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A recent motion picture, The Elephant Man, tells the heart-rending story of a human genetic accident, Mr. John Merrick, who lived in England in the latter part of the nineteenth century. He was raised as a sideshow freak, repulsive to look at and of value to his owner only for the money earned from his display. He was treated as subhuman, incapable of civilized human development.
John Merrick was befriended by a physician who not only wanted to study his condition, but also believed that a sensitive spirit lived in his distorted flesh. He sought to assimilate Merrick into society but most people were slow to accept this. There is a poignant scene in the film in which Merrick is pursued by a group of taunters and cornered in a public restroom. As the crowd presses upon him he cries out, "I am not an animal; I am a man!"
The Elephant Man is a story of human ignorance and fear and of the triumph of the spirit. Much of Leviticus is the same story of ignorance and fear. The treatment of lepers is a case in point. But always in the darkness we can see a light. We need only read on until we come to those words which Jesus took and applied to all people, even the John Merricks, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Leviticus 19:18)
- Lincoln
A recent motion picture, The Elephant Man, tells the heart-rending story of a human genetic accident, Mr. John Merrick, who lived in England in the latter part of the nineteenth century. He was raised as a sideshow freak, repulsive to look at and of value to his owner only for the money earned from his display. He was treated as subhuman, incapable of civilized human development.
John Merrick was befriended by a physician who not only wanted to study his condition, but also believed that a sensitive spirit lived in his distorted flesh. He sought to assimilate Merrick into society but most people were slow to accept this. There is a poignant scene in the film in which Merrick is pursued by a group of taunters and cornered in a public restroom. As the crowd presses upon him he cries out, "I am not an animal; I am a man!"
The Elephant Man is a story of human ignorance and fear and of the triumph of the spirit. Much of Leviticus is the same story of ignorance and fear. The treatment of lepers is a case in point. But always in the darkness we can see a light. We need only read on until we come to those words which Jesus took and applied to all people, even the John Merricks, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Leviticus 19:18)
- Lincoln
