What is Your Leprosy?
We have two stories of leprosy today… two stories that drive home the point that there were people in earlier times who were ostracized because they had a terrible disease. There were people who lived on the very edge of society because of something that the society of that day defined as unclean… and that the religious scriptures labeled as a sign of a sin against God. These were people who lived in constant fear… fear of rejection… humiliation… isolation… and despair… people who were consumed by this threat that disfigured them… this threat that destroyed their lives even as it destroyed their flesh. No one wanted to be near them. Others avoided them because of their disease… avoided them because they did not want their own lives disrupted by something… or someone… who was different. Even the Prophet Elisha did not wish to be tainted by such a one… man of God that he was. You’ll notice that he sent word through his servant in this story, but he… himself… never saw the great general… never spoke to him… never touched him.
Contrast this, then, with Jesus who not only decides to heal this nameless, powerless man, but to go to him… and speak with him… and touch him. At first glance, verse 41 in Mark seems cursory: "Jesus reached out his hand and touched him." But that one sentence raises many questions. Why did Jesus touch this man? He certainly did not have to touch him in order to heal him. We can read many examples of Jesus healing people… even raising them from the dead… without touching them. Why did Jesus touch this leper? Why does Mark mention this touch? Does Mark want to point out that Jesus took the risk of contracting leprosy? Does he want us to understand the depth of Christ's compassion that he would touch a leper? Is he pointing out that Jesus was giving a vivid example to the crowds who surrounded him? Perhaps. But, more likely, Mark carefully describes this touch, because it is this touch that gets Jesus into trouble with the religious leaders. It is this direct contact with a leper… with this unclean person… that causes Jesus to be banished from Galilee. Jesus broke Mosaic Law when he reached out and touched this man. In the Book of Leviticus, the Law of Moses states that such a person is unclean… and anyone who touches such a person becomes unclean and has sinned. Not only was the leper banished from the community, but Jesus was also banished because he chose compassion over the law. The people drove him out of the town because he chose to touch a man who was different… who was "unclean." They drove him out because of their fear. It is interesting to note that they had to drive him out of town without touching him themselves… for they would be unclean if they touched him.
Today, lepers are not considered to be unclean. They simply have a disease… a disease that is incurable, perhaps, but an illness whose progress can be stopped… whose contagion can be controlled… and whose effects can be treated with medication or surgery. Lepers are no longer kept apart from the general population… no longer isolated… but mainstreamed. And yet, even as I say that, I can think of others who have also been marginalized… not for leprosy, perhaps, but for other illnesses or conditions. What leprosy exists in our society today?
Throughout our history, many different conditions and illnesses have been classified as undesirable… or inferior… and those who have them have been pushed to the margins… condemned for who or what they are… or what they represent. Some of these include those who had the Black Plague in the Middle Ages… those who had smallpox in previous centuries… those who have HIV/AIDS today. And sometimes, it isn’t even illness that marginalizes. There are many places in our world today where people who are different are deemed to be inferior… people of a different tribe, like those in Rwanda… people of a different faith, like those in Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia or Palestine… and almost universally, those who are destitute… those who are alien… or developmentally disabled… physically disabled… obese… and so on. Unfortunately, even in our own history, we can find examples of those who were ostracized because they were different. I watched the movie “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” and watched what my own ancestors did… in the name of progress… in the name of our government… in the name of God… to those who lived in this country before white people arrived here. The film “Amistad” or the miniseries “Roots” captures the story of apartheid in our land… the same apartheid that we so quickly condemn in other countries. We laughed in our Session meeting this week, as we reviewed the membership of the church and approved our annual statistical report, about whether we could possibly classify Sylma and Alden Smith as African-American, but it was not that many years ago that it would not have been a laughing matter.
There are those who are younger than I am who no longer see the need for Affirmative Action programs and women who do not see the necessity of getting to the polls on Election Day. These are the ones who do did not live that history… who do not know how entire cities went up in flames… how many people died… or were beaten… jailed… humiliated… just so those of other races could attend public school… or so that I could stand in this pulpit. As Paul Fisher joins our congregation, I stand amazed that, in our time, he can do such a thing… for there was a time in our history when your faith was a matter of your birth… not your choice. For generations following the Reformation, the country you lived in determined the flavor of Christianity that you practiced. Even as recently as the last century, there were Protestants who hated Catholics and Catholics who hated Protestants. Some of us are old enough to remember the controversy that swirled around the election of President Kennedy. Bishop Fulton Sheen summarized it in this way: “There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church, “ he said. “There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church, which is, of course, quite a different thing.” Yet today, Paul’s Catholic upbringing was not even an issue in the discussion of his membership here.
