We are now entering into the sixth week of the Great and Holy Lent. Here we see that Jesus heals a blind man who was blind from birth.

We are now in the fifth week of the Great and Holy Lent. The Holy Church ascribes the Gospel of Luke 13: 10-17. Here we see that a woman who had a “spirit of infirmity” for eighteen years, that is, was bent over and could not walk straight, was brought to the synagogue where Jesus was teaching. 

We are now entering the fourth week of the Great and Holy Lent and the Healing Gospel that is ascribe to us is taken from Matthew 15: 21-28. Here, we see that Jesus, the first healing-evangelist, is ministering in the area of Tyre and Sidon. There, a woman from the region of Canaan, pleads with Jesus to have mercy on her daughter who is severely-demon possessed. At this point we would expect the narrative to move in the direction where Jesus immediately heals the daughter by seeing the faith that the mother had, like that of the four friends of the paralytic (Mark 2:1-12). But the narrative, takes a turn for the worst, or so it seems.

The Gospel Reading today, which is the third Sunday of the Great and Holy Lent, we encounter a paralytic (a person unable to walk). In this narrative, the paralytic is carried by four friends, by way of the rooftop, in the house were Jesus’ is preaching and lowered down into his presence. Jesus, witnessing the faith of the four friends, (and that of the paralytic) forgives the paralytic’s sins. The Pharisees and Jewish elite that were present questioned Jesus on how He could forgive his sins, for only God can forgive sins. Jesus perceiving in their heart their evil intent, not only forgave him of his sins but healed him. The crowd in astonishment could not believe what they were seeing.

Leprosy was a disease that no one wanted to contract. Indeed, the disease was contagious, so in the time of Christ, if someone contracted leprosy, they would be quarantined far away from civilization. The disease itself was in a way, disgusting. The smell of rotting flesh was a distinct feature of a leper. No one would want to be near a leper for the sheer fact that he or she smelled bad. Further, contact with such people would mean contracting the disease. This was in some way a preventive method for the public at large; however, despite society’s good intentions to protect the health of the public, the lepers we outcastes, uncared for, rejected, unwanted and treated worse than animals. Imagine how a leper felt. Although they had rotting flesh, sores, and warts consuming their body, they were still human beings, born in the Image and Likeness of God. It is likely that despair and depression were an integral part of a leper’s psychological makeup. This is basically the predicament of the leper that Jesus encountered in today’s Gospel Reading, taken from Luke 5:12-16.