Luke 5:27-28
In a team of outsiders, Levi was the Misfit of Misfits. Jesus was collecting quite a mix of followers and his inside team of Twelve came to reflect this – zealots (politico-religious radicals) pushing for the overthrow of the Roman oppressors, Galileans looked down on in Jerusalem, fishermen who didn’t exactly rank high on the social totem pole, and so on. But at least they were all decent folks, the kind that would be allowed in your neighborhood synagogue, if not into your family through marriage to your daughter.
Levi, on the other hand, was a tax collector. In our day and age, people who work for the IRS get no respect. In Levi’s day, they were considered the worst of sinners, something in the category that homosexuals and sex offenders are classed these days. I suppose a tax collector with leprosy (if this were possible) would have been the most outcast of all.
In any case, the devout religious leaders were simply aghast that Jesus would associate with such rank sinners. Unlike most revenuers of our day, tax collectors back then were corrupt beyond measure. They really were all that their reputations claimed for them. There was no earthly reason for Jesus to associate with the likes of Levi.
But there was a heavenly one. For as Jesus said in answer to the Pharisees’ dismay, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” Jesus didn’t come for those who didn’t need his help. You want to see Jesus? You have to admit your need of him.
Of all the tax collectors, and there were plenty, something must have stood out about Levi (whom we also know as Matthew). For Luke writes that Jesus went out and found Levi at his tax booth. Whether Levi and Jesus had met before is not stated, but Jesus spoke to him and right there on the spot told Levi to “follow me.”
The cryptic nature of the text can make it sound like Levi just up and left his table. I don’t know there is any reason to think that. It seems just as plausible that Levi turned over his tax collecting business to others nearby, people he knew. But in that day and age, this would not have needed to be a lengthy process. “Here, Joseph, you take my records and receipts. I’ll give you some cash to cover expenses. John, would you pay these bills for me? I’ll reward you richly for your effort.”
Jesus didn’t necessarily condemn the practice of collecting taxes, he just did not like the way the tax collectors oppressed the poor and cheated everyone. So Levi didn’t need to flee his collection booth any more than Peter had to flee his boat. In both cases, they did leave their work, most likely turning it over to someone else in the process.
Apparently, Levi stayed in touch with his old tax collecting, rip-off artist buddies. He even held a banquet to which he invited all of them to attend. When we come to Jesus we certainly leave our old ways of doing things behind, though it takes time to figure out what needs to be discarded. We may even have to loosen our relational ties a bit with old friends long enough to establish healthier habits in our own lives.
But no where does Jesus command his followers to cut themselves off from their families, their old neighborhoods, even their old jobs. Okay, Jesus does say that unless we leave family, we cannot follow him, but there he is speaking of reversing priorities in our lives. Some of his followers, particularly the Twelve, did leave their old jobs to travel full time with Jesus. But the old jobs and friends were not necessarily the sinful past they were being called to leave behind.
Jesus didn’t come to pull the newly righteous out of the dark corners of this world. No, he came to invade the very darkest of corners and establish his Community of Faith in outposts long held captive by sin and oppression. He doesn’t save us from our world, he saves us to redeem our world.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Getting the Man off the Mat and God out of the Box
Luke 5:20-26
I wonder if Jesus ever did anything in his ministry that was not deliberate. Hard to imagine, isn’t it? He comes across so very focused and purposeful. Here is a crowded house, full of religious leaders from all over the country. Some guys have just broken up the roof above their heads and let down by ropes and mat this paralyzed man.
The man’s need is obvious. He needs a physical miracle. Instead Jesus declares his sins to be forgiven. Everyone is surprised, shocked even. The guys on the roof, never mind the poor man on the mat, are thinking, “Just heal the guy, Jesus!” But Jesus has a different agenda, both for that man who can’t walk and for those who’ve come to dialog with Jesus.
The message is that Jesus has authority to forgive sins – he is no ordinary traveling rabbi who heals the sick. He can take it a step farther, he can heal the man’s spirit and soul.
