Rev. Christine Dudley

GOSPEL READING: Mark 1:40-45

I'll begin with a prayer written by Garrett Epp, a member of Knox Metropolitan United Church in Edmonton. This prayer was inspired by Jesus'prayer and I was reminded of it this week as I was reflecting on the gospel passage for today. As we quiet our minds and open our hearts we pray...

God, who gives birth to the world, who gives us breath
fill us with your light,
and help us to usher in your reign of love,
justice and peace here on earth.
Tune us to the harmony of the heavens;
teach us to sing your name.
Grant us wisdom, hope and compassion
for all living things,
and feed us what we need each day.
Free us from what binds us,
as we release others from guilt and shame.
Help us to focus on what is good,
and to do what is right;
teach us how to love.
Renew our hearts, our minds, our strength,
and make us whole, and wholly yours.
Amen
(Gathering, Summer/Autumn 2008, p. 55)

I have a very distinct memory from a time when I was a very young child. I was a happy and active child and I often moved quickly without paying as much attention as I should have to what obstacles or hazards might be in my way. One day, as I was playing in the living room of our home, I was joyfully swinging my body around and I hit my flying hand against something hard. At the same time my mother was coming down the stairs into the living room and so I ran over to her crying loudly and holding my hand which was really hurting. My mother immediately sat down so that we were eye level with each other and she took my hurting hand in hers and looking into my eyes spoke reassuringly to me. Then she began to blow gently on my hand and make a waving motion over my hand as she softly told the pain to, "Go away, go away, go away..." I was spellbound by the rhythm of her voice and the gentleness and warmth of her breath soothing the hurt I was feeling. My attention was focussed away from my hurt, to her love and care for me. I felt loved, safe, valued. She heard my cries of distress, she listened and she responded with her full and loving attention.

When someone stops and listens to us, cares about us enough to give us their undivided attention, we feel valued and cared for. It's not always possible to take away a person's pain as easily as my mother took away the pain I was feeling, but somehow it's always more manageable when we know that we are not alone, that someone loves us and can touch us where we're hurting.

The past three weeks, the scripture readings we've heard from the Gospel of Mark have all been healing stories. There was the "Healing of the Man with an Unclean Spirit"(Mark 1:21-28); the "healing of Simon's mother-in-law"which also mentions others who Jesus healed (Mark 1:29-39); and today's story of Jesus "healing the Leper"(Mark 1:40-45). Mark's gospel is concise and to the point. Mark lays out, for the reader, without a lot of fanfare the things he thinks the reader needs to know about right off the bat. Mark begins with John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus, then the baptism of Jesus by John, Jesus'temptation in the wilderness, and then the beginning of Jesus'Galilean ministry with the calling of his first disciples and then three healing stories in a row. All of this, in the first forty-five verses of the gospel. Mark wants us to pay attention to Jesus, as God's beloved, sharing the healing power of God's love with all he meets.

Looking more specifically at today's story of the healing of the leper it is helpful to understand the social and religious implications of someone in Jesus'day who suffered from leprosy. We know, from scholarly research of Greek medical writings of the same era, that what we know as leprosy or Hansen's Disease as it's now called, was not known in first- century Palestine. However, the term leprosy was used in the Bible to refer to a wide variety of skin diseases and the word leper became synonymous with someone who was untouchable and an outcast in the community.

Anyone, who suffered from any form of skin disease was pronounced unclean and untouchable by the religious authorities of the day. In the book of Leviticus, that outlines the religious Law which the Jewish community of Jesus'day was bound to obey, there are two chapters (13 and 14) which go into great detail about the varieties and symptoms of leprosy with guidelines for diagnosis and what offerings need to be made for a person who had been healed of the disease to have themselves declared purified by a priest. And, Leviticus 13:45-46 sheds some light on what it meant to be declared a leper:

"The person who has the leprous disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head be dishevelled; 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."

Lepers were literally "outcasts"— cast out of the community. Someone who was declared a leper was feared and ostracized. They couldn't work to earn a living, they were cut off from family and friends, they were cut off from their religious community, they were "untouchable".

