Reading through today’s gospel passage (Luke 5:12-16) I remembered that when I was younger I was infuriated by the comment, ‘I won’t bother’. I knew someone who used it a lot. At the time I thought he was very lazy, but it was only years later that I realised he lacked confidence and may often have been fearful of doing things about which he appeared to be nonchalant.
In the bible reading a leper knows that Jesus can heal him but caveats his faith with, ‘if you are willing’. Why would not the great empathiser not be willing? We can speculate over the leper’s thoughts; for one reason or another he thought he may be beyond Jesus’s generosity spectrum. The response was typical however: ‘I am willing’, he said, ‘be clean’.
Leprosy accrued a great deal of misunderstanding and fear. So contagious was the disease that the bible itself prescribes isolation; sufferers must go to great lengths not to pass on their infection. Lepers were shunned and isolated. People were afraid.
In my life there have been various infectious diseases that have fostered fear in us all; in my younger days, the AIDS pandemic was new and frightening. Recently COVID; there will be something else sooner or later.
We may not always feel like bothering to put ourselves into harm’s way to help others but plenty of people do overcome their fear. Thank God for them, for all the people who are willing to take risks to reach out to others who are in need.
A Prayer:
Jesus the healer, we thank you that no situation is too ugly or dangerous for you. No one is beyond your generosity spectrum. Everyone is able to come to you. Give us faith and courage to approach you when we are in need, for your love’s sake. Amen.