Leper

Mark 1:40-45 : The Leper. Then and Now.       

The Rev. Julia W. Messer
2.12.2012

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When I was studying to become a priest, I met with some opposition, not only because of my age, but because of my gender. I got everything from, “What is wrong with you that you want to be a priest,” to “Why don’t you just marry a minister?” And the one that stood out in my mind was when I was down in New Orleans doing some mission work following Hurricane Katrina.  I was to stay at a conservative/’Anglican’ parish but I was warned before I went down not to tell anyone I was in the process to become a priest. However, the moment I got there I was introduced as a seminarian, to which several people stated “You know we don’t believe in you.”  To them, I replied, “That is your choice. I’m down here to work, not to be your seminarian.” At that time, I really didn’t understand what my presence meant to them and how troubled that presence made them. The good news is that by the end of the week the church had invited me to be the first woman to serve behind the altar, to read Good Friday’s Gospel, and to be a chalice bearer.  I believe this change happened because the church got to know me, not the hypothetical crazy female whom they feared was out to destroy the Episcopal Church.  Regardless of age or gender, I was one working with them to assist, in the small ways that I could, as they healed after Hurricane Katrina. The Holy Spirit moved them and they came to see me as not someone to fear but as a person who believed in and worshipped the same God in the same way.

This memory stands out in my mind when I read today’s Gospel.  I realized that I was someone that people viewed as not fully fit to serve God, they saw me as an “other” and that got me thinking about what in our lives do we feel makes us an “other”, a leper, and what ways do we view others as lepers. This circular thinking sent me to reflect on how people, including me, view “others”.  I know that in some ways I can be viewed as a dork. Let’s face it, I’m officially a Church Dork. And on top of that, when I turned thirteen, all of a sudden—at least it seemed that way to me—I got curly hair, braces, glasses and acne.  I like Jane Austen to Star Wars, I like sports and being slightly preppy. Growing up I did not fit into a stereotypical stereotype, so dork covered it all.  I was the same “me” inside but I was so dismayed with all the awkwardness that I was sure others saw me as “other”. How often do we all—I know I do it-- see someone who looks or acts differently and label them with our own 21^st century label of leper?

Today, leprosy is known as Hanson’s disease, but in Jesus’ time, leprosy was a word that encompassed many diseases.  The label, leprosy, would have been used for anything that made a person look deformed, especially any disease that affected the skin, and particularly anything exposing raw flesh.   These people were considered unclean, not necessarily because they committed a sin, but because they were viewed as not fit to worship God. The culture saw them as unclean and therefore they were treated as such, and came to believe that they too were unclean.

In today’s Gospel the leper went up to Jesus, and I can almost hear his voice sounding deflated, begging Jesus, he said “If you choose, you can make me clean.” The leper did not ask Jesus to heal him; it is almost as if he did not think he was worthy of it. And Christ was moved with pity, not because of the man and the burden he bore, but I believe Jesus was moved with pity because the leper despised himself and felt he was worth nothing, not even worth asking Christ to heal him. 

The leper had to deal with his own internal struggle of not only the disease, but how he viewed himself. And on top of that, he had to deal with how others felt about him--how they turned from him, rejected him, and how they viewed him as not even worthy of God.

To not even feel worthy enough to worship God is an absolutely horrible place to be.  Yet there are people who have been in this position because they have done something or they are viewed as not worthy.

Today leprosies and their manifestations can come in many different forms. People with self-esteem issues can feel like everyone is watching them and that they aren’t worthy enough to be heard or cool enough to be in a particular situation. There is also the leprosy of social rejection from the want to separate us from the people who are different from us, especially from the homeless, who are the unclean of today. Leprosy today can be dismissing someone because of a mental or physical illness or disability. Or it can take on other forms—such as the animosity and bitterness between Democrats and Republicans today who won’t listen to each other, but reject, out of hand, based on political affiliation.

Modern day leprosies can be self-inflicted or they can be placed there by other people. Yet what I love in today’s Gospel is that in one second, Jesus made the leper clean. Can you imagine being able to be healed of our burdens, to put down the burdens that we have been carrying for a long time… and just be healed? It’s miraculous….and in most cases miracles don’t work like this. To put down the leprosy that we have been carrying for years is not something easily done.  But it can be done.

What the leper did was he acknowledged the issue he was carrying. In a week and a half Lent begins…the season of conscious acknowledgement of the areas in our lives that pull us from the love of God.   Now is the perfect time to begin to look at the areas in our lives that need to be cleaned, to be healed. What do we do or what burden do we carry that makes us feel unworthy of God’s love? What opinions, or whose opinion do we hold that keep us from reaching out to others?  What areas and reasons do we find to judge others as less-than ourselves?

We are ALWAYS worthy of God’s love and forgiveness.  All we have to do is approach God and be honest with Him and ourselves. It is that easy but it can be a challenge to lay down the burdens we have carried with us thus far. Today, all we have to do is to see the “us” that God sees and loves, and to see the person in our neighbor that God sees and loves.           

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In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. AMEN.