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SERMONS

The Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
February 16, 2003

I was at Broad Street Bakery earlier this week and noticed three young men. They were probably high school students. Their dress and appearance made them stand out from the rest of the bakery customers. All three had long, shaggy hair. They were dressed in tee shirts and baggy trousers. One had the beginnings of a thin beard.

They appeared to be comfortable with-even pleased with-their Bohemianism, their differentness. They appeared to enjoy standing out from the generally well-dressed Banner Hall patrons.

But I knew clearly that-as different as their appearance was from that crowd, and as much as they delighted in that differentness - if I had seen them among their friends and fellow students, they would have been totally unremarkable. They would have looked just like everyone else.

I was reminded of my own freshman year in college, in 1970. As I recall I owned one pair of jeans, which I wore every day. Mercifully, because of a fading memory I don't remember what, if anything, I did when they got dirty.

Fitting in - being a part of a community - is important to adolescents, but not only to them. It is important to all of us. Indeed, it is a piece of what is implied in the creation story when God says, "It is not good for the human to be alone." We are made to live in relationship. We are made to live in community. We do not want to be totally alone.

Communities provide companionship. Communities provide identity. Communities provide security.

We show that we are members of a community by conforming to its expectations, to its norms. What we eat, what we wear, where we live, what we say, the company we keep … all of these are, to some extent dictated by the communities to which we belong.

So expulsion from one's community is a terrible experience. It was the experience of the leper in today's gospel. Leprosy, as it is used in the Bible, is not the disease that we know today. It probably refers to a variety of scaly skin disorders. Lepers in the Bible did not pose any physical danger to others. The were dangerous because they were unclean. And anyone who touched them would become unclean as well. So, for the protection of the community, they were expelled. If their disorder ever went away they could be restored to the community after being examined by a priest and pronounced clean.

In today's gospel account, a leper approaches Jesus and asks for healing. "If you choose," he says, "you can make me clean."

Jesus reaches out his hand to him and touches him. "I do choose," Jesus says. "Be made clean!" And, we are told, the leprosy leaves him.

Jesus then instructs the man to say nothing, but to immediately go to a priest in order that he might be pronounced cured. This is the procedure to be followed for the man to be able to reenter the community.

But surprisingly the man does not follow Jesus' instructions. He does not go to a priest. He does not seek to reenter his old community. Rather he goes out and begins to spread the word of what Jesus has done for him. And, Mark tells us, he does it so effectively-or the word is so powerful-that Jesus can no longer enter towns openly but must stay out in the country, where people from everywhere come to see him.

This man turns his back on his old community; a community that raised and nurtures him, but one that can no longer give him life. And he embraces a new community: a community that is centered on the person Jesus; a community that has welcomed him in despite his leprosy, despite his uncleanness, despite his unacceptability; a community that has brought him acceptance; a community that has brought him healing and hope; a community that has brought him wholeness; a community that has brought him life.

If we are to be true to our Lord, then perhaps we might follow his example. Every day we encounter those on the margins, those who are hated or despised or ignored, those who have no community.

If we are to be true to our Lord we cannot turn our backs on them, we cannot despise them, we cannot walk away. If we are to be true to our Lord we are called to respond to them, we are called to reach out to them, we are called to touch them, we are called to offer them our Lord's word of acceptance, of healing, of life.

And in their healing we will find ourselves healed as well.

"If you choose Lord, you can make us clean."

Even so Lord, quickly come.

David Christian
The Chapel of the Cross
Madison, Mississippi

Mark 1:40-45