In the 19th century, a Roman Catholic priest, father Damien was sent to minister to the lepers who had been quarantined on the island of Molokai in the Hawaiian chain. He was sent to serve these scorned and sickly people; these untouchables. But even though he tried for years to reach out to them with the love of Jesus Christ, as best he knew how, he never quite succeeded in connecting with these people in a way that led them to respond to his ministry. So, finally, he decided to give up. He sent word to the people on Oahu to send a boat for him and also to find someone else to take his place.
But on the Sunday he was scheduled to leave, as he stood there on the dock waiting for the boat to arrive, he happened to glance down at his hands and noticed several white spots. And in that moment, he suddenly realized that he, himself, had become a leper. This meant, of course, that he wouldn’t be able to take that boat back to Oahu, for now he also belonged in the leper colony. However, this isn’t the end of the story of Father Damien.
You see, when he left that dock, and slowly walked back up the hill to the little church he had tried so hard to serve, he suddenly discovered a church full of people. Somehow the word had spread, and they had finally come to hear their priest. That’s because he was no longer an outsider. He had become one of them.
(And so he stayed on at that leper colony for the rest of his life, touching thousands with the love of Jesus Christ…)
This is so much like the story of the Gospel – God became one of us through the person of Jesus Christ so that we could experience oneness with God.
Have a Great Day!
Related posts:
