Summary: The account is short and it brings us a reminder of life in the pre-scientific world. "As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, 'Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!'" For centuries there were people who were afflicted with all sorts of diseases and conditions that today, with gratitude to the scientific and medical community, no one ever need fear again. The drama that unfolds today is confirmation of the strength of fear. Here are ten souls, walking at a distance away from the main road as they were bound to do by law because of their condition. These were people who were born with real hopes and dreams-they once walked with purpose and meaning with their peers, and now-due to the accident of being in some place or other where they contracted this disease, their lives were as good as over. Leprosy was the most feared disease, as it removed one from living one's life in community, while it tore at the body, causing infection and mutilation. These were people, real people whose health and hopes made them beg on the fringes. No cure awaited them, and fear of contagion preceded them on their death-march around civilization. Jewish law was very precise-lepers could not come within a proscribed distance of someone who was "clean." Well into the Middle Ages, people with leprosy even had to wear special clothing, shake bells or shout the word, "unclean" ahead of them as they walked a distance away from the main road so that they would not come into contact with the un-afflicted.