The visiting Pharisees and teachers of the law are disturbed by this action on the part of Jesus. They don’t say anything out loud, acting perhaps in deference to the host. They just think to themselves, “This is blasphemy, an absolute no-no. Only God can forgive sins.”
Jesus understands what is going on in their minds (it doesn’t take a rocket scientist), so he challenges them: “Which is easier, to forgive sins or to heal this guy?” I imagine the guy lying on the mat is thinking something more along the lines of “I’m still lying here. You can forgive me all day long, but you still don’t get rid of me until you do something more.”
There were times where Jesus simply healed people when the religious leaders thought that the sick person’s illness was spiritually related. In this case, the opposite seems to be true – Jesus deals with the spiritual when all that is expected is a physical healing. Jesus doesn’t elaborate on the man’s condition. Perhaps the man came to understand later as he had time to reflect that there was some connection between his physical problem and his spiritual one.
In any case, Jesus tells the man to get up, take his mat and get out of there. OK, Jesus says it more politely. But Jesus also says he is going to heal the man so that they all will know he actually has the authority to forgive sins. The line of reasoning is that if the man walks, then what Jesus has just said is true.
The formerly paralyzed man goes home praising God. He is a new man both physically and spiritually. As for everyone else, they are all amazed. What’s so amazing? Jesus had already healed all kinds of sicknesses. Well, for one, the story has had a bit of drama that sticks with people. Even nowadays, this story is one of the best remembered from childhood Bible classes.
For another, Jesus has confronted the stereotypes and presuppositions in people’s minds and blasted their theories to smithereens. Jesus came to heal the sick and to move heaven and earth, and sometimes earth is more difficult. Just like today, people had put God in a box. This could happen, that could not. They had it all figured out. Instead, Jesus was about getting people to think outside of the box, where God, far too big for any manmade container, actually lives.
I wonder if Jesus ever did anything in his ministry that was not deliberate. Hard to imagine, isn’t it? He comes across so very focused and purposeful. Here is a crowded house, full of religious leaders from all over the country. Some guys have just broken up the roof above their heads and let down by ropes and mat this paralyzed man.
The man’s need is obvious. He needs a physical miracle. Instead Jesus declares his sins to be forgiven. Everyone is surprised, shocked even. The guys on the roof, never mind the poor man on the mat, are thinking, “Just heal the guy, Jesus!” But Jesus has a different agenda, both for that man who can’t walk and for those who’ve come to dialog with Jesus.
The message is that Jesus has authority to forgive sins – he is no ordinary traveling rabbi who heals the sick. He can take it a step farther, he can heal the man’s spirit and soul.
The visiting Pharisees and teachers of the law are disturbed by this action on the part of Jesus. They don’t say anything out loud, acting perhaps in deference to the host. They just think to themselves, “This is blasphemy, an absolute no-no. Only God can forgive sins.”
Jesus understands what is going on in their minds (it doesn’t take a rocket scientist), so he challenges them: “Which is easier, to forgive sins or to heal this guy?” I imagine the guy lying on the mat is thinking something more along the lines of “I’m still lying here. You can forgive me all day long, but you still don’t get rid of me until you do something more.”
There were times where Jesus simply healed people when the religious leaders thought that the sick person’s illness was spiritually related. In this case, the opposite seems to be true – Jesus deals with the spiritual when all that is expected is a physical healing. Jesus doesn’t elaborate on the man’s condition. Perhaps the man came to understand later as he had time to reflect that there was some connection between his physical problem and his spiritual one.
In any case, Jesus tells the man to get up, take his mat and get out of there. OK, Jesus says it more politely. But Jesus also says he is going to heal the man so that they all will know he actually has the authority to forgive sins. The line of reasoning is that if the man walks, then what Jesus has just said is true.
