Loving The Unlovely
Sermon
When our eldest daughter was four, she crazed us to have a dog. She was a great animal lover - and still is. So for her fifth birthday we bought her a puppy.
The puppy was a great success within the whole household, and grew into a beautiful and quite large Rhodesian Ridgeback. We all got plenty of exercise, because you can't have a dog that size without walking it regularly. But the downside was, that after a year or so I developed eczema.
It started in a minor way with patches of itchy skin, but it gradually developed into sores which eventually became red, raw, weeping sores. I had cream to treat it, but the minute I stopped using the cream it all came back worse than before.
Since this condition appeared on the back of my hands, it was pretty noticeable. The reaction it produced in other people was very interesting. People would say very sympathetically and with deep concern, "Oh your poor hands! Have you scalded them?"
But when I replied that it wasn't a scald but eczema, they always drew back with an expression of horror quickly concealed, and an obvious revulsion.
There's something about skin diseases, even when everybody knows they're not contagious, which causes feelings of revulsion and therefore tends to exclude the sufferer from normal society.
In Jesus' day, that exclusion was legalised, so that people with skin diseases were regarded as unclean in the eyes of the law. It wasn't only skin diseases which caused uncleanness, and it wasn't unusual to be unclean for a while. This happened to most people at some time during their lives. People who were regarded as unclean were not allowed to be seen in public or to take part in any public gatherings, including worship.
It was a ritual uncleanness, which is why the unclean person had to show him or herself to the priest in order to be declared clean once again. Amongst others, people who were unclean included women who were menstruating, or who had given birth, or anyone who had touched a dead body whether human or animal, or those with skin diseases.
All skin diseases were lumped together under the one term, "leprosy". Some of those diseases were undoubtedly leprosy as we know it today, and those sufferers would be unclean for the whole of their lives. But other skin diseases, such as eczema, are cyclical. So those people would be declared clean and readmitted to normal society during the periods that the disease was in remission.
As the trade unions in this country 30 or 40 or 50 years ago knew only too well, expulsion from normal society is a very harsh and painful punishment. To be sent to Coventry and denied normal social interaction, is almost unbearable. Perhaps that's why, went he met the leper in today's story, Jesus was angry.
In the earliest manuscripts available, "had compassion" or "moved with pity" is translated "became angry". And perhaps this is more likely to be the correct translation, since later in the story we're told that Jesus "sternly warned" the leper.
Why would Jesus become angry with someone in such a pitiful condition, who was desperate to be readmitted to normal society? I suspect he wasn't angry with the leper, but was deeply angry with the society which excluded such people.
"If you will," said the leper, "you can make me clean."
"I can and I will," said Jesus. "You are clean, go and show yourself to the priest so that you may be readmitted to normal society, so that you may return to your friends and to your family."
Jesus was constantly concerned about the outcasts, about those who were on the edges of society, often through no fault of their own. He was constantly concerned about those who were shunned because of where they happened to find themselves in life.
Those who were poor, and therefore regarded as sinners, because wealth was thought to be a sign of God's blessing, therefore the reverse was thought to be true - that poverty was a sign of God's displeasure.
Those who were sick and therefore regarded as sinners, because again, health was thought to be a sign of God's favour and therefore sickness was thought to be God's punishment as a result of sin.
Those - the prostitutes - who had sold their bodies in order to survive, and were therefore clearly sinners, because they were breaking the 7th commandment, thou shalt not commit adultery.
Those - the tax collectors and publicans - who were shunned by virtue of their job, because they worked for the enemy power, Rome, and were therefore regarded as collaborators.
I don't think it's any exaggeration to say that Jesus directed his ministry towards such people. But he did more than simply minister to them, although that was a very large part of his life. He also identified with them, and walked alongside them. He named them amongst his friends, he shared their way of life and eventually he shared their lot by being rejected himself by society.
Jesus' vision was for a kingdom where all would be equal. Where no one would be left out because of his or her position in life, where everyone would be free to develop to their fullest potential with no legal chains or shackles preventing that development.
In a study called "Jesus, Purity, and the Christian Study of Judaism", Paula Fredericksen of Boston university says this: "... The kingdom means freedom also for lepers. They are not the last group to be ostracised because of their illness. Most people who live with a disability can tell stories about being ostracised, especially if that disability is to be seen. People with AIDS carry a similar stigma..."
As the church, it's up to us to include all-comers. Jesus excluded no one. Nobody had to pass a test, nobody was considered not good enough, and there were no criteria for entry except the desire to be there. And everyone was valued for the unique person that he or she was. Jesus threw open the gates of the kingdom and cried, "Come in all of you! You're all welcome!" And when those who were invited refused to attend the feast, he dragged in the poor and the halt and the lame and the rejected.