Keeping in mind the tremendous social stigma and shame of being a leper, it is amazing that the leper in today's gospel story boldly came up to Jesus and kneeled before him saying, "If you choose, you can make me clean."The leper likely knew that Jesus was known to favour compassion over the strict letter of the Law and believed that Jesus had the power to heal him. Just think of how powerful it would be, for a person who had been rendered less than human to have someone filled with the light of God's love, stop, look him in the eyes, stretch out a hand in love and touch him. By doing so Jesus was declaring that this man was clean, was whole, was a beloved member of God's community. But, Jesus also knew that to be accepted back into society, the former leper would have to go to a priest and fulfil the religious requirements to be reinstated and so Jesus directed him to do so.

As I spent time reflecting on this gospel story I wondered about the ways in which our society labels some as unclean, unfit, and untouchable. There are certainly many ways in which ignorance and prejudice can alienate and separate people from acceptance and full participation in our culture and society. There are many ways that people can be treated much like the lepers of Jesus'day but the example which came most vividly to mind is illustrated very clearly in the 1993 movie, "Philadelphia". I watched this movie on my week off last week and because I knew the story about Jesus and the Leper was the gospel story for this Sunday I saw the movie with a different perspective than the first time I saw it years ago. Here is a quick synopsis of the movie from my perspective:

The movie is set in Philadelphia, the city of "brotherly love". At the very beginning of the movie, as music plays, the viewer is taken on a tour of the back streets of Philadelphia where homeless people sleep huddled in doorways and on heating vents. Then in the opening scene we meet the two main characters, Andrew Beckett played by Tom Hanks and Joe Miller played by Denzel Washington.
Andrew is a high powered white lawyer who is part of the inner circle of a very prestigious law firm.
Joe is an African American street lawyer who works alone and has a tiny office.
Andrew and Joe are on opposite sides of a court case. Andrew providing legal counsel for a big corporation and Joe representing the people in a neighbourhood who claim the company is polluting the environment and causing unhealthy conditions for their children.
The next scene shows Andrew being awarded a very important case with lots of congratulations from the partners in his law firm. Nine days later, after working late most evenings to complete the work on the new case, Andrew ends up in the hospital. One month later, Andrew comes to Joe's office after being fired on trumped up charges of incompetence.
Andrew has already been to nine lawyers who have refused to take his wrongful dismissal case. When Andrew comes into Joe's office they shake hands and you see a picture of Martin Luther King Jr. in the background. When Joe finds out that Andrew has AIDS he is noticeably upset, he refuses to take Andrew's case and he visits his doctor later that day to make sure that he won't carry the AIDS virus home to his newborn baby.
Later Joe sees Andrew in a library, preparing to represent his own case, and Joe witnesses the prejudicial treatment which Andrew receives from library staff trying to get him to go into another room away from everyone else. Andrew reads Joe a passage from a law book which says, "the prejudice surrounding AIDS exacts a 'social death'which precedes the actual death" and Joe is persuaded to take Andrew's case.
The rest of the movie shows Andrew and Joe preparing for the trial and seven months later presenting Andrew's case. Joe works diligently on Andrew's behalf and develops a respect for Andrew but is always comfortably distant, never touching him.
Just before the end of the trial Andrew collapses and is taken to the hospital. Joe delivers the news that Andrew has won his case and in a breakthrough moment Joe sits on Andrew's hospital bed and with great compassion touches him.
That touch conveys healing for both of them, although not a cure for Andrew.

There is such a huge amount of stigma and discrimination in our society surrounding HIV/AIDS that it is no wonder that most people living with HIV/AIDS keep it a secret for fear of being ostracized. So important are the issues of stigma and discrimination that for two years in a row (2002 and 2003) the World Aids Day focus was on eliminating stigma and discrimination. UNAIDS stated, "Help us fight fear, shame, ignorance and injustice worldwide."When I was reviewing World AIDS Day websites I was surprised to come across a quote by a representative from the United Methodist Church in the United States which states,

Because stigma and discrimination are major obstacles to effective HIV/AIDS prevention and care, one way churches can help overcome these problems is to welcome everyone. Christian hospitality is a key aspect of congregational ministry with people living with HIV/AIDS and their loved ones. When congregations reach out and embrace all people, including those affected by HIV/AIDS, healing happens, not only among individuals but the church community as a whole.

If we, and other communities of faith worldwide, were to embrace Christ's radical vision of an inclusive and caring community, then God's commonwealth would begin to be realized. Bit by bit, God's love would be felt like a mother's warm breath gently blowing across our hurting world. As Jesus reached out to heal the outcast, I pray that we all have the courage to reach out to others in need and in doing so bring God's commonwealth into being, moment by moment and day by day.

With God's healing love may it be so.

Amen