic, and the tax collector
had one thing in common—they were all outcasts.

And the good news is that Jesus saves
them all by trading places with them.

When the leper is healed, he is permitted
to return to the temple, while Jesus is forced

out into a “lonely place” outside
the city where lepers belong.

The paralytic, like all people, was a sinner
and Levi the tax collector was viewed as a

Jewish traitor and pawn
of the Roman authorities.

The Pharisees refused to eat with sinners
because, in their mind, breaking bread with

them was a sign of being
counted as one of them.

But Jesus was not afraid to
be counted among the sinners.

Like Isaiah prophesied, God’s
suffering servant would be numbered

among the transgressors
and even die like one of them.

This is how Jesus heals the sick, accepts
the outcast, and forgives the sinner—not only
by going to them but by taking their place.

He took our sickness. He was
outcast. He became sin for us.

Through Jesus' death and resurrection, we are
healed, brought near, and made righteous in him.

I pray that the Holy Spirit opens your eyes to see
the God who forgives sins and heals our diseases.

And may you see Jesus as the one who trades
places with us and by whose wounds we are healed.