There's Danger in the Gospel, Mountain View United, Aurora, CO, by Rev Steven R Mitchell, 2-12-2012

There’s Danger in the Gospel
By Rev Steven R Mitchell
Mountain View United, Aurora, CO 2/12/2012
Based on Mark 1:40-45 and 2 Kings 5: 1-14

In this morning’s scripture, we read about two men who are plagued with Leprosy. One we are told is a non-Hebrew, the other is a Hebrew. Naaman, the non-Hebrew, was a commander of an army; the other man is unnamed and ostracized by his Hebrew community, based on Hebrew purity laws. Both of these men seek out someone who is able to help them deal with their disease. Naaman is seeking to be healed and learns of a prophet in Israel who can help do this for him. The unnamed Hebrew has heard about Jesus and what he has been doing in Capernaum and seeks Him out in the wilderness. Both the Prophet and Jesus were Hebrew’s, both men of God, both seem willing to help.
But again, there are differences between these two stories. In 2 Kings, the prophet Elisha, hears about Naaman and his request to be healed and sends word to the King of Israel to send Naaman to him, not out of compassion for Naaman, but because the King of Israel is upset about the request being made upon him and thinking that this is a set up to start a war between King Aram and Israel. So Naaman goes to see Elisha, who doesn’t even go out and speak to Naaman, but sends out a messenger to tell him to go wash in the river Jordan seven times and then his leprosy will heal him.
Of course Naaman, being the big shot commander that he is, becomes very offended that first off, the King of Israel isn’t the one who is doing the healing, but someone lower on the food chain. Once Naaman gets to where Elisha is, Elisha doesn’t come rushing out, making a big fuss over him, but rather sends out a messenger to great him and tell him what he needs to do in order to get rid of his leprosy. There is no special oil brought out, no special incantations, no laying on of hands, just simple, go down to those dirty waters of the Jordan, bath in it seven times and you will be healed.
On the other hand, Mark is telling us a story about a man who because of his leprosy has been ostracized by his entire community, his family, his friends, his church, because he was seen as someone who could “infect” the entire community if allowed to stay within the city limits. When this man comes up to Jesus, he says, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus moved by pity, stretches out his hand and touched him, saying, “I do choose. Be made clean.” The man then is instructed to keep quiet and go to the priests and present himself for the ritual purification ceremony so that he might be able to re-enter into the community. The story also says, that the man didn’t do this, but rather started telling everyone how Jesus had touched him and in that touch had made him clean, creating a situation where Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but having to stay out in the countryside.
True story, my two daughters just had a real life lesson on what happens when you have or perceived to have a communicable disease. Shortly after my youngest daughter and son-in-law returned from Ethiopia with their two newly adopted sons, all the males in her family came down with the measles. They of course were quarantined because they had a highly contagious disease. As it so happens, before they found out that they had the measles, my youngest daughter and their oldest son pay a visit to my older daughter’s chiropractic clinic for a short visit. When the health department learns about this, they have the clinic send out letters to all their clients that had been to their office that particular afternoon, stating that they (the clients) may have been exposed to the measles.
Also, the news media, catches wind of this, as one other family from the church that my youngest daughter attends also comes down with the measles. It is now an epidemic! Because of the way the news was handling their reporting of these two cases, mass hysteria hits the whole state of Kansas about the potential epidemic that will most certainly strike the entire state. Not only does my oldest daughter get to keep all of her children home from school because of the possible exposure (which by the way, when my grandson from the family with measles was at the clinic, was not yet contagious, nor did any of my older daughters children come down with the measles or anyone who was at the clinic that day), but she was constantly having to deal with damage control with her clients. This didn’t stop with just my daughter being harassed, but also a niece of mine who lived several hundred miles away in Wichita, KS, having an old school friend who still lives in the community where my daughters live, harassing her about how her cousins were a menace to the safety of society. My two daughters and the man with Leprosy shared a good deal in common.
When Mark was writing about Jesus being moved by pity, Mark wasn’t speaking about a feeling that comes from the heart, but rather about a feeling that comes from the gut! Some of the earlier manuscripts use a more harsh translation that Jesus was moved by anger! Rev Jon Walton of the First Presbyterian Church in New York City says about this story: Jesus is frustrated and upset when he heals the man; and in the process of healing him, Jesus breaks down walls that have been carefully built and scrupulously preserved by well meaning religious types, when he touches the leper. He dares to do the unconventional, in fact, the unlawful, so that he may accomplish the unlikely. Feasting on the Word, Yr B, Vol 1, pg 358 In other words Jesus healed this man because he was angry at a system that was repressive and excluding, not out of love and compassion because of the man’s illness.
In the movie “The Help”, we learn about a young white woman who decides to expose the racism in Jackson, Mississippi through the voices of the African American women who worked as maids. The writing of this story took place as the Civil Rights movement was just becoming big news, and happened only because of the courage of one black woman who after hearing a sermon in church was moved to come forward and speak up. This led to another and then eventually there were a number of women who spoke and told their stories. Both the young white woman collecting these stories and the African American women who told their stories were breaking the law.
We still have these types of struggles today within the Christian community. Those churches that have stood up and said there is room in the church for the Lesbian, Gay, Transgendered, and Bi-sexual community and that God loves them are ostracized by the larger more conservative Christian community. In the 1980’s, there were a number of congregations throughout this country that participated in what we call the “Sanctuary” movement, which broke the law by helping refugees from South America move through our country into Canada. Much like Christian folks did with the Underground Railroad in helping escaped slaves of the South find freedom in the North, breaking the laws of their time.
When we read scripture and study it at a level that starts to reveal to us those laws and social mores’ that are meant to be repressive and exclusive of certain populations within our larger communities, then like Jesus, we should be moved with anger to make “clean” those systems of inequity, and restore justice to those who have been pushed out.
When we hear about large portions of our working population who cannot afford health care, we should be speaking up for them. When we see families being separated because of unjust and outdated immigration laws, then we should be working to reform those laws. We need to be advocates for those who deal with mental illness. There is danger in the Gospel. It is dangerous because it calls for us to open our eyes and look beyond our own circumstances in life and see the injustices that are in our backyards; injustices that are deliberately created to maintain the boundaries between the haves and the have not’s.
The story of the man with leprosy is a story about those who are pushed outside of the systems of support. Jesus was moved with pity to touch him and without hesitation make him clean so that he could once again be included. When the church reaches out in the same way to those who are excluded for one reason or another, we too can expect to be excluded just like Jesus, no longer being allowed into the city, standing outside of the larger community that thinks it benefits by excluding some and not others. Thank God, there is danger in the gospel! Amen