Grace Warren knew
how to get things through customs without ever being searched, which came in
handy when she wanted to smuggle drugs into countries where it was illegal to
do so. For Doctor Warren worked many years with the Leprosy Mission. And she
knew that all she had to do was prominently display ‘Leprosy Mission’ on her
bags and customs workers the world over would simply wave her through. The story
of this remarkable Australian is told in her autobiography ‘Doctor
Number 49’. Such is the fear that leprosy has for many even today.
In the time of Jesus lepers were treated as social outcasts. They were
forced to move away from family and friends and live apart from the community.
As they moved around they were required to call out ‘unclean, unclean’. While leprosy
in the Bible refers to a range of
infectious skin conditions, not simply the condition we know today, we can
only imagine the psychological pain that must have been associated with this
debilitating disease.
One, if not the most, emotionally challenging times I have lived
through is the breakup of my first marriage. Divorce was unheard of in my
family at the time – although I have since heard the story of how one of my
great grandmothers did a runner with the bloke next door – and I had this strongly
held belief that marriage was for life. Marriage breakup carried guilt, shame,
and a great sense of failure. It was something I did not want to talk about or
acknowledge to anyone.
I remember clearly this one day reasonably early in the experience when
I went to a function at the Ferntree Gully public school where my eldest
daughter was enrolled. I felt as if I had a large ‘D’ indelibly burnt into my
forehead and that everyone was staring at me. Now this was an irrational belief
as we had not lived in the area for all that long and I probably didn’t know
anyone at the school. But knowing the facts did not help the emotional pain.
Here I was, an abject failure, a social outcast.
Perhaps it is for that reason that I find the story in Matthew 8:1-4 of Jesus’ healing a leper so compelling. The Bible tells how this man came and knelt at Jesus’ feet and implored Him ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean’. Matthew records that ‘Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.’
As I reflect on that story I can’t
help feeling that the touch meant more to that man than anything else. Imagine
being in his position. I can imagine as he walked slowly and painfully down the
road crying out ‘unclean, unclean’ mothers hurriedly clutching their little
ones and steering them clear of this fearsome and horrible sight. A man who
lived daily with rejection, who had for a long time not felt another’s touch.
There is something affirming in the gentle touch of another. It conveys
friendship, love, acceptance. We tend to take these things for granted until
they are taken from us. As my marriage fell apart I was hurting and confused,
not knowing how I could face up to the truth with family and friends. As it
was, I found as my dark secret became known I was surrounded by people who
stood by me, who cared – in both the air force and church communities that I
belonged to at the time.
While that dark time in my life has long since passed I find myself
often returning to Matthew’s story. Just as it did back then it affirms my
value as a human being and helps me accept myself with all my failings and
mistakes. And the better I can accept myself, the easier it is for me to accept
the failings of others.