The formerly paralyzed man goes home praising God. He is a new man both physically and spiritually. As for everyone else, they are all amazed. What’s so amazing? Jesus had already healed all kinds of sicknesses. Well, for one, the story has had a bit of drama that sticks with people. Even nowadays, this story is one of the best remembered from childhood Bible classes.
For another, Jesus has confronted the stereotypes and presuppositions in people’s minds and blasted their theories to smithereens. Jesus came to heal the sick and to move heaven and earth, and sometimes earth is more difficult. Just like today, people had put God in a box. This could happen, that could not. They had it all figured out. Instead, Jesus was about getting people to think outside of the box, where God, far too big for any manmade container, actually lives.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Desperate Faith
Luke 5:17-20
Sometimes a lot of detail is packed into a verse or two, a few lines we are likely to read over quickly as we move on to the next story. This is one of those passages. Jesus is in someone’s house. As was common with traveling rabbis, he has been going from town to town in Galilee, declaring and demonstrating his message.
As news about him gets around, he starts to attract a following. This following includes a cast of characters with a wide mix of motives. Luke notes that Pharisees and teachers of the law have gathered from all over, including Galilee, Judea and Jerusalem. It is probable that those from down in Judea and Jerusalem hadn’t come north just to see Jesus, but were here on other business and decided to visit this new rising star on the religious and cultural scene. These guys made it their duty to check out any and all developments, especially if they appeared threatening to the status quo.
As Luke picks up the story, Jesus is teaching and these Pharisees and teachers are sitting listening to him. The teaching of the day was often an interactive one, both in the synagogue on the Sabbath as well as in less formal settings, such as this one in someone’s home. The house, likely owned by a man of financial means, is very crowded with people in spite of its probable significant size. The head of the home likely has invited Jesus and these other religious leaders for dinner and discourse. People from the village and folks passing through have crowded in or, if they are less desirable, are crowding the outer gates and window openings.
When we were living in Taichung, Taiwan, our row house was on a tiny dead end street that faced a three story wall. The houses were narrow, about 13 feet wide, and less than 25 feet in depth, going up about three stories. On our first floor, we had a kitchen and living area. A large window looked out on our tiny cement covered front yard. The window, protected by security bars, was of a translucent glass that let in the light, but could not be seen through when the panes were closed. In the usually warm to hot climate, we often had the windows open. Neighborhood kids loved to climb the bars of our windows to look in while we were eating. An open door or window was always an invitation for someone to come in or at least look in. I can still picture Fuxiang and his siblings hanging all over our window.
Such was the case in Jesus’ day. Tthis particular house was crowded with visitors, so much so that people could hardly move. As was usually the case, the sick came to Jesus to be healed. Some men, having heard that Jesus was in the area, brought their sick friend to Jesus. Happened to be he was paralyzed, couldn’t walk, so they carried him in a hammock or mat of some sort. As they couldn’t get in, they climbed to the flat roof the house, removed the tiles and lowered their friend down right in front of Jesus. The architecture was common enough for these guys to be familiar with how all this could work. But I imagine that even for that time and place, this was a highly unusual operation. It certainly is the only time it occurs in Scripture.
When people get desperate, they will do anything. As I write this blog, piracy off the coast of Somalia is in the news. Somalia is a failed state, its government is defunct, its people getting desperate. It is hard to find positive things to say about pirates. And yet I can understand how these Somalians would resort to anything to get ahead in life, especially with all those ships passing by with so much of value on board.
Such is the case with these friends of the paralytic – so desperate to get some help for their friend that they resort to breaking and entering, and in front of all these religious leaders from all over. Jesus is very impressed with their faith, Luke writes, a faith that moves them to take drastic measures to break the law and social mores for something of far higher priority, a faith that moves heaven and earth to solve the unsolvable. This is the kind of faith that moves Jesus every time.
Sometimes a lot of detail is packed into a verse or two, a few lines we are likely to read over quickly as we move on to the next story. This is one of those passages. Jesus is in someone’s house. As was common with traveling rabbis, he has been going from town to town in Galilee, declaring and demonstrating his message.
