By Fr Luiz Ruscillo

“A leper now came up and bowed low in front of Jesus. ‘Sir’, he said, ‘if you want to, you can cure me.’ Jesus stretched out His hand, touched him and said, ‘Of course I want to! Be cured!’ And his leprosy was cured at once.” (Mt8, 2-3)

The Gospels are full of such incidents. Everywhere He went Jesus cured the sick, cast out devils and preached the Good News. The word which best sums up all three of these deeds is ‘healing’.

While we can glimpse the beauty of our world and the goodness of our fellow human beings, we can see all too clearly the suffering and injustice that is also there. It is as if creation itself has become leprous. Leprosy cuts the sufferer off from other human beings in the worst way possible. The leper is ugly to onlookers and kept at a safe distance. The real person, underneath the decaying skin, is trapped. Imagine never experiencing the touch of another person.

There is so much in our world that has become unsightly or untouchable. Even if it does not show on the outside, our broken-ness can ensnare us. Yet more common is the impulse to keep at a safe distance so as not to be contaminated by others. The result is that we become fearful, trapped and distant.

When Jesus cures the leper He reaches out and touches him, skin to skin. The result is not just a cure but healing. What previously seemed to be insurmountable barriers are immediately torn down. Once we grasp the full meaning of what it means for the Son of God to be born of Mary, then we should expect healing of the sort that we read in the Gospels. He took our flesh, He took our skin and He embraced us. He reached out and touched a leprous world; and He healed it.

In so doing Jesus brought freedom. This freedom is not a simple curing of disease. It is the healing of everything that entraps us, our guilt, our failings and the fear of being hurt or abused by others.

Jesus did not cure the sick simply to make a splash in the local news. In fact on many occasions he gave orders that such exploits should not be reported. Miraculous therapies are few and far between among modern Christians. Is it because we would miss the point; see the cure and miss the healing?

Jesus’ cures went side by side with casting out devils and preaching the Good News. Modern medicine can cure many of our physical ailments and this should still be seen as a gift from God. To have our devils cast out we need to trust in the One who was happy to be called our brother and share our flesh, blood and world. The greatest healing of all is to have ears that can hear and rejoice in the Good News He brings. This is the penicillin, which is really needed today. If we could find a way of writing such a prescription for the world’s ills then we would be instruments of, and witnesses to, a remarkable, global recovery.