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The 6th Sunday after the Epiphany (B) Grace and peace be with you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen! Pastor Coty Pinckney of the Community Bible Church in Williamstown, Massachusetts has a story that perhaps all of us who are parents and grandparents of children can relate to. He says that one summer his two boys discovered large mud clay deposits in a swimming hole that they went to – and that the clay made great body paint! They would get all wet, and then smear clay over their entire body from head to foot. What fun! One day, they decided to have even more fun! After getting themselves covered with the mud clay as usual, they turned toward their mother who was watching them on the shore. “We love you, Mommy!”, they shouted – and then ran towards her with the intention of giving her big hugs. Needless to say, their mother ran away from them in the opposite direction! Her actions declared: “If you really love me, you will clean yourselves before hugging me!” But it is not always like that. I remember in The Passion movie by Mel Gibson a scene in which Jesus’ mother ran to embrace him after he had fallen down while carrying his cross – even though he was covered with blood and dirt. The movie then also showed a “flashback” to a time when Jesus was a small boy and had tripped and skinned his knees – and of how Mary at once had run to hug and comfort him. It showed in a very dramatic way the love of a mother for her child! The same thing is almost certainly true for US as parents and grandparents. If a child whom we love falls down and gets hurt, our reaction is certainly NOT to run away. Instead, we will want to comfort our child by gathering him or her into our arms – even if that means getting covered with filth ourselves. During times like these, our concern is not about the dirt, but only about our child and his or her welfare! This is what it was like for Jesus in today’s gospel text. As we heard: “A leper came to [Jesus] begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.” (Mk. 1:40-42) The significance of this story is about much more than just a physical healing. As bad as the leprosy was, the worst problem was that this man was isolated and cut off from society. Leviticus 13:45-46 commanded that “the person who has the leprous disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head be disheveled; and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, “Unclean, unclean.” He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.” It is this stigma and enforced isolation from society that made leprosy such a terrible disease. The leper in today’s gospel certainly wanted to be healed of his disease, but even more than that he wanted to be healed of his aloneness. He wanted to be made clean so that once again he could be allowed to interact with people and with God. And it was THAT desire – so poignantly expressed – that moved Jesus to pity. And so Jesus did something that was absolutely forbidden under the Levitical Law – “[he] stretched out his hand and touched him.” By that touch, Jesus was sharing his uncleanness – in the same way that a parent might get covered with filth while hugging his or her hurting child. Jesus was not dissuaded by the religious and social taboos of his day. He touched the leper, because he wanted to let him know in a way that went beyond words that he loved and accepted him. And when that happened, the leper “was made clean” from the shame and the stigma that he bore. That touch, perhaps even more than the physical healing that followed, is what the leper really needed most of all! This story has a lot to say to us today, because there are STILL so many situations in which people feel stigmatized and ostracized. It may happen at school, where certain cliques may shun or make fun of persons who are not part of their group. It may happen in society in general because of racism, sexism, or “classism”. It may happen to a person who is going through a crisis in life – such as losing a job, going through a divorce, or bankruptcy. And sometimes (may God forgive us) it may even happen in a church – such as when a visitor is “glared out of a seat” that normally is used by a regular member (this actually happened to my wife Carol when she was at a church where I was serving as a guest preacher one Sunday!), or is denied be able to receive communion because he or she is not part of that denomination. In all these situations, people end up feeling humiliated, shamed, estranged, angry, and “dirty” – unclean!
Have any of these things ever happened to us or to people we know? If so, then we have a bit of an understanding of what that leper was experiencing when he came to Jesus. He not only needed to be healed, but most of all needed to be CLEANSED of his emotional and spiritual pain by experiencing Jesus’ love and acceptance. And that cleansing happened when Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him.
People of God, today WE as Jesus’ disciples are called to be like him in our interactions with one another, and especially with those around us who are deemed to be the least acceptable and least worthy of love. We are called to reach out beyond the boundaries that may divide us from each other, even when it may be uncomfortable to do so – and let each other know that we love and care for and forgive each other – even as God through Jesus Christ has first done so for us!
When someone whom we love is hurting, we don’t worry about getting covered with the mud they may have on them – we simply want to give them our love. That is what Jesus did for the leper in today’s gospel, and still does for us today. May we also do likewise for one another as well – and thereby share the cleansing power of Christ’s love (a love that breaks down all barriers) to a world that needs it so much! May this be so, in Jesus’ name! Amen!
-------------------- George R. Karres, Pella Lutheran Church 418 W. Main Street Sidney, MT 59270
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