The Doctor's Cure for the Diseased City

A Story

Once upon a time a terrible disease was destroying a great and beautiful city. Everyone there had the disease; they suffered horribly and were dying. Strangely some people didn’t like to admit it, so they pretended they were fine and tried to cover up their symptoms. Others thought that if they changed their lifestyle they might get better. But the disease was too deep for that. Still others knew they were in a very serious and dangerous situation, and they longed for a cure.

There was hope. A great Doctor had the cure for this terrible disease. He was a deeply compassionate man: he suffered enormously - far more than anyone with the disease - in order to get the cure.

A few years earlier, this cure had reached some people in another infected town, on a far away island. The Doctor was on a mission - busy sending cured people as messengers to all kinds of places. The Doctor asked a boy to go as a messenger from the island to the Diseased City, full of dying people. So he sent him to explain the simple cure, which he had received, and which would save their lives.

There were just a few people in the Diseased City who had already been told about the cure and, wonderfully, had been healed. But they urgently needed help to spread the good news of the cure.

The messenger arrived and the size of the city was overwhelming. There was just so much need. Everyone needed help. Where would he start? His heart bled for those who wouldn’t even admit the seriousness of their situation. They greeted him politely in the street, but weren’t interested in why he had come. He knew how sad the Doctor was for these people, and it made him very sad too. The Doctor’s cure was their only hope, but they wouldn’t even listen.

However, in time, rumour spread about the message - the good news of the Doctor’s cure. These people didn’t pretend they were fine, but admitted their desperate need for help.

It was immediately clear that the only way the cure could reach more people in the city would be if those who had been healed also went to tell other people, multiplying the messengers. The Doctor had even told the boy that this was his strategy. It was urgent, not just because people were dying, but because there were confusing messages out there. Sadly there were some people in the city who claimed to have the cure, but what they said wasn’t what the Doctor had said. Even though their message sometimes sounded similar to the Doctor’s cure, it was so mixed up with things that were either very misleading or simply wrong, that their hearers were in a very dangerous position all over again. They thought they were being healed but many of them were being led astray and were still dying.

So the messenger joined forces with those in the city who had been cured and who humbly and gratefully listened to the Doctor’s message. They recognised the importance of communicating it clearly and accurately. Only then would their fellow people be safe and well. They worked hard together to make sure that what they passed on to others really was what the Doctor had said, paying careful attention to his message. And wonderfully, it worked! Of course it did. The Doctor didn’t suffer for nothing! More people eagerly came to hear, more were cured, and more of them went out to spread the good news, truthfully and joyfully, bringing life to many.