February 5, 2006 At Saint Mark Church in Norman. OK
Leviticus 13:1-2,44-46 + 1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1 + Mark 1:40-45
Understanding the law from Leviticus and hearing it again this morning is important for the understanding of this Gospel, because the point of this Gospel does not come with words. The leper was not just physically ill with a contagious disease. This was not a simple quarantine act. Lepers were considered unfit to be part of the pure and holy people of God. The suffering of these people was not confined physical pain. Their suffering was greater than that. It was the pain of isolation, loneliness, and the lived experience of being abandoned or cast away.
There are two sides to this story: two movements or actions that speak to every one of us. The movement of the one who was suffering is just as significant as the movement of Jesus. That leper comes forward in faith! He does not choose to sit back and feel sorry for himself. He is not content to live cut off and alone. He comes to Jesus even though he risks rejection again and even punishment.
We know this experience, all of us at some level of intensity. Whether it is shame or guilt or embarrassment, too many never come forward. They fail to hear the power of this story and be motivated by this man’s courage and the consequence of it. The movement of Jesus too speaks to us all at another level. He touches that man! He touches him while he is untouchable. The issue is not simply that Jesus disregards the law. That has nothing really to do with it. He does not wait till the man is clean, acceptable, or perfect. He touches him while he is in his present state unclean. Imagine, Jesus, God, affirms, accepts, embraces, TOUCHES, this imperfect, sinful, unclean, person who dares to approach grace with enough faith to say: Help Me. What he hears is not: “Come back later when you clean up.” “I’ll touch you after you are healed.” or “Say you’re sorry, then I’ll think about.” None of that stuff here. Just a simple touch because Jesus is moved with pity. Do not miss the fact that it is not enough simply to feel badly for that man. Feelings must yield to decisions and action, sympathy to authentic caring that does something. Moved with compassion, Jesus touches that man uninterested in what anyone around him might have to say by way of caution or by way of judgment.
The two of them take risks: one by reason of faith, the other by reason of love It is a stunning thought that leaves us to wonder about our own faith and love.There is a deeper story of healing here that has little to do with Hanson’s disease or anything like it. It is the story of healed relationships that penetrates the isolation that keeps people apart. Whenever a person experiences recognition, acceptance, and value from another; healing take place.
Our lives, our days for that matter are filled with the movements of this Gospel: our need to ask for help and risk that even though we may not be perfect, may not be whole, or healed, God, the Church, those who truly love us will not turn away nor abandon us. We celebrate that movement sacramentally with Confession and personally by a life of prayerful conversion. At the same time, the movement of Jesus must become our own as well. We must reach out and touch each other in love and compassion. The addict whose life is a ruin, The person who lives fearful and hiding with positive HIV status, The adulterer, the liar, the compulsive depressed, and handicapped, and more all wait to be touched. It makes no difference how they got that way, or what they did. Jesus did not say to the man: “What did you do to get sick?” He didn’t think: “You probably had this coming.” That kind of thinking never enters the mind of someone who loves and has compassion and pity. All they think about is: “What can I do to help.?”
So, it must be with us as we sit in this holy place in the presence of God today. Ours is a God who does not turn away from any of us no matter how bad things seem to be. Our lives lived in Jesus will never allow us to turn away from anyone God embraces and calls to life. No matter what anyone else thinks, nor whatever the consequences.