Ways of the Old Testament

The Old Testament way was to exclude and to revile those who were sick, to dwell on punishment and just deserts. The way of our Lord was to accept, to touch, to pardon, to restore, to forgive. A number of well-known Christians of our own time have attracted attention from media for their selfless giving of time and compassion to the handicapped, sick and rejected. These faithful witnesses to God's love should inspire us to open our own hearts to society's rejects, to those beyond the pale, to the people who no one will care for. It is not a case of being trendy or fashionable. In caring for those whom others reject we are following Our Lord's example and challenging false judgments being made about the worth of our fellow humans who are all God's children, sick or well, handicapped or whole, sinners or righteous. The virtuous, complained to our Lord, "When did we see you sick and failed to help you? ". The Lord replied to them, " Truly I tell you, in as much as you did not do it to the least of my brothers, you did not do it to me". God challenges us to see him in the most unlikely, unappealing, unlikable, unacceptable and unlovable person we can possible conceive of meeting. Whoever you believe the lepers of our modern age to be, it is precisely those people to whom God calls us to show humanity towards which shows the love of christ.