Rector's Sermon - Sunday, February 16, 2002

First Reading	Psalm	Epistle	Gospel
2 Kings 5:1-14	30:1-4, 6-8, 11-13	1 Corinthians 9:24-27	Mark 1:40-45

     The Biblical word that is translated as leprosy, does not strictly refer to the disease we commonly call leprosy or Hansen's disease. There is ample evidence to suggest that Hansen's disease did not exist in Palestine either before or during Jesus' earthly lifetime. The leprosy of the Bible referred to a wide range of skin infections and even to extreme conditions of mildew in clothes and structures. Nonetheless, lepers were considered ritually unclean so they could not worship in the synagogue. They were separated from their family, and socially ostracized. Because they were not allowed to work alongside others, inevitably they lost their means of employment. Their ensuing destitution made most of them lonely beggars or forced them to live together in a wretched wilderness beyond civilized boundaries.

     Nonetheless, leprosy was not necessarily incurable. The ancient book of Leviticus provided the ritual regulations of thanksgiving when one became free of leprosy. Hence, the act of someone being cured of leprosy would not be the unique or astounding event we might expect.
The leper in today's story had the courage to call to Jesus, but had his doubts, too. The real question for the leper was whether or not Jesus was willing to cure him. The leper's plea, "if you choose to heal me" revealed the real barrier. There was sound reason for the leper to believe that Jesus might not venture near for fear of putting himself at risk, but Jesus did not let the sick man's doubt faze him.

     The story of Elisha and Naaman reflects the long tradition of certain holy people being able to cure and heal. Yet Jesus did not deliver instructions through a messenger or tell the leper to depart and wash someplace else. Jesus actually approached and touched the leper. That is what the first readers of this story would have found so shocking. Jesus was willing to be contaminated, in the process of attempting to heal.
Jesus did not want people to know that he healed the leper as much as he wanted people to know that he was willing to touch a leper. He wanted people to realize that the Gospel did not hold back or distance itself from the hopeless, the isolated, or the thoroughly distasteful conditions of humanity. The sign of God was not in the healing, it was in the touching of what was considered untouchable.

     There is a story about a volunteer fireman who crawled out on the thin ice of a river to rescue a dog. The dog was scared and his rescuer was a stranger, so when the fireman got close and reached out his arm, the dog would snap and try to bite rather than letting the fireman grab his collar and pull him to safety. It took many tries, and the fireman's hand was bleeding through a well chewed glove before the dog finally was willing to be pulled to safety.
After it was all over, a news reporter who had been on shore watching asked the fireman, "What made you keep reaching out your hand when the dog kept biting and backing away?" The fireman replied, "The nature of the dog to be hostile and back away from strangers did not change my nature to want to try to save."

     I wonder if in some way that is what this Gospel is telling people of faith in our time. We are not called to keep our distance out of fear of contamination or to refrain from trying to heal for fear of being labeled naive or soft-headed. God is not present in a heaven where there is no sickness, nor controversy, nor boundaries. God is present where precisely there is no peace, no trust, and no hope.

     In every age there is usually something like leprosy that creates a formidable boundary which society learns to have great fear and revulsion about crossing. It wasn't so many years ago that anyone with AIDS was considered as a leper. Regrettably, too many people still think this way. A generation before that, the condition was tuberculosis. A similar reproach has been applied to whole nations and ethnic groups.

     There is risk and daring in seeking to breach borders, seeking to touch and reconcile. Segregation and isolation spawn nasty demons that can bite back. Perhaps it is a gift to us that in the Bible the word leprosy is somewhat ambiguous. The Gospel makes it clear that this is not a story about Jesus healing a certain disease. It is about Jesus seeking to heal broken relationships and reaching across high barriers.

     I have been struggling, as most of you, to make sense of what is happening in the world and where the word of God is in all this. My mind is somewhat numb, cold, blah, and grouchy, like most of the weather this past week. However, it is the nature of God to care, and, even at great risk, to crawl over thin ice.

     And I offer this to you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen