| Grace
to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen
The German New Testament theologian, Ernst
Käsemann, relates the following story about Jesus. The
event occurred in Amsterdam after the severe storms and floods
from which Holland suffered in 1952. The scene was one of
those parishes where people felt themselves strictly bound
to obey God’s commandments, and therefore to keep the
Sabbath holy. The place was so threatened by wind and waves
that the dyke had to be strengthened one Sunday if the inhabitants
were to survive. The police notified the pastor, who now found
himself in a religious difficulty. Should he call out the
people of the parish that had been entrusted to him, and set
them to do the necessary work, if it meant profaning the Sabbath?
Should he, on the contrary, abandon them to destruction in
order to honour the Sabbath? He found the burden of making
a personal decision too much for him. And he summoned the
church council to consult and decide. The discussion went
as one might suppose: We live to carry out God’s will.
God, being omnipotent, can always perform a miracle with the
wind and waves. Our duty is obedience, whether in life or
in death. The pastor tried one last argument, perhaps against
his own conviction: Did not Jesus himself, on occasion, break
the fourth commandment and declare that the Sabbath was made
for man, not man for the Sabbath? Thereupon a venerable old
man stood up: ‘I have always been troubled, Pastor,
by something that I have never yet ventured to say publicly.
Now I must say it. I have always had the feeling that our
Lord Jesus was just a bit of a liberal! (Jesus Means Freedom,
p. 16)
The gospel lesson today continues to haunt
that side of human nature that wants to live comfortably in
the social, political and economic conditions that are given.
The religious right panders to this deep seated desire to
maintain the status quo. They serve up new myths, for example,
that our founding fathers were all good Christians. (In my
college days we had to read Ben Franklin.) They ignore the
struggle of Catholics, Jews, Baptists and other groups who
did not want a Christian nation if by Christian was meant
some means by which to dominate if not persecute them.
The colonies became protectorates of diversity
and havens for persons who did not belong to the established
religious groupings. Rhode Island was sanctuary for the Baptists
from the Puritans. Maryland was a safe place for Catholics.
North Carolina was a new home for the persecuted Moravians.
Georgia took in the refugees of Salzburg, Austria, who were
driven out for having accepted the Lutheran Augsburg Confession
as a rule of faith.
Each of these groups found refuge because
the people of those colonies saw Jesus for whom he really
was: he was a disturber of the social, political and economic
status quo.
Jesus comes preaching a message declaring
who the real ruler of this world is. It is the God of the
covenants with Noah Abraham, and David. It is the God of Hebrew
scripture, the God who had led Israel through history.
Jesus announces that the time is ripe and
the kingdom of God has already drawn near. Repent and trust
in this good news. The God of Jesus is the Lord over all.
God cannot be trapped by laws, rules, and conventions. Listen
to Jesus’ response to the accusation of breaking God’s
law by healing on the Sabbath.
"Is
it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save
life or to kill?" But they were silent. He looked around
at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of
heart and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."
He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. (Mark 3:4-5)
The story
of the healing of the leper is filled with the similar social
challenges. It is important not to flatten this story as though
it is about miracles. That would leave us with one healed
leper and our unchanged hearts. Listen to what is going on
here.
The leper
approaches Jesus in trust that Jesus can heal him. The text
from the New Revised Standard Version says that Jesus had
pity on the leper and healed him. But some ancient texts state
that Jesus was angry. Just as he was angry at the officials
in the synagogue when he healed the man’s hand on the
Sabbath.
Our English
text does not help us in understanding what Jesus is doing.
There are two issues. The first is what constitutes leprosy.
Leprosy was not anyone particular disease. It refers to a
whole range of skin diseases that rendered the sick person
a threat to the integrity of the community. These persons
had to be removed from the community. They were outcasts.
They could not work. They could not be with family. They could
not be touched. These “untouchables” were considered
contagious and anyone who dealt with them was in danger. Anyone
who touched them was considered to be an outcast as well.
In this
story we can picture the full symbolic action of Jesus. The
text wants us to know that Jesus “stretched out his
hand and touched him.” Jesus himself becomes a leper,
an outcast.
If this
is not dangerous enough, Jesus then takes on himself the role
of a priest. He declares the leper clean. That is the job
of the priest. Interpreters trying to domesticate Jesus view
Jesus as conforming to the law when he sends the healed man
to the priest so that the priest can declare the man clean.
Actually it appears that this is Jesus’ way of getting
in the face of the priests and declaring that God is reordering
the world according to God’s rule.
Of course,
this backfired when the man did not go to the priest. He ignored
Jesus’ command to remain silent and went about freely
“proclaiming the word.” The word is the good news
of the kingdom, the lordship of God.
Another
common fallacy is the assumption that Jesus could no longer
go into the town because the healed man had made him too famous.
But that is not the meaning here. Jesus is not having a problem
with the paparazzi. He is under threat because he is disturbing
the social structure. It won’t be long before we read
in chapter 3 that the religious authorities have begun their
plot to kill Jesus. It is not because he cured a man of leprosy.
It is because Jesus is upsetting the status quo by touching
the outcast, by declaring the unclean to be clean, by returning
the man to his home, by returning the man to his work. We
must see Jesus’ work in the fullest range of its significance
for us today.
Dear
congregation, in the 100th anniversary year of the birth of
Dietrich Bonhoeffer we must ask this question with Bonhoeffer,
“Who is Jesus Christ for us today?” Our congregation
has had brilliant moments of discipleship but we also have
had disturbingly quiet days of inaction when it comes to issues
that are so troubling in our society. We are often quiet,
not wanting to disturb anyone. We especially don’t want
any conflict for fear that we could not pay the mortgage on
the new building.
We say
little about the stewardship of the earth and care of the
environment while American Evangelical theologians are running
full-page ads in the New York Times calling for a change of
heart among Americans and our leaders to preserve our natural
resources and tend to our world for future generations.
We sat
back watching our nation conduct war that was ill conceived,
badly planned, and roughly executed.
We said
nothing when Texas not only refused to give rights to certain
same-sex partners but outlawed any attempt to bring order
to those relationships.
And that’s
all in a congregation that is educated and mostly well-to-do.
We are a congregation that normally can deal with reality.
Are we going to be a congregation that deals with the issues
that are the hottest for our congregation and for our society?
In the
1980's when the question about homosexuality was laden with
the stigma of AIDS and HIV, this congregation welcomed gays
and lesbians to join and participate in the congregation’s
life. We were among the first to organize an AIDS care team
which gave thousands, if not tens of thousands of hours caring
for the sick and dying. When one couple wanted to be photographed
together for the church directory, we allowed it.
We are
at a point in our history whether we want to be more outspoken
in our sense of who we are. We are not democrat or republican,
we are not rich or poor, we are not doves or hawks, we are
not homosexual or heterosexual. We are all of these.
Who is
Jesus for us? Probably like the elder of the Dutch congregation,
Jesus is the one who is just a little bit too liberal for
our own comfort level. Still we hear his word today calling
us to follow him and risk our lives for the sake of his gospel.
Let us ever walk with Jesus.
And the
peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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