Leper - Matthew 8: 1-4, Mark 1:40-45, Luke 5:12-16
The day I met you was the most amazing, miraculous, unbelievable day of my life. It changed everything forever.
I was only a child when I contracted the disease. I dont know how it came upon me but people say that it is because of sin and that I was cursed by God. I was not aware of any sins in my life which might have caused God to turn His face away from me, and as a young man, before the symptoms started to show outwardly, I used to go to prayers daily asking for forgiveness for whatever it was that I had done. But God did not forgive me and the disease got worse.
At first it was a numbness in my feet. I kept stumbling and tripping over things. My feet got battered and cut, and the cuts wouldnt heal. Then I noticed the same numbness in my hands. That was when my employer started to notice all was not well ( I was a kiln stoker for the village potter ) He saw that I was starting to drop things and then one day I burned my hand on the kiln and didnt notice my flesh was scorching until the smell alerted me. My boss fired me on the spot and sent me home saying that he had to report me to the authorities. As soon as I got home I packed my things and moved out. I had no choice. The priests and elders would have made me move anyway.
For three years I lived in the colony outside the walls. We were totally segregated from the rest of society and were dependent on family and friends to bring us provisions and help us to trade with people in the town. My family helped me to set up my own pottery business as there were no potters in the colony and I had learned enough from watching my employer over the years to know roughly what to do. My parents and brother brought me the clay - leaving it at the edge of the compound. I would sell pots in the colony and also leave finished pots for my family to collect, which they would take and sell in town and then they would bring me either the money or the goods I needed...... and so life went on. The progress of my disease was mercifully slow and I was not in pain. I was lonely at times. There was no hope - we all knew we would never leave the colony and were destined to die and be buried there. But the small community of lepers was a tight knit one and we all tried to make friends and support each other as best we could.
I was not given to taking risks or breaking rules, but the day I met you I did both.
It was my brother who had first got word to me that something unusual was going on in town. Despite the fact that I was not supposed to have any contact with anyone outside the leper colony, I regularly managed to snatch some conversation with my youngest brother who had cleverly taken to climbing a tree and sitting on a high branch which overhung the fence which marked the boundary we could not cross. He had been full of the news about Jesus of Nazareth for a couple of weeks. This Jesus had apparently caused someone to be delivered of an evil spirit in the middle of the reading of scripture in the synagogue. He had also healed a woman of a fever and now my brother was telling me that everywhere this Rabbi went people were being healed of their ailments. Not only this, but Jesus had established quite a following and several men who were known to me had become his disciples. It all sounded very amazing and I wasnt sure if my brother was exaggerating or if everything he was telling me was true. And then, a couple of days later when I was at the compound gate leaving some pots for my family to collect, I saw you. You were standing at the end of the road which passed our compound and you were talking to a large group of people. I knew it was you from the description my brother had given me. And because there wasn't anyone else in town who would be gathering such a large crowd in the middle of the day.
As I watched from a distance I saw you interacting with people. You were reaching out your hand to touch old men and stooping down to talk to small children. I couldnt hear what you were saying , you were too far away, but I could hear the noise of the crowd applauding and shouting in response to whatever it was you were doing. All of a sudden I was filled with an impossible desire to be near you. I looked around me. There was nobody around on my side of the fence. On the other side, the town side, everyone was so focused on what you were doing that nobody was paying attention to the leper colony. I ran to the tree my brother climbed, scrambled up the fence until I could reach the overhanging branch and shinned my way along and down until I was standing on the town side of the fence for the first time in several years. I then made my way to the edge of the crowd which was surrounding you and strained to hear what you were saying. You were talking about the Kingdom of God. You said that from the very beginning God had wanted to live with His people and that now He was coming to dwell with us in a new way. He wanted our hearts not just our rituals. Your teaching was powerful, unsettling, compelling and difficult all at once. I didnt really understand it but I knew that it was true. There was just something about you and the way you spoke which was utterly captivating. Without realising it I found I had moved closer to you and was now in the thick of the crowd which surrounded you. Nobody else had seemed to notice, but I knew that once they did I would likely be thrown straight back into the compound. I had to speak to you. I saw you reach out and touch a woman with a blind eye. I saw her cloudy grey eye suddenly become clear and the face of the woman light up with amazement as she shouted out that she could see. And that is when I heard my voice above the noise of the crowd shout ' Jesus! I know that if you want to you can heal me too !'
