Tools For Healing Series

One of the great wars of all time was a war where all men were on the same side. The enemy was

the small pox virus. It made all other foes seem puny in comparison. One of the greatest dangers for

the Pilgrims and Puritans in coming to America, was this dreaded pox. They died in large numbers

from it, and they brought it to the Indians who had no immunity whatever, and tribes of 9,000 were

reduced to a few hundred by epidemics. Joel Shurkin in his book The Invisible Fire, traces the

awful, but awesome story of this battle.

In 1722, one of worse disasters in the history of Boston hit with a spread of small pox. So many

people died that the church bells never stopped ringing day or night. All businesses and public

meeting were banned. People were caught in a bind. If they were inoculated for the disease they

could get it and die. If they refused it they could get it and die. For decades this was the agonizing

decision people had to make in the colonies. Listen to this paragraph from the pen of Benjamin

Franklin in his Autobiography. "In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the

small-pox, taken in the common way. I long regretted bitterly, and still regret that I had not given it

to him by inoculation. This I mention for the sake of parents who omit that operation, on the

supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died under it; my example showing

that the regret may be the same either way, and that, therefore, the safer should be chosen."

Few if any wars in history created more misery than this war with an invisible but powerful

enemy. But the marvelous news is, by world wide cooperation, man was able to defeat this foe, and

eradicate it from the face of the earth. The last case reported was in 1977. Most of us don't even

know what small-pox is, because it is one of the major diseases that man has defeated.

This makes it all the more puzzling that man has not yet been able to eliminate one of

the oldest and most dreaded diseases-leprosy.

Leprosy is the only disease which is fully described in the Bible. We know it was common in

both the Old Testament and New Testament, but most of us think of it as an ancient disease of no

relevance to modern medicine. I have to admit it was a shock to me when a few years back I read a

book by the Christian doctor, Dr. Paul Brand, who operated on lepers in the United States. I never

dreamed there were leper colonies in the states, but there are, and there are hundreds of people with

leprosy in our nation. Most of the world's leprosy victims are in Asia and Africa, but they are also in

America.

The polite medical name for this disease is Hansen's disease. It was named after the

Scandinavian physician who in 1874 found the rod-shaped bacteria that caused leprosy. This

marked the first time a micro-organism was found to be the cause of a specific disease. Obviously

we cannot look at the vast history of this disease, but there are some facts we should have in our

awareness to get the big picture of this second disease the Great Physician conquers in the Gospel of

Mark. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 200 hundred known cases of leprosy inIsrael.

We need to see here that Jesus did not buy the age old prejudice that leprosy was a curse of God.

There are some Old Testament examples where God did judge people, like Mariam, by giving them

leprosy. But this has been blown out of all proportion, so that all lepers have been seen as under the

curse of God. This has led to all kinds of unbelievable prejudice and cruelty. Jesus treated them just like

any other people with diseases. Death is one of God's judgments too: Are we conclude that all who

die are cursed of God, and to be treated as such?

The facts are, leprosy is a disease like all other diseases. It has a known cause, which is bacteria.

Jesus did not discriminate against those with this disease. He freely healed lepers when He met

them. We have no example of a disease that Jesus refused to heal. He did not pick and chose, or

discriminate against anyone on the basis of their disease. Jesus was a general practitioner, and He

accepted every patient who came to Him. He never refused a patient, nor did He ever refer one. He

handled this leprosy with the same love and swiftness as He did the fever of Peter's mother-in-law.