Ministering To The Sick

I want to begin our message today with two quotes by Mother Teresa; and here is the first quote: “The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted.”(1) In her humanitarian efforts in Calcutta, Mother Teresa saw a lot of rejection and hopelessness, as very few people would reach out to help and show they cared. One reason why people might fail to help the sick and needy is because they are afraid of the unsanitary living conditions; they fear catching an illness and getting sick themselves.

This observation leads to her second quote: “One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody.”(2) People can become so afraid of catching an illness or disease, that they will stay clear of anyone who has an infirmity, never befriending that individual, and therefore never demonstrating much-needed love and compassion. In this manner, people will miss an opportunity to make an eternal impact in someone’s life, and they fail to become “something” to “someone.” They instead go through life in their own little bubble being “nobody” to “anybody.”

In our message this morning, we will see how Jesus challenged the people of His day to realize that caring for the spiritual needs of others far supersedes our own selfish plans, or our desire for self-preservation; and what we will learn can be applied to how we treat people today who have a strange, frightening, or misunderstood illness. And having just come out of a worldwide pandemic, maybe this message will resonate with some of us today.

Jesus Allowed the Sick to Draw Near (vv. 1-2)

1 When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. 2 And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

So, we read here that a leper approached Jesus worshipping Him and asking for His help. It was considered risky business for someone to be in close proximity to a leper, for leprosy is a contagious and infectious disease. It is “characterized by disfiguring skin sores, nerve damage, and progressive debilitation.”(3) Body parts “can become numb or diseased as a result of infection; infection results in tissue loss, so fingers and toes become shortened and deformed as the cartilage is absorbed into the body.”(4)

Before modern medicine, leprosy was a terminal illness and greatly feared; therefore, the leper was to be kept at a distance, so the disease could not be spread to others. Old Testament law prescribed strict guidelines for handling those with leprosy. In Leviticus 13:45-46, we read, “Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his mustache, and cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.”

We learn from these verses in Leviticus how the leper was considered unclean, or highly contagious, and this fact could not be emphasized enough. In these two verses alone, the word “unclean” was mentioned five times. We read in Easton’s Bible Dictionary that the leper had “to warn passers-by to keep away from him . . . nor could he speak to any one, or receive or return a salutation, since in the East this involves an embrace.”(5)

If a leper was not supposed to draw near to anyone or even speak with them, then this man was making an illegal move, which portrays his great desperation to find a cure for his illness. We should also note that by allowing this man to approach Him, Jesus was challenging the social norm (or the six-foot rule) of His day. He should have warned the leper to keep away. We read over in Mark chapter 1, verse 40, “Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, ‘If You are willing, You can make me clean’.” The leper had to be in close proximity in order to kneel down before Jesus.

The fear of contracting a terminal illness is not uncommon today. Take, for example, the way people behave around those who carry the HIV virus, that when contracted can lead to the AIDS disease. A study was conducted back in 1999 by members of the Psychology faculty at the University of California at Davis concerning how people feel and react toward those who have AIDS.(6) Based on the findings acquired from three national telephone surveys, here is what they concluded:

Many Americans still express fear and discomfort about people with AIDS. In 1999, thirty percent of those polled [stated they] would feel uncomfortable having their children attend school with another child who has AIDS, and twenty-two percent [stated they] would feel uncomfortable around an office coworker with AIDS.(7)