As news about him gets around, he starts to attract a following. This following includes a cast of characters with a wide mix of motives. Luke notes that Pharisees and teachers of the law have gathered from all over, including Galilee, Judea and Jerusalem. It is probable that those from down in Judea and Jerusalem hadn’t come north just to see Jesus, but were here on other business and decided to visit this new rising star on the religious and cultural scene. These guys made it their duty to check out any and all developments, especially if they appeared threatening to the status quo.
As Luke picks up the story, Jesus is teaching and these Pharisees and teachers are sitting listening to him. The teaching of the day was often an interactive one, both in the synagogue on the Sabbath as well as in less formal settings, such as this one in someone’s home. The house, likely owned by a man of financial means, is very crowded with people in spite of its probable significant size. The head of the home likely has invited Jesus and these other religious leaders for dinner and discourse. People from the village and folks passing through have crowded in or, if they are less desirable, are crowding the outer gates and window openings.
When we were living in Taichung, Taiwan, our row house was on a tiny dead end street that faced a three story wall. The houses were narrow, about 13 feet wide, and less than 25 feet in depth, going up about three stories. On our first floor, we had a kitchen and living area. A large window looked out on our tiny cement covered front yard. The window, protected by security bars, was of a translucent glass that let in the light, but could not be seen through when the panes were closed. In the usually warm to hot climate, we often had the windows open. Neighborhood kids loved to climb the bars of our windows to look in while we were eating. An open door or window was always an invitation for someone to come in or at least look in. I can still picture Fuxiang and his siblings hanging all over our window.
Such was the case in Jesus’ day. Tthis particular house was crowded with visitors, so much so that people could hardly move. As was usually the case, the sick came to Jesus to be healed. Some men, having heard that Jesus was in the area, brought their sick friend to Jesus. Happened to be he was paralyzed, couldn’t walk, so they carried him in a hammock or mat of some sort. As they couldn’t get in, they climbed to the flat roof the house, removed the tiles and lowered their friend down right in front of Jesus. The architecture was common enough for these guys to be familiar with how all this could work. But I imagine that even for that time and place, this was a highly unusual operation. It certainly is the only time it occurs in Scripture.
When people get desperate, they will do anything. As I write this blog, piracy off the coast of Somalia is in the news. Somalia is a failed state, its government is defunct, its people getting desperate. It is hard to find positive things to say about pirates. And yet I can understand how these Somalians would resort to anything to get ahead in life, especially with all those ships passing by with so much of value on board.
Such is the case with these friends of the paralytic – so desperate to get some help for their friend that they resort to breaking and entering, and in front of all these religious leaders from all over. Jesus is very impressed with their faith, Luke writes, a faith that moves them to take drastic measures to break the law and social mores for something of far higher priority, a faith that moves heaven and earth to solve the unsolvable. This is the kind of faith that moves Jesus every time.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Going through Withdrawal
Luke 5:15-16
Even though Jesus urges caution in spreading the word about this leper’s healing, the news does get out and all kinds of people come to be healed. That Luke mentions this tells me that Jesus wanted the leper to keep the healing a secret for other than just what we said last time about going first to the priest. Jesus wanted to take the initiative in where he went and who he healed.
I can’t think of a time Jesus turned down a specific request for healing. But as a mortal human being, Jesus was limited by time and place as to how many people he could heal and how many places he could be at one time. Jesus understood that far better than we do sometimes.
Whenever crowds come running as in this case, Jesus does take time to minister to them both in declaring and demonstrating the good news of God’s love to them. While this passage does not specifically state that Jesus did so here, the implication is that he did. They came to hear Jesus and to be healed by him, and he did not disappoint.
But, and this is a very important “but” in verse 16, Jesus made it a habit to withdraw to lonely places and pray. The word here is “often,” meaning it wasn’t a set pattern, not so much like Daniel’s habit in the Old Testament. I have no doubt Jesus prayed constantly. But his ability to get away from the crowds was not something that was going to be a set routine when working among the peasants who crowded around him like this.
