Impurity and boundless love

       There is a lot to unpack here in this passage from Luke. The two things that strike me most are a reaffirmation of Jesus' humanity / compassion and secondly, how that compassion drives him to do the unthinkable for his time - touch a dead body. 

       There were so many rules that the Jews were required to follow to stay holy and ritually pure. The fact is, many of those rules were meant more to prevent illness or to just make life survivable in the hostile environment of the desert. They may not have known the technical details of Trichinella spiralis but they sure as hell knew about what it meant. No wonder pork was forbidden. The concepts of refrigeration, preserving foods etc were far away into the future. Some rules made eminent sense for their time.

         I suppose touching a dead body could be a source of illness too but Jesus will have none of that. Jesus' compassion drives him to do extraordinary things and far beyond what we as mere mortals judge as good and bad, black or white. The list of times and circumstances when Jesus broke or shattered rules is legendary and legion. His behavior is such that we must use that information as a witness to how we should act and think.

         There are some other remarkable stories of people who put their own lives at risk for the sake of compassion and faith. The stories of Father Damien or Mother Theresa are real life, honest to God, legends, truthful and holy. Those are only two of the notable examples of people who challenged what would make someone untouchable or ritually impure.

         Perhaps we need to look at what really, truly makes people impure. Question everything we are told. Hold fast to that which is true and holy.  That process is often at odds with institutional religion. We are called beyond any institution and to be like the man, Jesus. Provocative? Are we called to emulate the original Provocateur, Jesus?

          In all this talk of what makes one ritually impure I cannot help but note that Jesus did not take the ritually acceptable train of thought on a variety of issues. Jesus surely did not hate anyone and his actions are a witness to his ever expanding, inclusive love.

          Question what is impure, be compassionate, loving and all embracing. That is what Jesus tried to teach us in his daily life, a life he surrendered for each and every one of us, pure and 'impure'. 

       

Luke 7:11-17

Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town.When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, ‘Young man, I say to you, rise!’ The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has risen among us!’ and ‘God has looked favourably on his people!’ This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.