Imagine
living your entire life in isolation because of a disease. Or imagine having a family, a spouse, or
children that you are suddenly torn from because you would spread the disease
to them if they even touched you. Lepers
in Jesus day lived that way. They weren’t
allowed to live in the city, but had to live outside the city walls. When people came near them they had to shout “unclean!
unclean!”, just to keep people from
coming near. Their flesh would just rot
away for the rest of their life. Homesick. In pain. Rejected. Outcast. Hopeless. And although leprosy was horrible and painful,
and there was no cure, there was a deeper pain lying beneath their deteriorating
skin. These people were utterly alone…until they met Jesus.
Matthew
8:2-3 : “Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him.
“Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.”
Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And
instantly the leprosy disappeared.
Scared,
afraid, hopeless, but this desperate man asked Jesus for help. And what does Jesus
do first? He reaches out and touches him.
And Jesus clearly didn’t have to. There were plenty of times when Jesus
would simply speak and a person was healed.
But when Jesus healed this Leper, he intentionally reached out and
touched him first, then he said “be
healed!” Do you realize how powerful that is?
How many years had this man gone without a simple pat on the shoulder,
or a hug from a friend, or a kiss from his wife, or his children riding on his
back. How he must have yearned for community and friendship. And here, the Creator of the Universe reaches
out and touches him. Jesus knew that
this man had a disease that was much harsher than leprosy. This man was plagued with loneliness.
We don’t see
very many people suffering from leprosy here in America, although there
certainly are many in other places of the world. But we have something here that is just as
potent. I recently read a story about a
young student visiting Mother Teresa in Calcutta. She was there ministering to and caring for
people with leprosy. The student told
Mother Teresa that he had decided to go back to the United States and learn how
to care for these people, and then return to Calcutta to care for the
sick. Mother Teresa surprised the young
student by saying, “Why do you want
to do that?" She continued, "There is a poverty in your country that
is just as severe as our poorest of the poor." The student was shocked at this, as he had
seen such severe poverty in Calcutta that would make even the poorest in the
United States look wealthy. Mother
Teresa went on to say, “In the West there is a loneliness, which I call the
leprosy of the West. In many ways, it is worse than our poor in Calcutta."
So many people
in our culture struggle with loneliness. Maybe you do. Do
you know that Jesus sees this? If you
struggle with loneliness, you know how awful it can feel. To have no one, ironically in a place where
there are so many people, so many things to do.
But when you don’t have friendship or human interaction your spirit is
suffering from something more crippling than leprosy is to the body. Inside,
you’re just rotting away. But there is hope for you. Just as the man with
leprosy received healing from Jesus, you can too. Jesus loves you. He doesn’t want you to suffer with loneliness.
He created you for friendship and community.
Be like the leper today and ask Jesus to help you. Just as he said to the suffering man 2,000
years ago, “I am willing”, He says it to you now. His desire for you is to bring you out of
that disease. Psalm 68:6 says, “God
places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy.” If you are imprisoned by loneliness, ask God
to set you free. Ask Him to place you in
a family, a church family, a group of friends.
And if you aren’t suffering from loneliness, look around you and reach
out to those that are. Your friendship
to them could mean more than anything. We
can stop this epidemic from spreading if we are willing, as Jesus was, to reach
out.
