Jesus always emulates the mercy He showed to the lepers. He always treats us with the same mercy He bestowed upon the lepers. For unlike the lepers, Jesus has given a promise to us, the promise of His Gospel. A very specific promise, made at our Baptism and repeated every time we encounter His gospel. His command to seek Him in His Word and in His Sacraments may seem to make Him more distant, but in truth, here are the places where Jesus draws closest to us. Thus Jesus is never distant from us, and His help never far from us, for every time we are sent toward His Word we are being sent to once again encounter Him. And like the lepers we don’t always find relief right away in our encounters with Jesus; we are often called upon to wait in faith. But also like the lepers relief and comfort do eventually come, in God’s time and in His way.