I pushed my way right to the front of the crowd and fell on my knees in front of you. You put your hand on my head. For a second I wondered if you knew what I was, but then you spoke and you said
' Of course I want to make you well! Be clean!' And instantly all sensation returned to my hands and my feet. The toes which I had lost on my left foot reappeared. The scars and burns on my hands vanished. The sores on my face healed at once and I could feel the blood racing back into every part of me like a pulsating wave of light and life and energy. I jumped up from the ground, speechless with joy and disbelief. I threw my arms round you and hugged you and laughed and cried and you laughed too. Then you put your face close to mine and whispered - ' Go to the priest right now and make the sacrifices you need to, so that your healing can be recognised by the authorities and you can be accepted back into society again. But please don't tell anyone how you received your healing - it's important that we keep this quiet for now' Then you winked at me and turned to face the rest of the crowd which was pressing in on you wanting to see more miracles.
I went straight into town and to my home where my family almost fainted with shock to see me fully restored standing at the door. There was much weeping and laughter and celebrating that afternoon. They wanted to know what had happened and I told them joyfully every detail. Then, as Jesus had told me, I went to the priest to make the sacrifices and pray as the law demanded. The priest examined me and was amazed to find me without disease and as healthy and strong as an athlete. He wanted to know what had happened to me and I explained that you had set me free from both my illness and all my shame. Im not sure he believed me, but he couldn't argue with the evidence before his eyes and he proclaimed me ceremonially clean.
By the time I got home the whole street had gathered at our house wanting to see me and touch me and hug me and welcome me back. I had forgotten to tell my family that you wanted me to keep my healing quiet. It was too late - everyone knew and they all wanted to hear the story over and over again. I will be telling it until the day I die. You are my healing, my restoration, my peace and joy and hope. You are my future and my life. I owe you everything. I realise now that I didnt even really say thank you.
I was only a child when I contracted the disease. I dont know how it came upon me but people say that it is because of sin and that I was cursed by God. I was not aware of any sins in my life which might have caused God to turn His face away from me, and as a young man, before the symptoms started to show outwardly, I used to go to prayers daily asking for forgiveness for whatever it was that I had done. But God did not forgive me and the disease got worse.
At first it was a numbness in my feet. I kept stumbling and tripping over things. My feet got battered and cut, and the cuts wouldnt heal. Then I noticed the same numbness in my hands. That was when my employer started to notice all was not well ( I was a kiln stoker for the village potter ) He saw that I was starting to drop things and then one day I burned my hand on the kiln and didnt notice my flesh was scorching until the smell alerted me. My boss fired me on the spot and sent me home saying that he had to report me to the authorities. As soon as I got home I packed my things and moved out. I had no choice. The priests and elders would have made me move anyway.
For three years I lived in the colony outside the walls. We were totally segregated from the rest of society and were dependent on family and friends to bring us provisions and help us to trade with people in the town. My family helped me to set up my own pottery business as there were no potters in the colony and I had learned enough from watching my employer over the years to know roughly what to do. My parents and brother brought me the clay - leaving it at the edge of the compound. I would sell pots in the colony and also leave finished pots for my family to collect, which they would take and sell in town and then they would bring me either the money or the goods I needed...... and so life went on. The progress of my disease was mercifully slow and I was not in pain. I was lonely at times. There was no hope - we all knew we would never leave the colony and were destined to die and be buried there. But the small community of lepers was a tight knit one and we all tried to make friends and support each other as best we could.
I was not given to taking risks or breaking rules, but the day I met you I did both.
