I am a leper...

"A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees,“If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man.“I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning:“See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere. "

So, recently I have been thinking of the so called untouchables who live on the fringes of our communities in today's time. I'm thinking that not much has changed in regard to our response and treatment of the marginalized and truly least of these. In the time of Jesus, leprosy was a terrible disease to have. It was disfiguring and debilitating both physically and psychologically. People with leprosy, in effect, became their disease and lived lives as victims thinking they were being punished by God. If you had leprosy you were doomed to live in exile away from friends, family, and your church. Everything that could provide you support and encouragement was taken away and you were left alone...literally. However, all that changed one day when one totally audacious leper approached Jesus and dared to ask to be healed. In these five short verses in Mark there is a lot happening there that changes everything in both this lepers life, people in his community and in the healing ministry of Jesus. In different translations of the Bible it tells us what the response of Jesus was to this leper. Some say Jesus was moved with compassion and another says he was moved with pity and sympathy. I like best what the New International Version says...”Jesus was indignant”. I think this word, indignant, may have perfectly well summed up how Jesus may have reacted...”feeling, characterized by, or expressing strong displeasure at something considered unjust, offensive, insulting, or base”. There were many reasons for Jesus to be indignant here aside from essentially being dared to heal this leper. He was indignant at the system that denied this leper and He was indignant at the disease and the evil it represented. However, the point is that Jesus was both indignant and felt compassion at the same time. I think about this in relation to someone suffering with a life threatening disfiguring disease or mired in the grip of extreme poverty. We can certainly be angry at the disease or the situation and yet simultaneously feel extreme compassion for the victim. We can be very angry and also have righteous indignation at the oppressive evil and injustice in the world and because of it be moved with compassion just as Jesus was. So...ok, we've got compassion...great, but now what? Well, now comes the next critical piece...reaching out our hands and... touching. Although, we have read and heard many times of how stunning and radical it was for Jesus to touch this leper, I'm still not sure we get the full impact of what happened there that day. In that one touch...in that instant...the world was turned upside down as one of the strictest laws of the day was shattered. In effect, Jesus and the leper made an exchange...they traded places. I am at a loss to think of anything that Jesus could have done more upsetting, more revolutionary, more reverberating or...more loving. This was the essence of the restoration that comes by being loved by Jesus and touched in the most powerful way possible...receiving grace and redemption and healing both physically and emotionally. Our illnesses that we bear are inextricably linked together...both the physical and the emotional. So many times we pray for healing of a physical ailment or condition but neglect the emotional component. If you have ever suffered from a chronic disease or condition you understand that sometimes your identity becomes that disease. In effect, you become cancer, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, homelessness, poverty, or anything else that robs you of living fully. It becomes your identity and we live our lives as victims. The problem with that, of course, is we never have to accept responsibility for our lives or any decisions affecting them. Jesus was the master of looking beyond the obvious physical infirmities and speaking healing into our souls. Who are those that are like lepers in our communities? What is our own personal and our churches relationship to such people that have been marginalized.? Are there people whom we wouldn't dare touch with the proverbial ten foot pole? Say yes here...because there are. Would Jesus still want to touch them? Do you ever feel like this daring risk taking leper? Or would you rather suffer with your infirmities afraid to ask Jesus to heal your brokenness? Who do we treat like lepers in our communities? Who is shut out and excluded from a loving community? What is our churches response and relationship to such people? I think we know the answer to that one, right? Are there people whom we wouldn't want to touch, even if we could? Have we ever experienced Jesus like this leper? How has Jesus healed and restored us to wholeness? Are we ever the Levitical priests in this story? Are our churches the "them" who need a witness about the power and authority of Jesus? I know...a lot of questions...Answers? Just curious...