A leper came to Jesus begging
him,
and kneeling the leper said
to Jesus,
“If you choose, you can make
me clean.”
Moved with anger,
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.
After sternly warning the man
Jesus sent him away at once, saying 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.”
But the leper 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.
***
The leper says to Jesus, “If
you choose, you can make me clean,” and Jesus replies, “I do choose. Be made
clean!” I have always found the word, “choose,” in this passage problematic,
because I thought it implied faith healing, which, to me, makes a loving God too
judgmental, and a fallen people to providential. It makes for a God who might
actually choose not to heal a leper, and it makes a leper in control of his own
healing, and I don't think life is that balanced, that good faithful people are
healed, and bad unfaithful people remain ill, or that all faithful people are
good, and all unfaithful people are bad, many agnostics are downright
exemplary. Sometimes, I think we interpret these passages and the world around
us like the priests, we try to pretend that we, and God have a lot more choice
then we do, and I think the leper and Christ know this.
In this time, leprosy
described a number of afflictions, but what was common among among them, was
the religious community, and the people, deemed them both, evil and contagious.
Lepers were sent outside the city, to live in colonies, with others, who were
exiled and shunned. In not a dissimilar way, I think of some of the homeless
youth, whom we met in L.A.,
who represented the staggering statistics of the many, who were kicked out of
their own homes, in other places, for being gay, transgender, bisexual or
lesbian. I think of the things these kids must have been called in their own
family, and what they are called as they walk the streets. I think of the
community they have had to create for their own survival, and stories of the
times they didn't survive because they walked alone. I think of their lack of
choice over who they were created to be, and the choices others made to exile
and exclude them, and I think this reality is what both the leper and Jesus
know.
I think this is why the leper
says that healing is a choice. He knows that leprosy cannot leave him by the
speaking of mere words, just as homosexuality is likewise something which
cannot be talked out in some kind of One Flew Over The Cookoo’s Nest,
Conversion Therapy. Instead, the leper sees the choice to be made clean, is not
answered by changing who he is, but by changing the definition of unclean. And
this too Jesus chooses.
Jesus is moved with anger,
anger not at the leper, but anger at a system that has chosen not to heal, that
has chosen to split, to ignore, to oppress, and to remain infected and unclean.
This same scene happened in our own town, and I am proud, as I hope you will
be, at the actions of one our youth. After Oregon legalized same-sex marriage, Facebook
was a buzz with the kind of bullying we adults only hear about in the news.
Students were posturing, and posting homophobic comments, wondering to what the
state had come, and one of our youth, moved with anger, made the tongue and
cheek response, that those who had a problem with homosexuality could be the
ones to leave. Now, perhaps there are better ways to handle conflict then
sarcasm, but Jesus too was moved with anger, and in anger for justice there can
be a holy righteous. Our youth made the comment because he had visited the
exiled, he knew the leper. The youth went on to explain that the students who
were posting on Facebook were hurting actual people, and were tearing the community
apart, ‘How would they feel if the comments were posted about them, or a group
to which they belonged?’ As the pastor of this outspoken youth, what I imagined
when I heard this story, was a student who is homosexual reading our youth’s
comment. I imagine, like Jesus, this youth is pretty popular, and could have
chosen to ignore the leper, to safeguard his own social standing, but instead
our Bryson, like Jesus, stretched out his hand and touched the leper, and said
to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” And I imagine what that other student,
sitting there, looking at his phone, must have felt with Bryson’s touching
words, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean, not because he
was any different than before, but because Jesus had redefined what was clean.
I imagine the social constructs of student life shaking up at bit, as not only
youth who identify as GLBTQ saw the post, but as others saw the act of courage
and community that Bryson displayed. But displays can have repercussions.
Now, after sternly warning
the man, Jesus sent him away at once, saying 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.” Jesus sent the former leper to the
priests to show those in the religious system what healing looked like. Jesus
also asked the leper not to speak to anyone, so Jesus could keep healing
without being caught by that system. For me, I too struggled with the question
of whether to speak, and though I asked Bryson’s permission, both to tell his
story, with or without name, it was not without hesitation. I thought about
what it would mean to preach this one from my own, which until now, I have
never done so directly on this subject from any pulpit before. Because there is
a way, in speaking truth to power, you are liable to get caught, “Jesus could
no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came
to him from every quarter.” And, if you feel inclined, to look for the leper,
the priests, and Jesus in this text and our world, I will be teaching
Lectionary Bible Study on Tuesday, where we critique the prior week’s sermon.
But, the leper went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the
word, and I look at youth’s honesty from Bryson, and the ordination of this
pulpit and I can not refrain from proclaiming freely and spreading the word
toward the healing of this world. “I do choose.” Do you choose?
