Recently I was talking with someone who was ‘self-isolating.’  This is someone who was sick and removed themselves from their family and friends to be alone so as to not infect their loved ones.  How many times has this played over our communities?  Health care workers have left their own children in the care of others, so they won’t worry about affecting the health of their own children.  Of course, they are going to worry about them, and even the faintest sniffle or cough can feel like a devastating event.

When Julie and I are out on a walk around the neighborhood, people cross to the other side of the road.  If they don’t make the first move, then we’re crossing over.   People are being very mindful of social distancing.  Masks, gloves and all sorts of protection are in play these days.  We are feverishly washing our hands, and then slathering them with hand cream.  Stores are rationing cleaning supplies and paper goods. 

In the conversation with the quarantined mom- the talk went to “feeling like a leper.”  That made me think of Leprosy in Jesus’ time.   People kept more than 6 feet of distance from lepers in the New Testament.   If they came in contact with a leper, then it might very well be a death sentence.  At the least, they would be considered ‘unclean’ and have to rectify the issue with the religious authorities.  Lepers were cast aside and left on the margins.  There was little hope for a leper.  They were left to live in loveless isolation with other lepers.  It would be enough to strip you of all hope.  I imagine it was just lepers living with lepers with no hope for a cure or to see their families again.  They weren’t self-isolating for 14 days—it could be a life-sentence.

And this is the amazing thing—Jesus didn’t care.  Lepers didn’t touch anyone.  But Jesus reached out and touched them.  They felt the amazing touch and grace of Jesus.  They weren’t just made well—they were healed.  They were able to rejoin their families and go back to their jobs.  Most importantly, they were given hope!  Hope is a precious gift, and it can get people through the most difficult times.   

Let us live in Easter hope.  Because of Jesus we can have hope in what comes next.   Those living in the leper colonies were stripped of the great gift of hope—but Jesus offered them more than a touch.   He let them live into what was next with grace and hope.  

Jesus will surely let us live into the hope of what is next.  And we will do it with God’s grace!