As his church, surely we should do the same.
The puppy was a great success within the whole household, and grew into a beautiful and quite large Rhodesian Ridgeback. We all got plenty of exercise, because you can't have a dog that size without walking it regularly. But the downside was, that after a year or so I developed eczema.
It started in a minor way with patches of itchy skin, but it gradually developed into sores which eventually became red, raw, weeping sores. I had cream to treat it, but the minute I stopped using the cream it all came back worse than before.
Since this condition appeared on the back of my hands, it was pretty noticeable. The reaction it produced in other people was very interesting. People would say very sympathetically and with deep concern, "Oh your poor hands! Have you scalded them?"
But when I replied that it wasn't a scald but eczema, they always drew back with an expression of horror quickly concealed, and an obvious revulsion.
There's something about skin diseases, even when everybody knows they're not contagious, which causes feelings of revulsion and therefore tends to exclude the sufferer from normal society.
In Jesus' day, that exclusion was legalised, so that people with skin diseases were regarded as unclean in the eyes of the law. It wasn't only skin diseases which caused uncleanness, and it wasn't unusual to be unclean for a while. This happened to most people at some time during their lives. People who were regarded as unclean were not allowed to be seen in public or to take part in any public gatherings, including worship.
It was a ritual uncleanness, which is why the unclean person had to show him or herself to the priest in order to be declared clean once again. Amongst others, people who were unclean included women who were menstruating, or who had given birth, or anyone who had touched a dead body whether human or animal, or those with skin diseases.
All skin diseases were lumped together under the one term, "leprosy". Some of those diseases were undoubtedly leprosy as we know it today, and those sufferers would be unclean for the whole of their lives. But other skin diseases, such as eczema, are cyclical. So those people would be declared clean and readmitted to normal society during the periods that the disease was in remission.
As the trade unions in this country 30 or 40 or 50 years ago knew only too well, expulsion from normal society is a very harsh and painful punishment. To be sent to Coventry and denied normal social interaction, is almost unbearable. Perhaps that's why, went he met the leper in today's story, Jesus was angry.
In the earliest manuscripts available, "had compassion" or "moved with pity" is translated "became angry". And perhaps this is more likely to be the correct translation, since later in the story we're told that Jesus "sternly warned" the leper.
Why would Jesus become angry with someone in such a pitiful condition, who was desperate to be readmitted to normal society? I suspect he wasn't angry with the leper, but was deeply angry with the society which excluded such people.
"If you will," said the leper, "you can make me clean."
"I can and I will," said Jesus. "You are clean, go and show yourself to the priest so that you may be readmitted to normal society, so that you may return to your friends and to your family."
Jesus was constantly concerned about the outcasts, about those who were on the edges of society, often through no fault of their own. He was constantly concerned about those who were shunned because of where they happened to find themselves in life.
Those who were poor, and therefore regarded as sinners, because wealth was thought to be a sign of God's blessing, therefore the reverse was thought to be true - that poverty was a sign of God's displeasure.
Those who were sick and therefore regarded as sinners, because again, health was thought to be a sign of God's favour and therefore sickness was thought to be God's punishment as a result of sin.
Those - the prostitutes - who had sold their bodies in order to survive, and were therefore clearly sinners, because they were breaking the 7th commandment, thou shalt not commit adultery.
Those - the tax collectors and publicans - who were shunned by virtue of their job, because they worked for the enemy power, Rome, and were therefore regarded as collaborators.
I don't think it's any exaggeration to say that Jesus directed his ministry towards such people. But he did more than simply minister to them, although that was a very large part of his life. He also identified with them, and walked alongside them. He named them amongst his friends, he shared their way of life and eventually he shared their lot by being rejected himself by society.
Jesus' vision was for a kingdom where all would be equal. Where no one would be left out because of his or her position in life, where everyone would be free to develop to their fullest potential with no legal chains or shackles preventing that development.
In a study called "Jesus, Purity, and the Christian Study of Judaism", Paula Fredericksen of Boston university says this: "... The kingdom means freedom also for lepers. They are not the last group to be ostracised because of their illness. Most people who live with a disability can tell stories about being ostracised, especially if that disability is to be seen. People with AIDS carry a similar stigma..."
As the church, it's up to us to include all-comers. Jesus excluded no one. Nobody had to pass a test, nobody was considered not good enough, and there were no criteria for entry except the desire to be there. And everyone was valued for the unique person that he or she was. Jesus threw open the gates of the kingdom and cried, "Come in all of you! You're all welcome!" And when those who were invited refused to attend the feast, he dragged in the poor and the halt and the lame and the rejected.
As his church, surely we should do the same.
