Outside the Camp

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Today's reading, titled Outside the Camp, was written by Tim Gustafson. Friday was market day in the rural town in Ghana where I grew up. After all these years, I still recall one particular vendor. Her fingers and toes eroded by Hansen's disease—leprosy. She would crouch on her mat and scoop her produce with a hollowed-out gourd. Some avoided her.

My mother made it a point to buy from her regularly. I saw her only on market days. Then she would disappear outside the town. In the time of the ancient Israelites, diseases like leprosy meant living outside the camp. It was a forlorn existence.

In Leviticus chapter 13, Israelite law said of such people, they must live alone. Outside the camp was also where the carcasses of the sacrificial bulls were burned. Outside the camp was not where you want it to be. This harsh reality breathes life into the statement about Jesus in Hebrews chapter 13. Let us then go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. Jesus was crucified outside the gates of Jerusalem, a significant point when we study the Hebrew sacrificial system.

We want to be popular, to be honored, to live comfortable lives. But God calls us to go outside the camp, where the disgrace is. That's where we'll find the vendor with Hansen's disease.

That's where we'll find people the world has rejected. That's where we'll find Jesus. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Hebrews chapter 13 verses 11 through 16. The high priest carries the blood of animals into the most holy place as a sin offering. But the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us then go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.

For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that openly profess His name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices, God is pleased. Let's pray. Dear Jesus, give us the courage to reach people in places that may be uncomfortable for us. We know that it isn't the healthy but the sick who need healing. Let we go where you lead us as we share your love, mercy, and grace to those in need of a Savior. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.