In any case, Jesus withdrew (the NASB says he “slipped away”). You get the impression there was no fanfare. How could Jesus just up and disappear like that? Couldn’t everyone recognize him? He was so adept at this sneaking out that he had given the slip to his hometown folk who knew him intimately when they were so angry with him back in chapter 4. Crowds in that day and as is so often the case in much of our modern world in Asia and other places afforded the teeming and boisterous setting that provided moments for escape. In any case, the people were not going to let him go unless he did give them the slip.
Whether his disciples went with him is not said. Sometimes he invited them along. Other times he sent them on ahead. What is clear is that he went to places where people were not around and he went there to spend time with his Father in heaven.
Jesus understood his priorities. He knew his limitations. He was fully God, but he was also fully man, and as man he was not all-powerful, self-sustaining, and omnipresent. He needed space and he needed time with Father just like all the rest of us. He could not give out unless he took in.
What about the people who needed healing? No matter how bad off they were, unless Jesus had it to give, it didn’t matter. People were needy all the time Jesus was growing up, but Jesus did not begin his ministry until the Spirit came upon him down by the Jordan River. Just like the rest of us, he ministered to people in the power of the Spirit.
He had a sense when he needed that refueling and he didn’t wait until he was completely depleted. I have a feeling that such a depletion had nearly come to him in the desert when he faced that temptation with the devil. It is said of us in the Good Book that God will not push us past our limit. If Jesus on earth was fully man, then he also had his limit and both he and Father knew that he was not to go beyond that limit.
Jesus could read the gauge. He knew when it was time to pull over at the next exit and refuel. To do otherwise was idolatrous – to assume that Jesus didn’t need Father-in-heaven. Jesus was no fool, but the needs of people can be an overwhelming temptation to those who minister. Just one more? Sorry, but Father knows best.
Even though Jesus urges caution in spreading the word about this leper’s healing, the news does get out and all kinds of people come to be healed. That Luke mentions this tells me that Jesus wanted the leper to keep the healing a secret for other than just what we said last time about going first to the priest. Jesus wanted to take the initiative in where he went and who he healed.
I can’t think of a time Jesus turned down a specific request for healing. But as a mortal human being, Jesus was limited by time and place as to how many people he could heal and how many places he could be at one time. Jesus understood that far better than we do sometimes.
Whenever crowds come running as in this case, Jesus does take time to minister to them both in declaring and demonstrating the good news of God’s love to them. While this passage does not specifically state that Jesus did so here, the implication is that he did. They came to hear Jesus and to be healed by him, and he did not disappoint.
But, and this is a very important “but” in verse 16, Jesus made it a habit to withdraw to lonely places and pray. The word here is “often,” meaning it wasn’t a set pattern, not so much like Daniel’s habit in the Old Testament. I have no doubt Jesus prayed constantly. But his ability to get away from the crowds was not something that was going to be a set routine when working among the peasants who crowded around him like this.
In any case, Jesus withdrew (the NASB says he “slipped away”). You get the impression there was no fanfare. How could Jesus just up and disappear like that? Couldn’t everyone recognize him? He was so adept at this sneaking out that he had given the slip to his hometown folk who knew him intimately when they were so angry with him back in chapter 4. Crowds in that day and as is so often the case in much of our modern world in Asia and other places afforded the teeming and boisterous setting that provided moments for escape. In any case, the people were not going to let him go unless he did give them the slip.
Whether his disciples went with him is not said. Sometimes he invited them along. Other times he sent them on ahead. What is clear is that he went to places where people were not around and he went there to spend time with his Father in heaven.
Jesus understood his priorities. He knew his limitations. He was fully God, but he was also fully man, and as man he was not all-powerful, self-sustaining, and omnipresent. He needed space and he needed time with Father just like all the rest of us. He could not give out unless he took in.
