Jesus healing lepers

simonpeter said:

Shalom,

Consider Jesus healing lepers ... we find this often in the Bible. Isn't there a deeper meaning to this? Leprosy was considered incurable at that time, and lepers a lost cause. Yet Jesus healed them as if suggesting that even the most hopeless had hope in God.

So basically what this means is that even the most wretched sinner will be healed, right? Everyone deserves forgiveness. God is for restorative justice, not retributive justice. He heals, doesn't punish.

Is this the lesson you've also learnt from Jesus healing the lepers?

Thanks,
Simon

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Yes, I agree.

I would also note that this call from Jesus was an impetus for Catholic hospitals and nuns to treat HIV-Aids when there was no cure. This was at a time when other heath professionals ran for the hills.

While one may dispute the absence of "retributive justice" in the canonical Gospels (e.g., Mt. 23 & 25), surely Jesus' public ministry emphasizes His compassion. The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost (like tax collector Zacchaeus).

Also worth noting regarding leprosy was (1) how it was not necessarily contracted on account of some particular "worse" sin in the diseased person (cf. Jn. 9, Lk. 13, Lev. 13, Job) and (2) how through ceremonial uncleanness it excluded--in effect ostracized--the diseased person from participating in the religious life of the Jewish community. Healing from leprosy (and attendant sacrifice) restored the diseased person to the religious community--or in the case of at least one "foreigner" Samaritan, to the community of Jesus' disciples, Lk. 17:11-19.

simonpeter said:

Shalom,

Consider Jesus healing lepers ... we find this often in the Bible. Isn't there a deeper meaning to this? Leprosy was considered incurable at that time, and lepers a lost cause. Yet Jesus healed them as if suggesting that even the most hopeless had hope in God.

So basically what this means is that even the most wretched sinner will be healed, right? Everyone deserves forgiveness. God is for restorative justice, not retributive justice. He heals, doesn't punish.

Is this the lesson you've also learnt from Jesus healing the lepers?

Thanks,
Simon

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Jesus came for the sick, those who are well aren't in need. But the whole Gospel native can be seen as sin as a diseases that Jesus heals, cures. More and more we are learning that sin is not seen as a crime and Jesus seen as God's prosecutor who finds you guilty and condemns you to hell.

You'll notice that when it comes to the healing ofepers Jesus often asks if they desire to be clean.

benedictaoo said:

JMore and more we are learning that sin is not seen as a crime and Jesus seen as God's prosecutor who finds you guilty and condemns you to hell.

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Please say more about this understanding.

mark46 said:

Please say more about this understanding.

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Ummm, what do you want me to say? It's Francis theme to his papacy. Mercy.