We Fail to Trust His Word
In biblical times one of the most feared diseases was leprosy. In modern times leprosy is easily treated but not so before the twentieth century. Leprosy is highly contagious and in biblical times no one wanted to come in contact with a person who had leprosy. So, in Jewish tradition a person afflicted with the disease was required to cry out “unclean, unclean” whenever anyone who was not infected with the disease came into their general area. That would warn people not to come into contact with the diseased individual.
Leprosy was feared because of its results. Leprosy, as the disease progressed, would disfigure the body of the one with the disease. To illustrate how disfiguring this disease can be I will show a very quick clip from the movie, “Kingdom of Heaven.” This movie is set during the crusade period. The king of Jerusalem has just died from leprosy and his sister removes his mask so that she can look at him one last time.
As you can see the disease was potentially devastating. How did this happen? Leprosy adversely affects the nervous system. It gradually numbs a person’s extremities to the point at which pain is no longer felt. Pain serves a purpose. Lepers are numb to pain, which means they don’t know when their hand is burning or when they have just hit their thumb with a hammer.
More horrible than physical leprosy is spiritual numbness – the inability to recognize our sin and how it harms us and the inability to recognize God’s grace and how it benefits us. Sin sears our consciences, leading us away from life. The result is spiritual death.