What about the people who needed healing? No matter how bad off they were, unless Jesus had it to give, it didn’t matter. People were needy all the time Jesus was growing up, but Jesus did not begin his ministry until the Spirit came upon him down by the Jordan River. Just like the rest of us, he ministered to people in the power of the Spirit.
He had a sense when he needed that refueling and he didn’t wait until he was completely depleted. I have a feeling that such a depletion had nearly come to him in the desert when he faced that temptation with the devil. It is said of us in the Good Book that God will not push us past our limit. If Jesus on earth was fully man, then he also had his limit and both he and Father knew that he was not to go beyond that limit.
Jesus could read the gauge. He knew when it was time to pull over at the next exit and refuel. To do otherwise was idolatrous – to assume that Jesus didn’t need Father-in-heaven. Jesus was no fool, but the needs of people can be an overwhelming temptation to those who minister. Just one more? Sorry, but Father knows best.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Keeping it a Secret
Luke 5:14
When Jesus heals the leper, he gives the man a strange command. He is not to tell anyone. Often Jesus tells this to people he heals, sometimes because he doesn’t want to create bedlam, which would make it more difficult for him to minister to people. Sometimes he does this because he does not want to promote his divine connections, something which leaves us often scratching our collective heads in confusion as to why Jesus doesn’t just want to go all out in self-promotion about being Divine.
In the case of the leper, Jesus gives the injunction against spreading the word for an entirely separate reason. The local culture being Jewish, there were strict rules to follow concerning lepers being “healed.” Moses had established these rulings centuries before. A leper claiming no longer to have leprosy was to go show himself to the priest and offer certain sacrifices that Moses had commanded for cleansing.
While leprosy was not a curable disease in Jesus’ day, a lot of skin diseases with similar symptoms were labeled as leprosy and some of these often were healed by available medicinal applications or disappeared naturally. So from time to time, someone with “leprosy” did recover. And, too, Jesus wasn’t the first rabbi to go around healing people of sicknesses. Even Moses’ own sister had been healed of leprosy.
Luke, who is a doctor, notes that the man in this story is healed of the leprosy immediately, implying that Jesus and other eye witnesses are convinced that the man is healed of the disease on the spot. Even so, Jesus wants the man to follow the social and religious customs of the land and go see a priest and offer up the required sacrifices.
There are two reasons Jesus gives these instructions. One, he wants the man to be “certified’ as healed by the authorities. Life would go far better for the former leper if that were so. Two, this certification was going to be a witness, a testimony, to these authorities that the man is healed. It is not enough that ordinary people “saw” it happen. Authorities and experts need to be confronted with the facts.
Sometimes Jesus defies the customs and regulations of the day in flagrant fashion. Other times, as now, he works within the system of that time and place. As he says about the Sabbath, these regulations are not our master, but there are times when something good comes out of following them. In this case, the man can live a life free of scandal and the priest and others who witness the man’s healing can take note that God is at work among lepers.
There is also a spiritual issue involved as well. The sacrifices that are to be offered have to do with spiritual cleansing. Jesus is not saying the man still has to be cleansed spiritually. Notice how Luke records Jesus’ words: “offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” The sacrifices are for the benefit of others, not the leper.
According to the law, not according to Jesus, he needs spiritual cleansing. Leprosy of that day like AIDS of this day carries spiritual stigmas on earth that are not in heaven. By commanding this, Jesus doesn’t show agreement with the line of thinking that requires cleansing for leprosy, but he is saying the man should do this for their benefit, meaning the priests and others who represent the law.
Jesus is saying that what he has provided this leper is all the man needed. Now he is to follow the law for the benefit of the rest of society. Sometimes society needs as much if not more help than individuals in need. As with religious people and leprosy in Jesus’ day, modern-day Believers are in need of much healing when it comes to AIDS.
