Untouchables

I have never met someone with leprosy. I've seen pictures and heard stories of the horrible symptoms of this disease. In biblical times people who had leprosy were cast out of communities and sent to live on their own. No one would touch them or come near them because of their sickness and deformity. If you did come near someone with leprosy, you yourself were considered unclean and had to go through purification rituals before you could reenter daily life.

I think its difficult for us to imagine what that was like because leprosy isn't exactly common these days. But I think we have all seen images of people who are sick; people who are suffering from some physical condition that deforms their faces and leaves them looking unapproachable and untouchable.

And if we're honest with ourselves, we have to admit that while we don't exactly banish them openly, we avoid them and often turn away from their suffering. I think this is true not just for sick individuals, but social outcasts as well. There are those in our midst who don't look or act like everyone else. They carry the disease of unpopularity, and they often lack the social skills to interact with others in positive ways.

So we banish them. We avoid them in the hallway. We dodge them in the narthex at church. They are our modern day lepers, and we have often responded to them exactly the way the people of God did in Israel 2,000 years ago. Be careful not to get too close to them, because you might become unclean. . .

What do you think Jesus would say about all this? How would he respond? How did he respond when he came face to face with the lepers of his day? Let's take a look in Mark and see the unbelievable love and compassion of our Savior.

A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said.

Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed. Then Jesus sent him on his way with a stern warning: “Don’t tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.”

But the man went and spread the word, proclaiming to everyone what had happened. As a result, large crowds soon surrounded Jesus, and he couldn’t publicly enter a town anywhere. He had to stay out in the secluded places, but people from everywhere kept coming to him.

Jesus didn't have to touch the man in order to heal him. He could have simply spoken the word and it would have been done. I believe that Jesus reached out and touched him as an example to us. . . and example of unconditional love, a willingness to become unclean to show love to those who desperately need it. Jesus' love knows no bounds and is not confined to the 'clean, comfortable, socially appropriate' people around us.

Oh how I pray that we would be Jesus to the lepers in our lives! That we would be unafraid and unashamed to reach out in love and touch them! You can bet that most of them did not ask for the disease that has ostracized them from their community. And who knows what kind of impact you can have when you reach out with the love of Jesus and touch someone who has been isolated and avoided for the last several years!

Today God can use you to be the hands and feet of Jesus. I pray that when opportunities arise we would all be willing and ready. . .