Matthew 8:1-4

Matthew 8:1-4

We do not encounter many cases of leprosy in our western world but it can still be found in poorer continents. In the time of Jesus, it was much more common and had a detrimental effect on the affected person socially and religiously. Because of the contagious nature of the skin disease and the lack of medicine to treat it (no antibiotics etc) those with the disease were excluded from normal life. Because those with leprosy were regarded as ritually unclean in the Jewish faith, going to the synagogue and to the temple for sacrifice was forbidden. The Book of Leviticus in particular speaks about leprosy and how to diagnose it and how the person was to be treated in the community.

Today’s Gospel speaks to us about an encounter that Jesus has with a person with leprosy. The leper approaches Jesus firstly in humility by bowing and calling Jesus Lord. Secondly, he has complete trust in Jesus “If you want to, you can cure me”. He understands that Jesus has the authority and power to do so, he has no doubts whatsoever about Jesus’s sovereignty over sickness.

Jesus touches him and in doing so, Jesus transcends the cultural and religious norms and in compassion and mercy exclaims “of course I want to, be healed”. For the leper to be re-admitted in society he has to show himself to the Levitical priest who would confirm his healing and then the leper would have to ritually be cleansed and offer sacrifice. In Jesus telling the leper to go to the priest as was the directive in the Book of Leviticus, we see that Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to complete it.

In this Gospel passage we see the fulfilment of the Prophet Isaiah’s prophesy of the Messiah “ surely he took on our infirmities and carried our sins.”

 

St Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)

 

St Mother Teresa of Calcutta formed the Missionaries of Charity to look after the poorest of the poor beginning firstly in Calcutta, India and then expanding over the years to different continents. She treated every person she encountered with unconditional love and respect. All those that she collected from the slums of Calcutta, thrown aside by society she nursed as if she was nursing the Lord himself. All those who did die, died surrounded by care and compassion and with the dignity expected as a child of God. Here as some of her quotes.

 

“God has identified himself with the hungry, the sick, the naked, the homeless; hunger not only for bread, but for love, for care, to be somebody to someone; nakedness, not for clothing only, but nakedness of that compassion that very few people give to the unknown; homelessness, not only just for a shelter made from stone but for that homelessness that comes from having no one to call your own.”

 

“Have a great compassion for people. To be able to have a heart full of compassion, we need to pray. Especially be kind, be loving to the poor. We think we do so much for the poor, but it is they who make us rich. We are in debt to them. Do you want to do something beautiful for God? There is a person who needs you. This is your chance.”