Let’s start by discussing what I believe to be the truth behind the meme—at least, the only truth that I can find in it. And that's the fact that a person's soul is more important than his body (aka his mortal life). Jesus most certainly did preach that his followers should be willing to risk their lives for the salvation of others. It's a fact that's completely at odds with our current culture. Society proclaims that a long life for everyone is the ultimate goal, and most Christians will reject this because of the Bible's clear teaching. However, the people in the New Testament didn't have Zoom. They didn't have personal protective equipment. They didn't know anything about germ theory (with the exception of Jesus, presumably). So Jesus coming into contact with lepers was not only a symbolic act for us to show love to all at the expense of our physical health, but it was also a necessity. There was no other way to minister to these unfortunate people. That's just not the case today. If we're being honest, which of these two options would more often lead to a lost chance at ministering and spreading God's love and Good News: wearing a mask or not wearing a mask. Which one would be more likely to provoke fear, or at least standoffishness? Maybe that's different in different cultures, but I can definitely tell you which one it would be in my neck of the woods.

Now, let's move on to the first debatable aspects. The first one is this: did the Jesus of the Bible act in a way that would have backed up the memes claim? The example used was the fact that he willingly came into contact with lepers on multiple occasions in order to minister and show love. Okay, yes. But he didn't just shake their hands and then turn around and shake someone else's hand. In most cases, he would heal the leper physically (leper, by the way, was the word for any number of diseases of the flesh), so there was no risk of communicating the disease to someone else. He did this in order to heal them spiritually by legitimizing his divinity (which he did so almost begrudgingly because humans require proof instead of having faith). Also, he was (is) God. Do you think God had any chance of communicating disease in the first place? But what about his disciples? Well, I actually don't know of any instance where any of them actually touched lepers. If I'm missing it, please let me know, but to my knowledge, none of them did. Why? Because lepers had leprosy! And neither God nor Jesus said, "Perform this act in my name and nothing bad will come of it." Now, that's not to say if God did make that command that it shouldn't be done. I mean, God works through us, so there was nothing to stop a disciple from healing a leper in God's name. But, as far as I'm aware, there are no instances of anyone other than Jesus knowingly coming into contact with someone with a communicable disease.

Also, we're comparing leprosy to an invisible, airborne virus. The first is easily detectible. The second is a wolf among the sheep. Social distancing and PPE are our best defense against it in order to save lives—to show love and respect for others. Jesus hugged lepers in order to show the legalists of his time that love was more important than self-preservation. But he didn't do so at any risk to anyone else. Doing so would have been at direct odds to his goal. Every person is a unique child of God. In most cases (not all, since there are certainly times when the Holy Spirit specifically calls people to buck normal conventions for a specific goal), if we go hug a bunch of strangers without PPE, we're not spreading love, we're spreading fear, and potentially disease.

And lastly (and most importantly!), Jesus at no point taught us to use his name in defense of political motivations, or out of fear. He called out the Pharisees because they were a direct affront to God's rules and regulations, because they were distorting the Word. But not once did he condemn a Roman soldier for oppressing his people. In fact, he proclaimed, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's." Our world is corrupt, and that includes our leaders. They seek all sorts of selfish things, but as long as they're not infringing on our religious rights or trying to normalize sin, there's no Biblical precedent that we should use God or Jesus to condemn them. That's not our purpose on earth.

So what is our purpose? As I said earlier, it's to show love. First, to love God with every fiber of our being, and second to love our neighbors as ourselves. Posting divisive memes on Facebook isn't the best way to do that, and engaging in debates over these memes on a public forum probably isn't effective, either. If you don't believe you should socially distance or wear a mask for whatever reason, it's not a topic that needs to be shouted from the mountaintops. It's one for two or three friends to speak about in love… over a beer (j/k… kind of). That way, it won't cause others to stumble and form erroneous opinions about "those Christians" they saw arguing on Facebook without having all the information. And aside from the obvious, the main reason I believe this is because Jesus hated crowds. Yes, it's true. He often spoke to groups of hundreds and thousands of hungry followers, but in each of those instances, he "retreated" to a quiet place to either commune with God or to speak more personally to those hungry enough to seek him out. He loved connecting with people on a personal level, and that's hard to do when preaching to thousands.

Sometimes it's difficult to imagine what Jesus would do in our current world. And this fact is revealed in the original claim at the beginning of this post that Jesus "wouldn't" have condoned these things instead of "Jesus doesn't condone them." Why is this claim being made? Is it with a heart of love, in an effort to show compassion and spread forgiveness? Or is it with a heart of frustration and fear of losing civil liberties. The people of Jesus's time were oppressed in a thousand ways, and yet, not once did he tell them to speak out against the government for their earthly freedoms. He is the Way, the truth, and the life. Our goal is to topple sin, not governments.

So, as for me, I'll do what I can to live a life mirroring Jesus's. If I hug a stranger, it'll be with a mask on. If I speak to a crowd, I'll do it at a bit of a distance. And if I feel the Holy Spirit telling me to forsake these precautions in order to minister to someone, I'll do it. But until then, I'll continue to spread his Word without spreading disease. Simple as that.