Can we get inside this story,

Try to think as lepers thought?

Totally despised, rejected;

Life for them was worse than naught.

Lepers were unclean, disfigured,

Outcasts, worthy of disdain;

They were trash, not even human,

Their’s a life of constant pain.

So they shouted from a distance,

Too unclean to come too near;

“Jesus, Lord, You must have mercy;

Our whole life is full of fear!”

When he saw them he responded,

Not as one who did not care;

“Go and let the priests inspect you;

Throw away your deep despair.”

Jesus and his way of living

Dares us seek in every way

To be gentle and be gracious

To the ‘lepers’ of today.

We can listen to this story;

All its lessons we can learn;

It has love and great compassion;

It has love and great concern.

Tune: Beethoven’s Hymn of Joy