Once there was a leper colony on the outskirts of a kingdom. The kingdom, which had been ruled by a tyrant, had then been filled to overflowing with poverty, addictions, all kinds of disease and sickness, and injustice. However, one day the rightful king returned and overthrew the tyrant. Then the new king established laws and boundaries that improved the economic conditions, health, and well-being of the entire kingdom.
There were still law-breakers who hated the king and his “strict” laws and policies. However, the formerly impoverished, sick, disabled, hurting, and afflicted people could finally receive hope, healing, and prosperity through the grace and growth opportunities that the king made available to all.
One great benefit that the king made available within the kingdom was the cure for leprosy. If the lepers would submit to the king’s leadership and thoroughly obey his instructions and purification rites for healing, then they could experience complete healing. Once a leper received healing, then he could re-enter society once again. Otherwise, the lepers were legally required to isolate themselves away from the population due to the deadly and highly contagious nature of their disease.
One day, a leper came out of the leper colony and demanded that he re-enter society. However, he did not receive healing yet and therefore did not have the king’s permission to do so. The leper thought the king was a tyrant and a liar. This leper did not believe that the king’s laws or punishments were just or fair. Furthermore, the leper concluded that he didn’t need a cure and that leprosy wasn’t a disease that other people needed to be afraid of.
Despite all the evidence and statistics about how leprosy negatively affected people’s health, this leper remained stubborn and proud. He was greatly offended by those “phobic” citizens who made them feel like outsiders. Sometimes he gave the king lip service, but he often harped on how backwards, outdated, and unfair the king’s laws were.
When the leper paraded himself through the city, the king’s soldiers arrested him, for the signs of contagious leprosy were all over his face and body. The man’s skin was rotting away and even his primarily facial features (including his nose and ears) were falling off. From his holding cell, the leper was finally brought before the judge.
The judge asked him why he didn’t follow the king’s laws about leprosy. To this, the leper spat at the judge as he railed about what a horribly inept and unjust system the judge and the king ran. A loving judge wouldn’t treat lepers like outsiders and keep them from experiencing the full rights of citizenship in the kingdom. Likewise, a good king wouldn’t reject anybody.
The judge asked the leper why he rejected the king’s cure for leprosy that the king had made available to all lepers. To this, the leper spat at the judge again, saying that there was no cure for leprosy. He tried it before and it didn’t work! The judge asked him if there were other lepers who no longer experienced the signs and symptoms of leprosy after they received the king’s cure and went through the king’s healing process and protocol.
Again, the leper scoffed with disdain at the “ignorant,” “arrogant presumption” of this judge. As far as this leper was concerned, there was no cure for leprosy. The leper changed the subject. If he already tried the king’s “cure” for years and it didn’t work, then it’s ridiculous that thousands of other lepers had been miraculously healed from leprosy by the king. Such reports must have been a false fabrication by the king’s citizens who were not really “lepers” in the first place and didn’t know what it was like to be a leper.
After the leper again rejected to follow the king’s protocol and policies regarding the containment and healing of leprosy, the judge made his verdict. The leper would be cast out of the city and be confined to the leper colony once more.
If ever the leper paraded himself into the city once more outside of the king’s leprosy recovery program and legal measures, then the leper would be sentenced to death for putting at risk the public health and safety of the kingdom’s citizens.
