---OUTSIDE THE CAMP ~~

--"Jesus suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood."
---[Hebrews 13:12] --

---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 in 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. Israelite law said of such people, "They must live alone" (Leviticus 13:46). Outside the camp was also where the carcasses of the sacrificial bulls were burned (4:12). Outside the camp was not where you wanted to be.

This harsh reality breathes life into the statement about Jesus is Hebrews 13 / "Let us, then, go to him outside the camp bearing the disgrace he bore" (v.13). 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. ~~

--"Thank You, Jesus, that You don't show any favoritism. Thank You for going outside the camp for me. I praise your Name.~"

--ODB/TG~

--"I Speak Jesus" // Charity Gayle // (lyric video) <https://youtu.be/FBIz8vDMG20>
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