Cleansing or Healing? Friday after Epiphany – Luke 5:12-16
Leprosy was the most terrible disease in Jesus’ day. It included a variety of different serious skin diseases & was not limited to what is today called “leprosy” or Hansen’s disease. It was greatly feared as it would cause grotesque disfigurement & sometimes death. The law forbade a leper to enter any walled city. They could not touch another person and no one would chance touching them. Their appearance was ghastly: dirty ragged clothing, dishevelled hair, a handkerchief over their mouth, running sores and missing body parts. The custom then was to exclude lepers from normal society.