Who are the Lepers in your Life?
I used to have a strong desire to be popular, especially in college, and in my efforts to climb the social ladder, I often rejected the nerdy, the homely, the painfully quiet and the sickly. In reality, I was a nerd in disguise. I loved school and loved to learn, but ran away from my true self in my quest to be in the in-crowd.
As I’ve grown in my faith, I realized my attitude was all wrong. To be like Jesus, I have to be “un,” not “in.” Jesus reached out to the undesirables in his society, “tax collectors and sinners” and he touched the unclean. When he healed the leper in Matthew 8:14, it was a social faux pas in Jewish society. Among the 61 defilements of ancient Jewish laws, leprosy was second only to a dead body in seriousness. If a person was infected with leprosy, they had to wear torn clothes, let their hair hang loose and cover their upper lip crying out, “Unclean, unclean.” The leper lived alone outside of the camp.
But Jesus touched the leper: A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean! Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.
Who is the leper in your life? Is it the family member who is not quite right or is it the person who doesn’t fit into your social group? Jesus did not discriminate and neither should we.
I will confess, I still war with my flesh at times, craving popularity, but my conscience and my faith does not allow me to reject anyone anymore. To be like Jesus, we must love unconditionally and be a servant to all. We are no better than anyone else, even the lepers in our lives. Who do you need to reach out to today?