Several years ago, a 12-year-old boy was struck by a car in Florida, riding his bicycle home from school. The driver fled, leaving the boy’s lifeless, broken, bleeding body in the street. When officers arrived at the victim’s home to notify the parents of the tragedy, they were amazed to find the wanted car parked in their driveway. The father was later discovered hiding in the attic, unaware until that moment that the victim of his hit-and-run was his son. The father would later be sentenced to five years in state prison, but the actual incarceration would be a life sentence in the prison of guilt. Tragic as this story may be, it’s a visceral reminder of the passage of scripture in Numbers 32:23, which says, “Be sure your sin will find you out.”
If we are honest, we all recognize that we have committed wrong-doings in our lives about which we feel shame and guilt: it may be alcohol, divorce, abuse, lying, stealing, and without doubt, that list could go on and on. This week we meet a man that’s more like us than we often want to think. The interaction Jesus has with this man is less of a conversation than an open door that this man boldly walks through and changes not only his story but undoubtedly the story of many other people.
