Mark 1:40-45
I was doing some research in the seminary one day about leprosy. In the Jewish tradition, leprosy was not necessarily what we call leprosy today. We can identify the microorganism involved, what strain it is and so forth. The ancients had no such knowledge. Obviously they understood the danger and wished to keep anyone with leprosy at a distance. In their efforts to do so, the term leprosy applied to a variety of dermatological conditions. They included psoriasis, infectious wounds and of course true leprosy. They even expanded the term leprosy to clothing that was 'bad'. A moldy shirt, a stained coat. An animal skin that had not been tanned properly. Leprosy covered a lot of ground.
Was Jesus then, as God, able to tell which were the real cases of leprosy and which were really the non-infectious variety of condition? I mean, you'd think he'd have to know and that would explain why he was willing to reach out and touch a leper or simply be in close proximity of one. For whatever Jesus knew and when he knew it, I don't think he had that kind of human knowledge. I mean, as God, could he have quoted the type of bacteria that was causing this man's problem? Was he a diagnostician in addition to everything else?
Of course the answer is really unknown. Jesus could have possessed all knowledge at birth. This is a big theological question for sure, one I will not be entering into here.
I am quite content to move forward with a basic idea that Jesus simply embraced everyone and that included the dreaded lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors, women in general (who in those days were really mere chattel ) and many other outcasts of society. He embraced , loved and forgave sins boundlessly. In the process he chastised the status quo, condemned the temple elite for their burdensome laws and lack of faith, their lack of purity (of heart).
Of course you have every reason to assume I am railing against the way the LGBT community is treated, looked down upon and denied rights. We might be the lepers of today. But within that cozy gay LGBT community, what about LGBTQ ? and what about LGBT Q and I ? Yes "I". The acronym it seems is ever growing and ever embracing. Is it? In the great state of New York we have marriage equality. Does the gay community now abandon the rest of those letters because they have what they wanted? Are we truly a community? As a gay man, am I able to embrace all the other letters of that growing acronym with the same fearlessness, love and sincerity that Jesus embraced everyone with?
As a gay man who has experienced being the outcast on many levels, I have a calling to appreciate, empathize and embrace others who also feel marginalized, who also feel hopeless, who have been made to feel as if they are an aberration of humanity.
If I know that God loves me and believe God loves all. If I believe God created each one of us with intention, purpose and love, I must not only help my brothers and sisters and the indeterminate as well, I must reach out embrace and help heal their hurts. I must love as Jesus loved.
I was doing some research in the seminary one day about leprosy. In the Jewish tradition, leprosy was not necessarily what we call leprosy today. We can identify the microorganism involved, what strain it is and so forth. The ancients had no such knowledge. Obviously they understood the danger and wished to keep anyone with leprosy at a distance. In their efforts to do so, the term leprosy applied to a variety of dermatological conditions. They included psoriasis, infectious wounds and of course true leprosy. They even expanded the term leprosy to clothing that was 'bad'. A moldy shirt, a stained coat. An animal skin that had not been tanned properly. Leprosy covered a lot of ground.
Was Jesus then, as God, able to tell which were the real cases of leprosy and which were really the non-infectious variety of condition? I mean, you'd think he'd have to know and that would explain why he was willing to reach out and touch a leper or simply be in close proximity of one. For whatever Jesus knew and when he knew it, I don't think he had that kind of human knowledge. I mean, as God, could he have quoted the type of bacteria that was causing this man's problem? Was he a diagnostician in addition to everything else?
Of course the answer is really unknown. Jesus could have possessed all knowledge at birth. This is a big theological question for sure, one I will not be entering into here.
I am quite content to move forward with a basic idea that Jesus simply embraced everyone and that included the dreaded lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors, women in general (who in those days were really mere chattel ) and many other outcasts of society. He embraced , loved and forgave sins boundlessly. In the process he chastised the status quo, condemned the temple elite for their burdensome laws and lack of faith, their lack of purity (of heart).
Of course you have every reason to assume I am railing against the way the LGBT community is treated, looked down upon and denied rights. We might be the lepers of today. But within that cozy gay LGBT community, what about LGBTQ ? and what about LGBT Q and I ? Yes "I". The acronym it seems is ever growing and ever embracing. Is it? In the great state of New York we have marriage equality. Does the gay community now abandon the rest of those letters because they have what they wanted? Are we truly a community? As a gay man, am I able to embrace all the other letters of that growing acronym with the same fearlessness, love and sincerity that Jesus embraced everyone with?
As a gay man who has experienced being the outcast on many levels, I have a calling to appreciate, empathize and embrace others who also feel marginalized, who also feel hopeless, who have been made to feel as if they are an aberration of humanity.
If I know that God loves me and believe God loves all. If I believe God created each one of us with intention, purpose and love, I must not only help my brothers and sisters and the indeterminate as well, I must reach out embrace and help heal their hurts. I must love as Jesus loved.
A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, ‘If you choose, you can make me clean.’ Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’ Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, saying to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’ But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesu could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.
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