The Leper
By Abba Jimmy (Theoloscience)
Are all the people of this generation descendants of Abraham? And with this question, we mean that all descendants of Abraham may share a unique and distinctive sign of identity. To be a descendant of Abraham, in the sense that we are describing here, means that we are bound or united in the Covenant God made with Abraham. However, covenants in the historical line of the relationship between God and his people have been updated up to the new Covenant that God made with humanity in His Only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. In the New Covenant that God made with humanity in His Son Jesus Christ, we are descendants of Abraham; what that means for us is that we belong to the people of God as far as we embrace God’s Covenant as a distinctive mark of identity. We are people of the New Covenant, and what that means for us is that we are God’s people called to belong to God’s family by observing, keeping, and living our lives guided by God’s Covenant. Jesus said: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17).
By our baptism, we were sealed as God’s property. That means that we belong to God. Yet not all baptized people know the divine gift received when baptized. An English saying says: “Use it or lose it.” In the case of people not using the gift of God received when baptized, that saying does not apply to them. We never lose the gift of belonging to God we received when we were baptized. What may happen to us, and what it happens many times, is that we may live unaware of the gift of belonging to God that we received when we were baptized.
Because of the circumstances we live in the word today, and because of the many voices that sound on social media, it is pretty easy to get confused and even convinced that God does not exist. In today’s world, the fiercest war is not with guns and sophisticated military weapons. No, the greatest war today is between two opponents: Truth and falsehood. Between these two opponents, the greatest war in all human history is being fought. Leprosy that inflicts humanity with the consequent division will continue to hurt humanity and cause much suffering until we come to know and embrace the truth. And the irony here is that a vast portion of society rejects the truth despite the senseless and pointless suffering that results from such an unfortunate choice.
The man with leprosy that approaches Jesus in the Gospel (See Matthew 8:1–4) is an example of a son of Abraham that realizes that he is doomed and condemned to never-ending isolation or separation from the rest of society due to his contagious illness until, or unless his health is restored. Culture at the time of Jesus imposed isolation and separation from the community to all infected with leprosy. Confirmed lepers of all ages, men or women, were marked as impure and demanded to scream out loud to warn others: “Impure, Impure.” Also, uncontaminated citizens were not allowed to get too close to the lepers, let alone touch them, lest they, too became impure. So, the punishment imposed on lepers because of fear was harsh. So, lepers were thrown away from society and left alone far away from the community to survive at the mercy of who knows who or what.
The fact is that Jesus, the Son of God, came to the world so that humanity would know the truth, be free, and live an abundant life. But pursuing the truth, spiritual freedom, and abundant life offered by God to humanity requires many sacrifices. The good news is that God became a human being like us, and without renouncing divinity, God offered the supreme sacrifice of dying for us so that we can find the way in Him.
Exercise: Name two or three leprosies that stand between us and cause painful divisions in our society today.