Being marginalized in our society today is not a matter of not being legally restricted to certain activities or certain places, as it has been in the past. Being marginalized today has more to do with manipulating people and events in such a way as to minimize contact with those who are deemed less desirable. That’s why we have seen a significant increase in the number of gated communities in the past thirty years. Other ways in which we marginalize people today is through racial profiling… exclusive clubs… or special privileges that only a few can afford to pay for. More often that we care to admit, we make choices to distance ourselves from those who are different. How often do we choose to shop in certain stores because we feel “safer” in those stores… or because the aisles are wider and we won’t have to come in contact with… “you know”… without naming the difference? Just last week, I mentioned that I prefer to shop at midnight… to avoid the crowds, I said… the crowds… and all of “those people.” Which people? Does it matter? Of course, if I am shopping at all, I am already in a bad mood, so be glad I’m avoiding you. And yet, I discovered, on one of my very rare shopping moments in Wal-Mart at rush hour, that one of my colleagues in ministry spends his entire day at Wal-Mart pushing a cart around. That’s where he chooses to do his pastoral contact and counseling. He meets his parishioners there… and others. Now, that… for me… would be a hardship tour… but, if anyone else wants a “mission assignment” like that, come talk to me. I haven’t figured out whether that is Outreach or Congregational Care.
I do wonder how many people avoid church simply because it is uncomfortable for them to be here… because they don’t “fit in.” I’m not talking about friendliness or hospitality here, but about the struggle to engage in “normal activities.” For example, I know it is a challenge for Mom to come when she can’t see the hymns to sing them… or read the bulletin to participate in the liturgy. I know it is a challenge for Anita to be here when she has such difficultly standing and sitting without help… and when her attempts to sing lead to coughing fits that she believes disturb us… and when she has to decide how far away her walker can be from where she sits… yet not be in the way of others. I know it is a challenge for Lydia to be here for we have no pews that can comfortably accommodate her body… nor any hallways that are wide enough for her to easily pass others on her way. I know it is a challenge for Jo to be here… and I thank God that she does not let anyone or anything stand in her way… not a locked door… the only door she can use… or a seat in the very back of the sanctuary… the only place her chair can fit… though, from time to time, she shares her pain over thoughtless comments made by me and by others which show that we don’t understand where she lives every day. I know it is a challenge for Betty and CM to attend any church function when they are dependent upon others to bring them here… and it is embarrassing to have to constantly ask for help. Most of us don’t even think about these things… but that’s because we are not different… and don’t deal with the challenge of being different… minute by minute… hour by hour… day by day. We take it for granted. We look… but we do not see. We listen… but we do not hear.
The leper in our story today said to Jesus, "If you choose, you can make me clean." And Jesus responded, "I do choose. Be clean." “If you choose, you can make me clean.” “If you choose… you can restore my health, but even more than that… you can restore my life… my place in society… my dignity… my personhood.” Most of us believe that we cannot restore the physical health of someone who is ill… but it is our own choice that determines whether or not we restore their life… their place in society… their dignity… their personhood. We choose. We make that choice every day… sometimes consciously… sometimes unconsciously… sometimes by commission… sometimes by omission.
What struck me most about the film “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” was the pressure that was put upon the American Indian people to take Christian names… mostly to simplify the paperwork in Washington. I am convinced that those who made the laws in Washington… and many who enforced the laws in far-flung reaches of our land… had no idea how counter-cultural that simple act was for the Native American people… and yet food… clothing…and shelter was withheld from those who did not conform. How many times, I wonder, do we exclude those who are different because they refuse to conform… because they are unable to do what we ask them to do… physically unable… or psychologically unable… or spiritually unable. At one point in the movie, Charles Eastman says, “Do you realize that there is not even a word in the Sioux language… or in any Native American language… for what you want them to do?” In that case, it was to own land. How ironic it is that Charles Eastman… who had such a difficult time taking a Christian name himself… would be the one assigned to give Christian names to his Sioux brothers and sisters… simply to expedite a political process in Washington. I have a Christian name. I don’t even think about it… but then, I’ve never been told to give it up.
“If you choose, you can make me clean… you can make me acceptable to others… you can give me back my dignity.” “I do choose,” Jesus said. We all make choices. I stand at the back door after the service and I hug people. I have not always been a hugger. But I have learned that there are those who never get hugged by others. If you don’t want a hug, you can find at least two other doors to escape through and avoid being hugged… but know that there are those who get upset when I am ill and I tell people that I will not hug them on Sunday morning. To them, the hug is more important than the risk of contracting an illness. I know it is to me. So, I choose to hug… and to be hugged. What choices are you making? And who do you include… and who do you exclude… by the choices that you make? May we all become more like Christ… choosing to touch… and to include… everyone. Amen.
Mark 1:40-45