Fr Marco Lazzaron
he condition of lepers was terrible back then—more than it is now—because today it’s considered just an illness. In the time of Jesus, beyond having no cures and being isolated, the lepers were considered as outcasts, punished by God, as if their condition was the consequence of some grave sin. Because of this, they were excluded even from the religious world, which considered them as impure.
But today, who is the leper? Anyone who, for some reason, feels rejected or even just is in fear of being rejected—and so, in a certain way, all of us, sooner or later have that experience in our lives. So, it’s important to put ourselves in their shoes in order to understand this Gospel.
Sending them to the priests was like telling them they could consider themselves healed, because it was the priests who declared you impure when the disease appeared, but they were also the ones who gave you a certificate equivalent to our recovery certifi cate, (almost like what happened to us during COVID!)
On their way to the priest they are already cleansed, forgiven, loved. For us, should work the same: when we feel accepted, loved, and forgiven we feel good, we should notice the intervention of God in our lives. Many healings happen through an experience of forgiveness and love: from feeling unloved to feeling loved, from being stressed to being at peace.
Perhaps he doesn’t even go to the priests to ask for permission to re-enter society anymore—because he no longer cares. He’s already found a new society: the Christian community, where he can live even as a leper, because there he feels loved and welcomed.
The first condition to fulfill this Gospel in our everyday life, is to never judge or reject anyone. Jesus loves and welcomes me—indeed, all of us!
What about the other nine, for them it’s just a bad story that’s over and immediately forgotten. But for one of them, it’s the beginning of a beautiful new adventure that will lead him to say: “Happy fault!” If I had not been a leper, I would never have discovered God’s love and I never would have thought to follow Him. I need to discover my sins, my leper, to recognize that we need God in order to be healed. Jesus did not come for the healthy and for the sick and give his life as a ransom for many. And so, Lord, thank you! Have a good Sunday.