excuse me...for getting in your way...

“What gives you the right to look at me with disdain and talk to me like I don't matter?”... “Who in the world do you think you are to dismiss me so quickly?”... “Did you ever...for a second...think that I have a story to tell and that...damn...it matters?” I am sure that at some point in my life I have caused someone to think these very thoughts...and I am sorry. You see we have this problem...we are selfish, self absorbed and generally feel entitled and ok with being rude and dismissive with people that get in our way. It happens every minute of every day...right now. Contained within the core essence of our being is this incessant need to be first...right...cool...hip...edgy...trendy...quirky...I think you get the idea. Anyone else who doesn't fit into our self defined category is basically...well...of little concern or useless to us. There is a fundamental disconnect between who we really are and who we think we are. We allow these boundaries and lines we draw to separate us from one another and...what separates us from one another separates us from God. Feeling superior to someone or refusing the simplest kindest act is totally incompatible with being loved and forgiven by a loving God and receiving grace. How dare us receive what we are not willing and freely able to give to others. How arrogant to withhold what God has given as if it is some kind of contest to accumulate the most grace in order to be holy and religious. Perhaps you have a skewed view of religion and your own personal theology is standing in the way of changing someones life.

“A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man.‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.”  Matthew 8:2-3

This unfortunate victim of leprosy was an outcast...an untouchable... and because of that he deemed himself unlovable. He was additionally burdened and stigmatized in his community as an outcast by being required to call out “Unclean, Unclean” as he walked the streets where he lived. This was to ensure that no one would come too close to him and possibly risk contracting this dreaded disease as well as become religiously unclean which was a huge taboo in that day. Can you imagine, for one second, if people we felt to be untouchable had to do that today? So, the leper was a social outcast, having lost everything of value to him. He lost his family, his friends, his sense of value and any interaction with others in his immediate community including his church and others who were non-lepers. He was left totally without hope...he is socially and physically isolated and alone... He is desperate and has nowhere else to turn...dead end. And, in his abject desperation, despair and suffering... he calls out to Jesus. It seems like in our most desperate hour... in our last ditch grasp for anything to relieve this misery many of us call out to Jesus. Perhaps faith and desperation are more closely linked than we sometimes give credit for. The interesting thing to note in this parable is the fact that the disenfranchised leper asks not to be made well or healed , but rather to be made clean. He takes a huge risk and asks Jesus for something that not only restores him physically, but that also makes him able to enter society again. As with many of us, this leper was seeking redemption and restoration and not necessarily  wellness. If Jesus did this for him, it would change his entire life. He would not just be well, but for the first time he could be whole. However, the most shocking and controversial part of Jesus’ interaction with the leper is the idea of being touched. Jesus gets close to him, gives him his undivided attention and then reaches out and in this touch Jesus risks becoming physically infected while at the same time fully making Himself religiously unclean. Jesus touch would have been considered horribly offensive to the religious people. He not only broke the rules, but he also put Himself at serious risk. What was He thinking to take a risk like that? He put Himself in harms’ way to do something that wasn’t even necessary for the leper’s physical healing. So, why touch the leper? The touch becomes a huge paradox...an exchange was made in that second. That which was considered hopelessly untouchable becomes clean and Jesus takes on the “uncleanness” of the lepers disease. Jesus was not afraid and showed no fear...hesitation..or judgment...So, the question becomes...why do we? Mainly out of fear and ignorance and putting self interest before others needs. I just offer the following prayer I found to remind us when we are feeling self important...

Jesus, help us to keep our focus on you and to always reach out to those who have been overlooked and outcast. Help us to not walk past those who are in need. May we touch the untouchable in your Name and impart value to those who are cursed. May we incarnationally be you to those who are literally and figuratively marginalized and diseased. And, may we always be open to your leading in cooperating with you in bringing total restoration to those who are desperately without any hope…except for You. After all, while the circumstances looked totally different, that was me too...diseased...broken and desperately without any true hope…except for You.