12While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy.[c] When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 13Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him. 14Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” 15Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. (New International Version)
Just a thought from this passage that has gripped me recently:
This particular episode in Jesus’ life begins with the words “while Jesus was in one of the towns” and this stirs me to say that when people write the story of my life (and they will, I think it would be an entertaining movie by the way) I want it to have many moments like this. “While Gabe was in one of the towns, the kingdom of God came there!” It is for this purpose that we are in this city at this specific time! For the last couple of weeks I’ve started every day by turning this verse over in my head, “While Gabe was in Tableview…” and then looking for moments in the day where I can flesh out the rest of the sentence.
“…a man came along who was covered in leprosy”/ these are the people we walk past everyday…they are rotting, covered with guilt, shame, sickness, pain, anger, hurt, bitterness etc. The only difference is that unlike those who suffered from leprosy which was evident to all who saw them, the people we come across are rotting away inside while they try and “keep up appearances” on the exterior. God open our eyes to see the “lepers”!
Jesus’ response to the leper astounds me. In a society where lepers were regarded as the scum of the earth and kept separated from all others except their own kind, jesus “reached out his hand and touched him”. There is just something about this phrase which reverberates to my very core. Jesus saw his leprosy and deliberately reached out his hand and touched him! The leper probably hadn’t had any form of human contact for years! Right here in this story something happens that would have had everybody who heard it up in the most furious uproar! Jesus knew the stigma that went with associating with lepers (let alone touching them). If you came in contact with leprosy, the simple fact was that you got it aswell! This was the AIDS of their day. Everybody knew the ABC’s of leprosy. They had seen the adverts, they had read the literature! And yet, Jesus, without skipping a beat, reached out his hand and touched him.
And this is what we are called to do.
A phrase that I’ve adopted and love is about having a “Dirty Theology”. A theology that pushes me to get down and dirty with the lowest, with the rejected, with the lonely, with the unloved, with the forgotten. A theology that cannot be contained in the four walls of the church…A theology that compels me to reach out my hand and touch! Isaiah 58 speaks of it like this: “Is this not the kind of fasting that I have chosen: to loosen the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free. Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter- when you see the naked, to clothe him…”
The leper asked Jesus, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean”. Jesus’ response was “I am willing”. The question is, are we willing?
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