Yesterday, we finished our readings from the Sermon on the Mount. The teaching of Jesus is now followed in Matthew's gospel by a series of healing signs that Jesus performed. The very first involves a leper who approaches Jesus, "Sir, if you want to, you can cure me." There is a great expression of trust in Jesus expressed here. It is not that the man doubts Jesus' desire to help him but that, Jesus has only to want the man's healing and it will happen. Leprosy was a very common affliction in those days and was further compounded by its sometimes being confused with other skin afflictions. This meant that some people, branded as lepers, may have been suffering from a totally non-infectious complaint.

Jesus, of course, is filled with compassion for the man's plight which involved not only the disease but his total exclusion from society. "Of course I want to! Be cured!" says Jesus as he stretches out his hand to touch the leper. The very touching - something to be absolutely avoided - had a healing effect all its own. The man is then told to show himself to a priest so that he can be officially declared 'clean'. Thank God, there are not many lepers in our society today but there are now other kinds of lepers, people we avoid because of race, class, occupation, religion or simply prejudice. Do I effectively treat any persons in my life as lepers?