When Jesus heals the leper, he gives the man a strange command. He is not to tell anyone. Often Jesus tells this to people he heals, sometimes because he doesn’t want to create bedlam, which would make it more difficult for him to minister to people. Sometimes he does this because he does not want to promote his divine connections, something which leaves us often scratching our collective heads in confusion as to why Jesus doesn’t just want to go all out in self-promotion about being Divine.
In the case of the leper, Jesus gives the injunction against spreading the word for an entirely separate reason. The local culture being Jewish, there were strict rules to follow concerning lepers being “healed.” Moses had established these rulings centuries before. A leper claiming no longer to have leprosy was to go show himself to the priest and offer certain sacrifices that Moses had commanded for cleansing.
While leprosy was not a curable disease in Jesus’ day, a lot of skin diseases with similar symptoms were labeled as leprosy and some of these often were healed by available medicinal applications or disappeared naturally. So from time to time, someone with “leprosy” did recover. And, too, Jesus wasn’t the first rabbi to go around healing people of sicknesses. Even Moses’ own sister had been healed of leprosy.
Luke, who is a doctor, notes that the man in this story is healed of the leprosy immediately, implying that Jesus and other eye witnesses are convinced that the man is healed of the disease on the spot. Even so, Jesus wants the man to follow the social and religious customs of the land and go see a priest and offer up the required sacrifices.
There are two reasons Jesus gives these instructions. One, he wants the man to be “certified’ as healed by the authorities. Life would go far better for the former leper if that were so. Two, this certification was going to be a witness, a testimony, to these authorities that the man is healed. It is not enough that ordinary people “saw” it happen. Authorities and experts need to be confronted with the facts.
Sometimes Jesus defies the customs and regulations of the day in flagrant fashion. Other times, as now, he works within the system of that time and place. As he says about the Sabbath, these regulations are not our master, but there are times when something good comes out of following them. In this case, the man can live a life free of scandal and the priest and others who witness the man’s healing can take note that God is at work among lepers.
There is also a spiritual issue involved as well. The sacrifices that are to be offered have to do with spiritual cleansing. Jesus is not saying the man still has to be cleansed spiritually. Notice how Luke records Jesus’ words: “offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” The sacrifices are for the benefit of others, not the leper.
According to the law, not according to Jesus, he needs spiritual cleansing. Leprosy of that day like AIDS of this day carries spiritual stigmas on earth that are not in heaven. By commanding this, Jesus doesn’t show agreement with the line of thinking that requires cleansing for leprosy, but he is saying the man should do this for their benefit, meaning the priests and others who represent the law.
Jesus is saying that what he has provided this leper is all the man needed. Now he is to follow the law for the benefit of the rest of society. Sometimes society needs as much if not more help than individuals in need. As with religious people and leprosy in Jesus’ day, modern-day Believers are in need of much healing when it comes to AIDS.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Touching Lepers
Luke 5:12-13
There is something to be said for comparing modern AIDS and ancient Leprosy when it comes to how we as believers are to approach these sicknesses. Both were or are very scary to their contemporary audiences. Both had or have immense stereotypes. Both had or have serious social ramifications. And both were or are perceived as having major spiritual connectedness.
Leprosy, as mentioned in the Bible, referred to a variety of skin diseases. Medical health practices being what they were in that day and age, it was not easy to differentiate diseases with common symptoms, let alone prescribe remedies that were specific and effective. In any case, leprosy was a diagnosis that essentially shut off a patient from all helpful contact with people. The ancient world’s approach to leprosy patients was worse than the way we treat modern AIDS victims, except that sick people in general carried a lot of sociological stigmas that we in the modern world have been learning to dismiss.
Jesus’ approach to the subject of leprosy sticks out in stark contrast to the overwhelming attitudes of his day. He, flat out, was not afraid of lepers and was eager to give them what they needed even more than physical healing – physical touch.
