Friday, February 10, 2012

Jesus Crosses Unjust Social Boundaries


UNCLEAN!  UNCLEAN!   
Yes, there once was a time that I was 
unclean … impure … untouchable … separated from my family …
cast out from my community …
destined to wander in the desert places. 
It started with a small rash. 
I tried to hide it but before long I was covered with open sores. 
I suffered every day with the searing pain of my leprous skin.
But it was nothing compared to losing everything
and everyone I ever loved. 
Then one day … I met a man named Jesus and everything changed!
Unfortunately for Jesus … I couldn’t keep my mouth shut.
A man named Mark wrote a story about Jesus and me …
You’ll find it at the end of Chapter 1... in verses 40-45. 
This is what he wrote:  

40A leper* came to him begging him, and kneeling* he said to him, ‘If you choose, you can make me clean.’ 41Moved with pity,* Jesus* stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’ 42Immediately the leprosy* left him, and he was made clean. 43After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, 44saying to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’ 45But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus* could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.   (NRSV)

          At first glance, this seems like a basic “healing” narrative.   Leper approaches Jesus.  Jesus heals leper.  The only problem is that this is not your basic healing narrative.  This passage crosses unjust social boundaries.
When the leper comes to Jesus, he is begging but he’s not asking for healing.  He is asking Jesus to make him clean.  This is an issue of ritual purity.  It isn’t about pain and suffering, at least not physical pain and suffering.  If it was, the leper would simply ask for healing.    It is about isolation and separation.  It is about a system that has expressly created isolation and separation.  The unjust social boundaries created by the ritual purity system allowed some people, like the good Jewish rabbi Jesus, IN and kept other people, like our “sinful” leper, OUT.   
          When the leper comes to Jesus, he crosses that unjust social boundary.  He should never have approached Jesus.  He should have been shouting “unclean, unclean” and should have kept his distance.  But he didn’t.  Instead, he presents Jesus with a choice and a challenge.  “If you choose, you can make me clean.” 
          “If you choose …” can also be translated “If you are willing …”   This is Jesus.  Of course he’ll be willing … He has been “moved with pity.”   Some translations say he is “filled with compassion.” Why wouldn’t this compassionate Jesus that we all know and love be willing to heal this man and restore him to the community?   This encounter just isn’t as simple as “Leper approaches Jesus.  Jesus heals leper.”  Some footnotes say, instead of pity or compassion, Jesus was “moved with anger.”  
          Why in the world would Jesus be angry when he stretches out his hand, touches the leper and says, “I do choose.  Be made clean.”  Does anger make sense?   Remember this is an issue of ritual purity.  Jesus crosses an unjust social boundary when he stretches out his hand and touches the leper.  Do you know what happens when Jesus, who is clean, touches the leper, who is unclean?   There is a reversal of fortune.   The unclean leper is made clean through the healing of his disease … but at the moment Jesus crosses that unjust social boundary and touches the leper, he becomes unclean according to the ritual purity system of his day.
          This ritual purity system sounds like a harsh way of categorizing people.  It didn’t start out that way.   The core value in the purity system was holiness … a gift of God … manifested by the wholeness of creation made in the image of God.  The pursuit of holiness is a good and honorable journey unless it becomes a glorified way of determining who is in and who is out by creating elaborate social structures with unjust boundaries.
          While we mock these ancient written laws which define the boundaries of clean and unclean, we ourselves have unwritten, unspoken purity laws with which to keep the “good” people in and the “bad” people out.   We often draw invisible unjust social boundaries along cultural, racial, economic, sexual, gender, generational, political and religious lines, just to name a few.  Let’s face it: our unwritten boundaries tend to make us feel safe because people who are different, people who don’t fit our standards are implicitly encouraged to be compliant.  Or they are explicitly rejected and encouraged to leave.
Is it possible that Jesus was filled with compassion for the leper and also moved by anger?   I think it is.   Is it possible that we will be confronted by written and unwritten unjust social boundaries in our ministries?  I think it is.  Is it possible we will struggle with compassion and anger just like Jesus did?  I think it is.    

In the end, I think it only matters that we stretch out our hand and we touch the one we consider “untouchable.”  

In the end, I think it only matters that we know our own “untouchable” self and allow Jesus to touch us!

That’s the real miracle.

A Time of Reflection … Have you ever encountered unjust social boundaries?  Which side of that boundary were (are) you on?  What feelings did (do) you struggle with?  Perhaps you live in a more subtle environment.  What are the unwritten boundaries within your community?   How are people welcomed or rejected?  How do you know when someone is “IN” or “OUT?”   What action have you taken?  If you feel like you cannot reach out in your situation, what stops you?  If you were to sit down with Jesus today … and you can if you take this into prayer … what questions would you ask? 

Perhaps you could engage in Lectio Divina and explore where God is speaking to you in this passage … Follow these simple steps and adapt them to fit your own needs in prayer if you are unfamiliar with “praying the Scriptures”

Lectio (Read) Read the passage slowly.  Listen to the beauty of the text as you pause between each sentence.  Recall the word or phrase that caught your attention as you read and say the word or phrase out loud.   Let the words sink deeply into your soul … 

Meditatio (Meditate) Read the passage a second time and reflect on it. Where does this passage speak into your life?  What is God calling your attention to as you meditate on your word or phrase?

Oratio (Pray) Read the passage a third time and respond to God’s invitation?  How do you respond to God?

Contemplatio (Contemplate) Rest in God's gentle and holy presence.  Stay with God in this space as long as you can and allow the love and presence of God to flow into you, to emerge from within you, and to surround you with peace.  Amen.

Adapted from a sermon I wrote in 2009 © Cindy Serio 

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