The parents and their five children had a skin disease. As a child, I saw them in Church and on the street, at the fresh market, and in school. Their skin had cracks all over. Their skin challenge was reported on national news and became known to the entire country. As a result, a house was built for them within the city limits. I always thought about how difficult it must be to live in that condition. I see the children, now with their own children, when I visit my hometown.

This past week as I reflected on today’s first reading and gospel, I remembered this family. Being a leper in Israel was difficult. The illness not only prevented a person from participating in worship but also made him an outcast. People would not touch a leper. However, the Lord touches him when the leper asks the Lord to make him clean.

Early in his ministry, when the Lord healed people, he asked them not to tell others about the miracle because he did not want to gain rapid fame and get himself into trouble with his enemies before the appointed time. Still, people could not help but make their miracles public. The publicity generated by the leper prompted the Lord to leave the cities and stay in the deserted places. He and the leper, in fact, traded places.

Leprosy in these stories symbolizes sin. The leper represents humanity, all of us who are under the power of sin. And sin sometimes takes us out of the community. The Lord, the sinless one, came to touch us, he assumed our human nature, to make us clean. On the cross, he traded places with us. He, the guiltless, died instead of us, the guilty, to provide the opportunity for our eternal life. Thanks be to God for sending us his beloved Son for our salvation.