My newest co-worker had just recovered from a probable case of COVID-19. He had followed all the necessary protocol plus an extra day before coming back into the station. He was only going to be there for a very short time because he, like millions of others, was working from home.
After a few minutes of fear I wondered how I would want him to treat me if I was in his shoes. I felt shame and guilt for my thoughts and feelings. I went out of the studio and back to him to ask if he wanted to share his story on the air. He said he didn't want to at first because he felt like he'd be branded with a modern day scarlet letter, but then reconsidered because he felt if his story could help people in this time then it would be selfish not to tell it. So he did tell it as we sat across the table, and I am glad we did.
Those who have had COVID-19 and those who have been knowingly exposed to it are feeling like modern day lepers. I know that these people have to quarantine themselves for the common good. My family and I did that after my co-worker shared that he was sick. I'm not asking for people with the virus and those exposed to the virus not to follow the guidance of authorities.
But this will end. The season of the COVID-19 crisis will end and we must start thinking now about how we will treat people.
In Jesus' day lepers were common. They were ostracized from the community because of the contagious disease that they had and the authorities were right to do this. The book of Leviticus reads like a manual for the priests who were the Department of Public Health of their day. But that all being said, these lepers were lonely and starving for human connection and physical touch.
There are several stories about Jesus and His kindness to lepers, but I want to look at one account in the Gospel of Dr. Luke.
"While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, 'Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean!'
Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man, 'I am willing,' he said, 'Be clean!' And immediately the leprosy left him." Luke 5:12-13
First observation, no one but Jesus could do this. It was against the Levitical Law to touch a leper because leprosy was extremely contagious. When we touch uncleanliness, we catch it. But Jesus did not break the Levitical Law because He has contagious purity. When He touched the leper the leper caught Christ's cleanness, not the other way around. So, this story should give us a sense of wow about Jesus, not permission to disobey public health ordinances.
Secondly, the leper didn't need to be touched to be healed. Jesus healed people with words, with mud and from a distance. Jesus didn't need to touch him. So, why did Christ touch the leper? Because this man had a need to be touched by a human, he had a desire to have his humanity recognized in some skin-to-skin contact. Jesus touched him as an example to us, He touched the leper to show us how to treat the outcast of society.
The COVID-19 crisis will end. I don't know when and I think we've got a ways to go before it's over, but I do know it will end. When it ends how will we treat people? Will we love people or will we treat them as 21st Century lepers? Will we embrace those desperate for human contact? Will we lead our communities into acceptance of people or fear?
Those old enough to remember the HIV/AIDS crisis have a road map. For years there were PSA's on TV and radio helping us understand that we could hug and touch infected people. For years we had to be encouraged to step out of fear and into the kind of acceptance that Jesus invites us into. Will the Church lead this time or will we lag behind?
This crisis will end, but when it ends will we allow scarlet letters to be shed? When we encounter recovered patients will we treat them with imago dei dignity?
Ponder this for yourself so you can be prepared for what's coming later, today.
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