And at his descent from the mountain large crowds followed him. And look: A leper approached and bowed down to him, saying, “Lord, if you wish, you are able to cleanse me.” And stretching out a hand he touched him, saying, “I wish it; be cleansed.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed away. And Jesus says to him, “See to it that you tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
And on his entry into Capernaum a centurion approached him, imploring him And saying, “Lord, my servant has been laid low in my house, a paralytic, suffering terribly.” He says to him, “I shall come and heal him.” But in reply the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should come in under my roof; but only declare it by a word and my servant will be healed. For I am also a man under authority, having soldiers under me, and to this one I say, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” And, hearing this, Jesus marveled and said to those following him, ”Amen, I tell you, I have found no one in Israel with such faith. Moreover, I tell you that many will come from East and West and will recline at table alongside Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of the heavens; But the sons of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the darkness outside; there will be weeping and grinding of teeth there.” And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; as you have had faith, so let it come to pass for you.” And in that hour the servant was healed.
And coming into Peter’s house Jesus saw Peter’s mother-in-law laid out and in a fever; And he touched her hand and the fever left her; and she arose and waited on him.
And when evening arrived they brought to him many who were possessed by demons; and he exorcized the spirits by word, and healed all those who were suffering; Thus was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “He took away our infirmities and bore away our maladies.”
But, seeing a crowd surrounding him, Jesus gave orders to depart, across to the far shore. And one scribe approached and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you may go.” And Jesus says to him, “The foxes have lairs and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place where he may rest his head.”
Matthew 8:1-20
The New Testament: A Translation, by David Bentley Hart
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“The Doctor Came to Save Lives. The Co-op Board Told Him to Get Lost.”
By Jim Dwyer
The New York Times
April 3, 2020
Word document above.
READERS’ COMMENTS:
I live in upstate NY and my neighbors are shunning me because I allowed a couple from NYC to move into my vacant house. When a friend told me a little more than weeks ago that his daughter and her family in Brooklyn were looking for a place to go because her husband is immune-compromised, I offered my house. I had moved in with my elderly parents to help them out a month ago, so the house was available. I was happy to help. My neighbors, not so much. They have let me know they are furious with me that I have allowed this small family to “infect” the neighborhood and have told me I cannot allow my house to be used by “outsiders” without permission from the county health department. There is no such requirement. Nonetheless, I have been contacted by the health department and the police. In the meantime, the couple has been practicing social distancing just like everyone else and for 2 weeks they haven’t had contact with anyone. They haven’t even left the house except to take their small children for walks. As for my neighbors, it’s true that hard times highlight the flaws in people’s characters. They are not the people I thought they were.
COMMENT by LibertyN
That crises bring out the best in humans is largely a myth. History has shown us, time and again, that it is only the very few who step forward for the collective good. The mass of us typically withdraw into ourselves when perceiving a life or death situation, scrambling to save our own lives, not infrequently at the peril of those close to us. That is what most of us do when confronted with the threat of catastrophic destruction. Heroic acts get the lion’s share of public attention, giving us the false impression that there are many who behave so generously. But they are, in fact, so few as to represent very much less than 1% of us. We rarely see ourselves as we are, but as we would like ourselves to be. We are most content when we applaud the very few who do the dirty and dangerous work for us, as if our cheering somehow compensates for our own cowardice. Those who daily put their lives on the line for the rest of us don’t need our applause. They need our intervention and collaboration. Sadly, as the crisis worsens — for it surely will — The fewer of us who will be inclined to venture out of our cocoons, but will in fact burrow even deeper.
COMMENT by citizennotconsumer
This story manages to tell a lot more about the present situation and what’s actually happening than all the analysis and detail being provided about the coronavirus epidemic by the press. A crisis such as a pandemic brings out magnanimity and heroism. Along with callousness in individuals who only care about their own safety — and not a whit about others.
COMMENT by Roger W. Smith
— posted by Roger W. Smith
April 3, 2020