by Pastor Laura Gentry
Mark 1:40-45 • 1 Kings 5:1-14 • Psalm 30
It is practically impossible for us to comprehend how horrible it was to be a leper in biblical times. People had no idea how this ugly and painful disease was spread. It struck fear in their hearts. And how did they handle this paralyzing fear? They totally isolated those who showed signs of infection.
According to the Levitical laws, lepers were considered unclean and forced to live outside the city. As late as Medieval times, a priest would read the burial service over the leper before he or she was cast out of the city, doomed to die alone. It seems outrageous to us today, but those sick with leprosy in the ancient world had to live in large unlivable pits, far away from civilization.
So not only did lepers have physical pain, they lived with the emotional pain of being abandoned by their family and friends in their dying days. In today’s reading Jesus has a brief encounter with one such person. Here is a man who had lost hope. Yet, he has heard about Jesus and it fills him with hope again. Lepers weren’t even supposed to approach the healthy, yet this man comes directly to Jesus and says, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” The audacity of his faith is striking.
The ancient audience would expect Jesus to toss rocks at the leper to keep him at bay. That was what normally happened in such a circumstance. Yet, Jesus does the unexpected. He does not rebuff this leper. In fact, he is so moved by compassion that he breaks the religious law by stretching out his hand and physically touching the man. He reaches out to him in more ways than one. Then Jesus says: "I do choose. Be made clean!" And the man is healed instantly.
In the reading from the I King, we hear a similar story of a leper being healed through the power of God. In it, Naaman, an enemy military commander, is given words of wisdom by the prophet Elisha that he is to immerse himself in the Jordan River 7 times. Now Naaman’s got a bad attitude, but at length he agrees to follow these instructions and is immediately made clean. This demonstrates how God’s healing power knows no limits. Even God’s enemies are given mercy and healing! And perhaps this news is even more miraculous than the fact that Naaman’s leprosy disappears.
Today’s Psalm gives voice to the joy God’s healing can bring. “O LORD my God,” says the Psalmist, “I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. O LORD, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit. Sing praises to the LORD, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name. For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” This Psalm concludes with the profound cry of faith: “You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, so that my soul may praise you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever.”
And today, there is great cause for the people of God to not be silent but rejoice and give thanks. Why? Because today a great healing is about to take place, which we will be privileged enough to witness. I’m talking about baptism. In this holy sacrament, we are adopted into God’s joyful family. We are healed of our sin through the gift of forgiveness. And we are promised deliverance from death and the devil forever. Can there be a more marvelous healing? Can there be a sweeter balm for our mourning souls? No. In baptism, we are all transformed into happy, dancing people.
For many of us, this healing took place before we were consciously aware. We were infants at the font and we only learned about the healing of baptism years after the event. Today, however, we have the rare opportunity to witness an adult baptism. Jamie Horkheimer has been walking with Jesus for quite a long time and has developed an active worship life. Yet, the Holy Spirit has led him to seek a deeper fellowship with his Savior. Jamie wants to have the assurance that he is accepted by God and promised the gift of eternal love. In asking to be baptized, he is saying to Jesus precisely what the leper in the Gospel lesson said: “If you choose, you can make me clean.”
Jamie is crying out with the Psalmist for healing. His soul wants transformation so that he may be fully God’s own—filled with peace and joy that pass understanding. He wants his mourning to give way to dancing. And that’s what all of us want, isn’t it?
So many times the harsh waves of life come crashing over us and we feel lost and alone in the universe, like drowning souls. We sense our own helplessness. We run aimlessly and box at the air, unable to live as we know we should live.
Yet no matter how far we have moved from God’s way, there is grace for us. There is compassion. There is healing and rebirth. And so in faith we cry out to Jesus: “Won’t you choose to save us!”
And Jesus responds with unbelievable compassion. He reaches out to each one of us and says: “I do choose. Be made clean!” Let us dance for joy at this miracle today and every day. Amen.
© 2009 Laura E. Gentry
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