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Lectionary
17 TRINITY: 14 - 20 SEPT. 2008
THEME: ‘JESUS HEALED
THE LEPER.’
READING: LUKE 5: 12 – 16
Leprosy like
HIV is a feared disease because there is no cure for it. In
the days of Jesus, one form of leprosy was highly contagious.
It had a similar emotional trauma, impact, and terror
associated with it as HIV does today. Let us analyze HIV with
this kind of fear that affected the people of Jesus time, when
faced with leprosy. When a member of a family has been
infected with HIV, it affects the whole family, friends, and
community. Family members will keep it a secret so that they
are not rejected or isolated, let alone the person affected.
Terror rules the person as well as the family. However, there
are families who have journeyed with their own during these
difficult times. They will go all out seeking healing for the
one who is infected. In Africa, some families will visit
sangomas, spiritual healers, medical doctors, and any one who
can offer help.
Listen to the words of the leper:
“Lord, if you will, you can make me clean” (Luke 5:12). In
those days of Jesus, the priest monitored leprosy, banishing
lepers who were in a contagious stage, in order to prevent the
spread of infection. The priest also readmitted lepers whose
disease was in remission. In the same vein, people living with
HIV are rejected, isolated, stigmatized by the whole
community, and sometimes by the church. The man who came to
Jesus had advanced leprosy. He took a risk and came to Jesus.
He saw in him a person who will receive him without
conditions, a fountain of healing. Today we brand people, ‘the
untouchable’ because we fear that we will be affected, the
reaction is already a sign of being affected. Ignorance is a
thief that robs us of our ability to relate to other people as
human beings. We forget that they are also created in the
image of God. Jesus reached out and touched the untouchable.
He used the method of touching as part of healing.
Leaders of the church are hereby challenged to reach
out and touch people living with HIV. Do you know of someone
who is infected? Think of that person, what can you do in
order to journey with him/her? How will you treat him/her?
Your healing may come through hugging, touching or affirming
him/her. As you relate and journey with them, others will
learn to accept them as fellow human beings. They are also the
children of God.
Submitted by Professor Maake J.S.
Masango
PRAYER
Our Great physician, Jesus Christ,
Look on those of your creation who are sick and call upon your
name for healing. Heal, we pray, all who suffer from HIV,
malaria and other infirmities in our continent. Touch them
Lord and deliver them from their various infirmities. Grant
this, God, for Christ our redeemer sake, Amen
READINGS
FOR THE WEEK
James 5. 13 – 16; Mark 1: 35 – 45; Mark 2; 1
– 12; 2 Kings 5: 1 – 14; 2 Corinthians 12: 1 – 10; Job 2: 11 –
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