A leper confronted Jesus and said to him, "If you want to, you can make me clean." I would imagine that the crowd around Jesus fell silent. They all gazed at him and wanted to see what he was going to do. They probably said to themselves, "One thing he would never do is touch him." Then they remembered that in his previous healing incidents he did touch those who were sick. "Would he now risk such a thing?" they murmured one to another. What made this such an electrifying moment was the fact that they never knew what Jesus was going to do.
Taking A Risk
We probably have never considered this, but the leper was also taking a risk. Under the law he was not supposed to be within the camp (Leviticus 13:46). He would wear his bell to warn others that he was in the area and they should keep clear. He was among the untouchables, the lowest level on the social ladder. By being where he was, he was risking stern rebuke on the part of the bystanders. They could take violent action against him because they feared the disease so greatly. He also risked disappointment. In the first century, leprosy was a persistent and incurable skin disease. The person was unsightly because of his rotting flesh, and the stench associated with it was unbearable. Once you had it, you had it for a lifetime. There was no getting rid of it. No wonder this man sought out Jesus regardless of the cost and the disappointment. Here was his only hope of being healed of this dreaded disease and being restored to health and society.
In his pleading for cleansing and restoration he was taking a major risk. He may not be healed. He may be rejected. He may be forced by the crowd to go back to his leper colony. Everyone could readily see if his skin was cleansed or not. He couldn't fake it. He was willing to risk all of this and threw himself on the mercy of Jesus. His faith is expressed in his words, "If you choose, you can make me clean." This underscores his firm faith in Jesus. He was convinced that Jesus could restore him physically, spiritually, and socially.
The Response To Human Need
Jesus also ran serious risks in this encounter. His response to the leper's request was first to stretch out his hand and touch him. Then Jesus said to him, "I do choose. Be made clean." A shudder of horror, of revulsion, of consternation and of surprise swept through the crowd. Jesus was always getting himself in trouble in his love and concern for others. He knew what he was doing was risky, but he never gave it a second thought because he was so preoccupied by the cry of human need. Human need took precedence over everything else. No strict Jew would ever venture near anyone who suffered from such a recognizable stigmata. No one in his right senses would risk health and ritual integrity by actually daring to touch the flesh of one who was regarded as so unclean and defiled as this leper. But Jesus did! Without any hesitation he defied priestly and Talmudic ban on approaching and touching an unclean object. This was an anti-traditionalistic and anti-establishment action on his part. Jesus wanted everyone in earshot to hear his direct response to a direct appeal. "I do choose! Be made clean!" Concern for human need that day overrode any desire to maintain legalistic concerns. Jesus was motivated by a deep feeling of compassion and pity for the leper. He gave no thought for his own safety and well-being.
The Incurable Is Cured
Look what happened that day in Galilee. A person who was suffering from the cruel banning from society and was made untouchable had been touched by the healing hands of Jesus. The unapproachable had been approached. The untouchable had been touched. The incurable had been cured. The unclean and the contaminated had been miraculously destroyed and dispersed. And in the words of S.G. Browne, "In that action, a whole world of misjudgments, misunderstandings and mistranslations was swept away."
The important words for us today are Jesus' words "I will." When Jesus was faced with the most dreaded disease in the first century, his intentions were to bring healing. For every sufferer today the main point lies in Jesus' response, "I will." By this reply Jesus shows us that he can in fact heal even the most dreaded diseases, such as leprosy, cancer or AIDS. These words "I will" are words of grace and hope to the leper, but also good news to the reader: God wills healing. God is on the side of the healers.
Going Beyond Stereotypes
This is how Jesus always met men and women. He met them on the level of their need, regardless of who they were or what they had done. He met everyone as human beings, never as stereotypes. Stereotypes were as powerful then as they are now. Once a label is placed on a person the human being vanishes. Many labels were given to people in the New Testament -- such labels as tax collector, Samaritan, Roman soldier, prostitute, rich young man, Pharisee, sinner or publican. They all appear in the gospel narrative, and every time Jesus completely ignores the label and deals with the person. This is certainly true of his encounters with Matthew, Zacchaeus, the traveler on the Jericho road, the centurion, Mary Magdalene, and Nicodemus. David H.C. Read points out that "Jesus knew the ugly side of society -- the brutality of the occupation, the corruption of the tax system, the racial prejudices, the economic injustice, the religious hypocrisy, and the sexual degradation. But never once did these factors blind him to the reality of the human being, the unique son or daughter of God he saw before him."
From Words To Action
When Jesus was confronted with human need, cautiousness and prudence were not his characteristic traits but compassion, concern and action were. For Jesus religion was a hands-on affair. This is where we as the church run into problems. We have a chronic problem of being able to get things done. We are afflicted in our outreach. Our minds approve the gospel, our hearts have emotionally sincere feelings for love and service, but our concern to help seems to have difficulty getting from our hearts through our minds to our hands. We have difficulty getting our hands and hearts to cooperate. We have been caught up in a "cult of verbal Christianity." We are possessed by the delusion of glowing words. The feeling of many is that if we have talked about something, approved a motion, appointed a committee, or written a definitive paper on the subject then we have done our job. How many church people pass a resolution on racism but never encounter those of another race? How many people take part in heated discussion about how to minister to the homeless, but do not know one homeless person. Jesus in his hands-on approach did the unthinkable thing -- he reached out and touched the unclean.
Where Is Christ?
In his book, Faith Seeking Understanding, Daniel Migliore points out that since the New Testament it has been the principle of ecclesiology that where Christ is, there is the church. But where is Christ? Christian doctrine would say: Christ is where the bishop is; Christ is where the gifts of the Spirit are manifest; Christ is where the sacraments are celebrated and the Word rightly proclaimed. There is an element of truth in all of these answers, yet none of them explicitly includes the response given in Matthew 25:31ff. It is here that we discover Christ is among the poor, the hungry, the sick, and the imprisoned. Those who minister to the wretched of the earth minister to Christ. Migliore goes on to point out that the true church is not only the church of the ear where the gospel is rightly preached and heard. The church is not only the church of the eye where the sacraments are enacted for the faithful to see and experience. But the church is also the church of the outstretched helping hand. This passage in Matthew 25 reveals clearly to us that Christ is among the poor, and the church is the people of God free enough to enter into solidarity with the poor. Here in Galilee Jesus' encounter with the leper certainly affirms this fact. Today we need to let the church be the church, the body of Christ in the midst of the world. We need to carry on the hands-on ministry that Jesus inaugurated.
I wonder what God thinks about us. Sunday after Sunday we experience the challenge of the gospel in our worship services. We are inspired by God's word and uplifted by the magnitude and splendor of our church music. But after our mountaintop experience together, we allow our hands to fall idle and fail to extend the love of God to others in concrete terms.
I heard a story about a statue of Christ in a church in Europe that was hit by a bomb during World War II. They dug up the statue and discovered that it was undamaged except for the hands that had been broken off. They hired a sculptor to replace the hands. Finally, they decided to leave it like it was as a reminder to the people that Christ has no hands but ours to do his work. "Jesus stretched out his hands and touched him."