It was my brother who had first got word to me that something unusual was going on in town. Despite the fact that I was not supposed to have any contact with anyone outside the leper colony, I regularly managed to snatch some conversation with my youngest brother who had cleverly taken to climbing a tree and sitting on a high branch which overhung the fence which marked the boundary we could not cross. He had been full of the news about Jesus of Nazareth for a couple of weeks. This Jesus had apparently caused someone to be delivered of an evil spirit in the middle of the reading of scripture in the synagogue. He had also healed a woman of a fever and now my brother was telling me that everywhere this Rabbi went people were being healed of their ailments. Not only this, but Jesus had established quite a following and several men who were known to me had become his disciples. It all sounded very amazing and I wasnt sure if my brother was exaggerating or if everything he was telling me was true. And then, a couple of days later when I was at the compound gate leaving some pots for my family to collect, I saw you. You were standing at the end of the road which passed our compound and you were talking to a large group of people. I knew it was you from the description my brother had given me. And because there wasn't anyone else in town who would be gathering such a large crowd in the middle of the day.
As I watched from a distance I saw you interacting with people. You were reaching out your hand to touch old men and stooping down to talk to small children. I couldnt hear what you were saying , you were too far away, but I could hear the noise of the crowd applauding and shouting in response to whatever it was you were doing. All of a sudden I was filled with an impossible desire to be near you. I looked around me. There was nobody around on my side of the fence. On the other side, the town side, everyone was so focused on what you were doing that nobody was paying attention to the leper colony. I ran to the tree my brother climbed, scrambled up the fence until I could reach the overhanging branch and shinned my way along and down until I was standing on the town side of the fence for the first time in several years. I then made my way to the edge of the crowd which was surrounding you and strained to hear what you were saying. You were talking about the Kingdom of God. You said that from the very beginning God had wanted to live with His people and that now He was coming to dwell with us in a new way. He wanted our hearts not just our rituals. Your teaching was powerful, unsettling, compelling and difficult all at once. I didnt really understand it but I knew that it was true. There was just something about you and the way you spoke which was utterly captivating. Without realising it I found I had moved closer to you and was now in the thick of the crowd which surrounded you. Nobody else had seemed to notice, but I knew that once they did I would likely be thrown straight back into the compound. I had to speak to you. I saw you reach out and touch a woman with a blind eye. I saw her cloudy grey eye suddenly become clear and the face of the woman light up with amazement as she shouted out that she could see. And that is when I heard my voice above the noise of the crowd shout ' Jesus! I know that if you want to you can heal me too !'
I pushed my way right to the front of the crowd and fell on my knees in front of you. You put your hand on my head. For a second I wondered if you knew what I was, but then you spoke and you said
' Of course I want to make you well! Be clean!' And instantly all sensation returned to my hands and my feet. The toes which I had lost on my left foot reappeared. The scars and burns on my hands vanished. The sores on my face healed at once and I could feel the blood racing back into every part of me like a pulsating wave of light and life and energy. I jumped up from the ground, speechless with joy and disbelief. I threw my arms round you and hugged you and laughed and cried and you laughed too. Then you put your face close to mine and whispered - ' Go to the priest right now and make the sacrifices you need to, so that your healing can be recognised by the authorities and you can be accepted back into society again. But please don't tell anyone how you received your healing - it's important that we keep this quiet for now' Then you winked at me and turned to face the rest of the crowd which was pressing in on you wanting to see more miracles.
I went straight into town and to my home where my family almost fainted with shock to see me fully restored standing at the door. There was much weeping and laughter and celebrating that afternoon. They wanted to know what had happened and I told them joyfully every detail. Then, as Jesus had told me, I went to the priest to make the sacrifices and pray as the law demanded. The priest examined me and was amazed to find me without disease and as healthy and strong as an athlete. He wanted to know what had happened to me and I explained that you had set me free from both my illness and all my shame. Im not sure he believed me, but he couldn't argue with the evidence before his eyes and he proclaimed me ceremonially clean.
By the time I got home the whole street had gathered at our house wanting to see me and touch me and hug me and welcome me back. I had forgotten to tell my family that you wanted me to keep my healing quiet. It was too late - everyone knew and they all wanted to hear the story over and over again. I will be telling it until the day I die. You are my healing, my restoration, my peace and joy and hope. You are my future and my life. I owe you everything. I realise now that I didnt even really say thank you.
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