Many fundamentalist Christian groups would have us believe that the Bible has all the answers to the questions of life. For them, difficult situations are black and white when one consults scripture for the right choice to make or the wrong decision to avoid. In struggling with how to respond to a particular dilemma, the Bible tells us precisely what to do. What's more, such an approach to daily life also evaluates how acceptable we are to God in terms of how obedient we are to these biblical injunctions. 

Given the complexity of life, that is a mighty appealing promise, as evidenced by the popularity of conservative fundamentalism in our country at this time in history. However, I have found such simplicity to be an illusion. Life is not all black and white. People are not either good or bad. Decisions are not always either all right or all wrong. I am reminded of a comment made by the theologian, Paul Tillich: "The character of human life, like the character of the human condition, like the character of all life, is 'ambiguity': the inseparable mixture of good and evil, the true and false, the creative and destructive forces -- both individual and social." 

As I read Mark's account of Jesus healing a leper, this ambiguity jumped out at me. A leper begged to be healed. Jesus was moved with pity. He sternly warned him. He sent the leper to fulfill Moses' commands. I realize it is a very short passage. But I found myself feeling puzzled about the widely varying feelings and reactions Mark described. I found myself asking if this was a story about God's compassionate concern or a message about so-called "tough love." 

A favorite hymn for many has been "There's A Wideness In God's Mercy." One of my seminary professors insisted vehemently that we should stop singing the hymn because it contained "bad theology," referring to a line in the last verse: "Greater good because of evil, Larger mercy through the fall." He felt that phrase gave evil too much "importance" in our experience of God's goodness. 

Although I could see his point at the time, I was not about to write off this wonderful hymn just because of one phrase. Over the years I have come to understand that these words poetically describe the ambiguity of life which I am lifting up before you this morning. Good and evil do exist side by side in each of us. Martin Luther describes us as both saint and sinner. Even the great Christian hero, Saint Paul, exclaimed, "The good I would I do not, and the evil that I would not, that I do. Oh, wretched person that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:19, 24). 

As we look at the leper in today's Gospel, we discover that genuine Christianity is not a matter of "total" obedience, or correct decisions, or simple choices. Rather, it is a matter of faith in the goodness of God to whom we come without fear and to whom we can say without reservation, "If you will, you can make me clean," trusting that God's response to us will be, "I will; be clean." 

I'm not sure that we realize the incredible amount of courage and faith it took for that leper to approach Jesus. Leprosy was one of the most dreaded diseases one could get. It resulted in the leper being exiled to a life without family and friends. A leper could not live within the city walls or eat with fellow Jews. A leper could never be touched by someone because the leper was considered "unclean," his illness the result of some grievous sin. 

We now call leprosy Hansen's Disease, and we have learned how to treat it. We no longer exile people who have contracted it to communities far off the beaten path of society. We no longer attribute leprosy to the result of some prior sin. It occurs to me that our "modern leprosy" has become the disease of AIDS. When I see how society seeks to ostracize people with AIDS, I begin to wonder if they feel like that leper felt. I know that they are judged by many groups in society, Christians included. I see their situation as a striking example of life's ambiguity over good and bad in the same setting. 

Notice what it took to change the leper's situation: the healing touch of Jesus. Throughout the Gospels, it is Jesus' touch which brings good from bad. It has nothing to do with the "moral fiber" of the person making the request. Remember the story of the adulterous woman? Did Jesus ask her to change her ways and then come back to him? Of course not. To be sure he did send her off with the command to "go and sin no more." However, that was a challenge to respond and not a condition! Jesus also sent the leper off with the command to fulfill Moses' cleanliness laws. But again, it was not a condition for being healed. 

I hate to admit this, but I suspect that we Christians frequently turn our moral principles into conditions which must be met before others can receive the healing touch of the master. Unfortunately, we do it subtly and in the name of right and wrong. I hesitate to mention this because of its volatility, but the controversy in churches today over homosexuality is one example. Our public arguments over whether or not homosexuality is really a sin has obscured the need to extend the healing touch of Jesus to those in our congregations who are gay or lesbian. It is an issue filled with ambiguity. It is not a matter of black or white. But we must not lose sight of the fact that those on the receiving end of the church's judgments are persons who are valued by God and whose need for Jesus' healing touch is every bit the same as ours. 

There is one other element in this story which is important to notice. After Jesus healed the leper and told him to fulfill the Mosaic conditions for cleanliness, he also warned him not to tell anyone about how this all happened. However, the leper could not keep quiet. The change in his life was so powerful that it prompted the response of personal witness about his experience. When Jesus touches your life, how do you respond? Do you tell others? Are you eager to share your experience of God's grace? Are you eager to share what you have with others who do not have? 

I'll be blunt about this: personal witness and personal stewardship are not church membership requirements. They are a natural result of being touched by the grace of God. As a church member, are you required to do personal evangelism? Are you required to tithe of your time, talent, and treasure? The answer is, "No!" However, I will be equally direct and say that once you have experienced the healing touch of Jesus at the center of your soul, you will want to respond! You won't be able to contain yourself. It doesn't make any difference whether that touch has been physical or spiritual, the results are the same. 

My prayer for all of us this morning is that God will help us stay open to the touch of Jesus. I pray that we will have the trust and courage of that leper to seek out that touch even when we don't feel worthy to receive it. I pray that we would have compassion for those whom others label as unacceptable and seek to accept them as already included in God's gracious embrace. I pray that the power of the Master's healing touch would produce the overwhelming response of wanting to tell others about the wideness in God's mercy.