If You Will    An acquaintance described everything as “ugly.” If someone spilled milk at breakfast, it was “ugly.” If someone held up a bank, it was “ugly.” Apparently, the word “ugly” comes from a Scandinavian source that means something frightful or horrible in appearance. The word has softened somewhat to mean something very unpleasant to look at, unsightly, or repulsive in appearance.
   On Jesus’ first preaching tour through Galilee, St. Mark said, “And a leper came to him, beseeching him, and kneeling, and saying to him, ‘If you are willing, you are able to cleanse me.’” (1:40) At the time, “leprosy” was used to describe several diseases that manifested in changes in the skin; therefore, they were visible and often involved seeping sores. Under Jewish law, anyone suffering from leprosy had to leave society and warn anyone who approached him that he was unclean. It was a form of living death. While there is no mention of women lepers in the New Testament, the disease was no respecter of person or gender, and it was incurable. Therefore, it became a metaphor for “sin”; it was ugly.
   This story is in all three synoptic Gospels, though Mark gives more details. St. Matthew says this healing took place after the Sermon the Mount, but not at the end of Jesus first preaching tour (Matt. 8:1-4), and Luke said the disease covered the man’s whole body (Luke 5:12).
   In his desperate circumstances, the unnamed man had not abandoned faith and hope. There’s no information about how he came to know Jesus, but he laid his need before the Teacher. There was faith in his request—“If you desire, you can.”
   One enduring lesson from this story: regardless of how “ugly” the situation is, one can bring it to the Master. Directory