ILLUSTRATION… Ben Hur (p)
When ever I think of leprosy, I think of the 1959 movie Ben Hur. The character played by Ben Hur returns home after many years and eventually finds that his mother and sister contracted leprosy while in prison and now live a leper colony away from everyone else. They ask that he never be told that they are alive. They ask that he only remember them as their former selves. Ben Hur’s mother and sister were to be exiled from all contact with people, but as the story unfolds and concludes, they are healed by Jesus Christ. This movie illustrates the seriousness of leprosy in Jesus’ day and the horrible consequences.