Reach Out and Minister to Someone
“A man with a skin disease came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, ‘If you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, ‘I am willing. Be made clean!’ Immediately the skin disease left him, and he was made clean.”
Mark 1:40-42
Leprosy is referred to several times in the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments. There are a handful of people throughout the Old Testament who are mentioned with leprosy, and in the New Testament, Jesus is said to have healed some of them. In ancient times, leprosy was a catch-all term for any disease that particularly affected the skin and many even believed it was the manifestation of sin.
Lepers were labeled as contagious by society, and they were exiled. It was even customary for lepers to cry out, “Unclean, unclean,” when entering a community. It might surprise you to know that today leprosy is not regarded as a highly contagious disease, and when treated with drugs, it can be cured. However, there was no cure for the disease 2,000 years ago.
Jesus wants us to minister to people regardless of who they are or what they suffer from. Jesus wants us to stretch out our hands to people with the same measure of compassion and concern as He reached out to those with leprosy. Leprosy is analogous to the many ills in our society today. We are to be like Jesus and respond to the needs of others with the same measure of compassion and love as Jesus. By reaching out, we can help to make a difference in people’s lives and to heal their wounds.
Several years ago, at a Diocesan council, Bishop Don Wimberly said, “A sign of a community’s health is its reaching out to others.” Our goal is to be a healthy community.
