I Do Will It!

What an excellent Gospel reading we have today! It is Jesus curing the Leper (MT 8:1-4). It is about Jesus’ absolute power to heal. 

At the time of Jesus, leprosy was a disease that caused pain, fear, panic, isolation, judgment, and alienation. To be afflicted with leprosy was to be shunned by everyone, including family and friends. It was to be unwelcomed everywhere and to have to warn people you were in the area by ringing a bell so they could flee. 

The leprosy stigma did not end with the community’s condemnation. The leper, him/herself, felt the pain of their unworthiness to be around people. Leprosy was believed to be directly related to the perceived sinfulness of the afflicted person. How we treated people with AIDS in the early 1980s, provides a glimpse at the alienation of lepers in Jesus’ time.

This leper, who doesn’t even have a name, is brave enough or desperate enough to make his way through a crowd of people to get close to the Lord. He reaches out to Jesus and says the most beautiful and touching words, “If you will to do so, you can cure me.” Jesus responds in kind with love and sincerity, “I do will it.” And, he is cured.

We all sometimes carry a feeling that echoes that of the lepers of Jesus’ time. Our sinfulness can bring us to the same place that leprosy brought the people of ancient times. Sin can cause pain, fear, panic, isolation, judgment, and alienation, just like leprosy did. When we wander from the path of faithfulness and indulge our selfishness, we sin. 

That is true for all of us, no exceptions. The pain of our sin is a burden that we carry. Until we allow ourselves to be freed from it, the emotional and psychological effects of sin are heavy to bear and alienate us from our best selves, others, and God.

Knowing ourselves as sinful with broken promises and broken relationships with God and others is painful. 

We all need to take a lesson from the leper in the Gospel today. We must be both brave enough and desperate enough to go to Jesus. With humility, we look in Jesus’ eyes and speak the leper’s words, “If you will to do so, you can cure me.” Then we listen for the response. The response of Jesus will come immediately and without judgment or delay. We will hear him say, “I do will it be healed.” 

Attentiveness to the pain in our lives is critical. The pain (physical, psychological, emotional, or spiritual) we feel may be God’s megaphone to get our attention that something is wrong. We need to be as brave as the leper and run without pause to the side of Jesus. There we will find comfort, healing, and forgiveness.

In God’s Unending Love,

Gwen