St. Luke's Episcopal Church
Cleveland, Tennessee

Sixth Sunday after Epiphany
February 15, 2009
The Rev'd Deacon Art Bass

Bold Choices

There is a well known cliché that life is all about choices. While that statement is one of hyperbole and over simplification, there is no denying that in our lives we are confronted with many choices, both great and small, and of course, all of our choices bring consequences.
Today’s gospel reading is a story about compassionate healing, but it is also a story about choices: a choice by the leper who was seeking to be healed and a choice by the one from whom healing was being sought, Jesus.
Today’s narrative begins where last week’s gospel left off. Jesus, in the very early part of his Galilean ministry had established a sort of home base in the town of Capernaum. There he gathered his first disciples, he taught in the local synagogue, and he performed healings. All of this had led to Jesus’ growing reputation in Capernaum and in the region beyond. So in last week’s gospel, we heard how, after prayer and meditation, Jesus informed his disciples that it was time to venture outside Capernaum to the other towns in Galilee and to bring his ministry and his message to the people who lived in those other towns.
This is what Jesus and his followers were doing, they were out on the road, when Jesus was confronted by a man, who was a leper. We don’t know the exact medical diagnosis of this man’s disease. It could have been Hansen’s Disease, which is what we generally mean when we say leprosy today, but most likely it was not. “Leprosy” as the word is used in Mark’s gospel and throughout the New Testament can refer to any type of outwardly visible skin disorder or psoriasis.
But whatever the exact nature of this man’s affliction, in the culture of the time, it was considered a very serious matter. It was thought to be the result of some grave sin, an offense against God, committed either by this individual or by his parents, and for which, God was punishing this man.
He was unclean. He could not worship with his neighbors, and he could not take part in any community activity or gathering. In fact, he was expected to keep to himself, to live in strict isolation. He was only to venture outside if absolutely necessary, and when he did, he would be expected to call out to everyone whom he might come near: “Unclean, unclean!” For people to throw sticks and stones at this man would be considered perfectly acceptable and appropriate behavior.
Now consider who Jesus was, or at least how he was perceived by the people: a young rabbi, who taught not from tradition, but with an authority all his own. He had a following and a growing reputation. Wherever he went, wherever he was, he attracted a crowd. People were beginning to ask themselves, “Could he be a prophet?” Or even, “Could it be possible, just possible, that he might…. be the One?”
That a leper, this unclean human abomination, would dare approach anyone was unthinkable. That he would choose to approach a rabbi like Jesus would be to invite potentially an angry rebuke from Jesus, and perhaps, even a violent and destructive response from Jesus’ followers.
Yet this leper did the unexpected. He made the unconventional choice. He chose to approach and engage Jesus.
Coming before Jesus, the man knelt down, and he said: "If you choose, you can make me clean.”
We don’t know what this man knew about Jesus before this encounter. We don’t know what stories he had heard. Mark doesn’t tell us. But somehow, this leper had sufficient trust and sufficient faith to know that he need not fear Jesus and to believe with confidence that Jesus could heal him.
“If you choose, you can make me clean”, and Jesus, moved by pity and by compassion, responded, “I do choose.”
Brushing aside all culture, all convention, and all thought of self, Jesus touched the man who had leprosy, and the man was made clean…. Two bold choices: a bold request based on trust and faith, and a bold response from Jesus.
Jesus had healed the man, but for him to be able to reenter society, he would have to be declared clean by a priest and follow the rules and rituals which the law required in such cases. Jesus told the man to do all those things.
He also told him to tell no one of how he had been healed. This is what scholars refer to as the “Messianic Secret”, a recurrent motif in Mark’s gospel. It is a topic we could spend hours discussing, but not today…. perhaps some future time in church school. For today, suffice it to say that despite this stern and sincere admonition by Jesus, the man told everyone about his healing, spreading freely the story of what Jesus had done for him. The gospel tells us that after that, Jesus could no longer go into any town because of all the people crowding him and asking for healing. So Jesus and his disciples began staying out in the country, and even there, people came to him from every quarter.
In our lives as Christians, we have choices to make: choices about our relationship to God and choices about our relationship to our neighbors.
Like the leper in the gospel story, for all of us, there are things in our lives which are broken, things which need healing. We all, without exception, stand in need of forgiveness and reconciliation. But no matter what we have done, no matter how broken we may be, we need have no fear of coming before God with our problems, of approaching Christ, and asking to be healed. Christ is loving and compassionate in all things. We are his children, and he will never turn us away. In joy or in sorrow, in pain or in comfort, in all aspects of our lives we should choose God and boldly trust in him and in his power and ability to help us.
Likewise, in all our interactions with others, both in the church and in the world around us, as Christians, we are ever called to imitate Christ. Like Jesus in today’s gospel, without regard to culture or convention and without regard to self consequence, we are to be bold in love and bold in service. God’s grace empowers us to do this. Trusting God and trusting in his grace, we can with confidence follow our Lord’s example, and whenever the opportunity arises, whenever we encounter someone in need, always make the choice to do that which is caring, that which is compassionate, that which is Christ-like. AMEN