Jesus never seems to follow a set pattern in healing people. But when it comes to the leper in this story, the phrase that jumps out at the discerning reader is “Jesus reached out and touched the man.” Matthew, Mark and Luke all note the action.
In our day and age, it is hard to feel the significance of this phrase to a First Century audience. You just did not touch lepers – ever. Under any circumstance. They were banished outside of normal human existence to live out their lives in complete isolation from all but each other. Perhaps the closest I can find a modern illustration is in the movie “City of Joy” which shows the reaction of healthy people toward lepers in modern-day Calcutta. I’m not sure the reaction in our Western cities would be much different, even in our enlightened century.
Even worse than this social ostracism was the spiritual burden placed on lepers of Jesus’ day. If they were lepers, they were surely guilty of something grevious. Or else their parents were. This was also true of many other sicknesses. Sometimes Jesus deals with the spiritual issue of physical ailments. In this case, he does not. He avoids the subject altogether. Apparently, Jesus senses it is not crucial.
Lepers were not allowed to approach people who did not have leprosy. When non-lepers were nearby, they were to shout out, “Unclean!” so that all who heard would be forewarned. In this case, the man does not approach Jesus, but he does call out to him after he falls on his face, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” He recognizes in Jesus one who has the ability and one who may also have the inclination to help him. Jesus quickly assures the man that he is willing and immediately demonstrates that he is also very capable.
Jesus, by his actions, demonstrates far more than his power to heal one of the most dreaded diseases of that day. He models for his followers for all time how we are to approach the unapproachable. Regardless of the stigmas attached – be they physical, social, or spiritual – we are to embrace the outcast and the misfit with a heart oozing with Father’s all-encompassing love. And we are to do so without regard to any judgments as to whether the objects of our embrace are worthy.
None of us are worthy of God’s love. And yet God lavishes that love on us ever so “wastefully.” So too we are to “waste” that love on others around us, even the “pariahs” of our day.
There is something to be said for comparing modern AIDS and ancient Leprosy when it comes to how we as believers are to approach these sicknesses. Both were or are very scary to their contemporary audiences. Both had or have immense stereotypes. Both had or have serious social ramifications. And both were or are perceived as having major spiritual connectedness.
Leprosy, as mentioned in the Bible, referred to a variety of skin diseases. Medical health practices being what they were in that day and age, it was not easy to differentiate diseases with common symptoms, let alone prescribe remedies that were specific and effective. In any case, leprosy was a diagnosis that essentially shut off a patient from all helpful contact with people. The ancient world’s approach to leprosy patients was worse than the way we treat modern AIDS victims, except that sick people in general carried a lot of sociological stigmas that we in the modern world have been learning to dismiss.
Jesus’ approach to the subject of leprosy sticks out in stark contrast to the overwhelming attitudes of his day. He, flat out, was not afraid of lepers and was eager to give them what they needed even more than physical healing – physical touch.
Jesus never seems to follow a set pattern in healing people. But when it comes to the leper in this story, the phrase that jumps out at the discerning reader is “Jesus reached out and touched the man.” Matthew, Mark and Luke all note the action.
In our day and age, it is hard to feel the significance of this phrase to a First Century audience. You just did not touch lepers – ever. Under any circumstance. They were banished outside of normal human existence to live out their lives in complete isolation from all but each other. Perhaps the closest I can find a modern illustration is in the movie “City of Joy” which shows the reaction of healthy people toward lepers in modern-day Calcutta. I’m not sure the reaction in our Western cities would be much different, even in our enlightened century.
Even worse than this social ostracism was the spiritual burden placed on lepers of Jesus’ day. If they were lepers, they were surely guilty of something grevious. Or else their parents were. This was also true of many other sicknesses. Sometimes Jesus deals with the spiritual issue of physical ailments. In this case, he does not. He avoids the subject altogether. Apparently, Jesus senses it is not crucial.
Lepers were not allowed to approach people who did not have leprosy. When non-lepers were nearby, they were to shout out, “Unclean!” so that all who heard would be forewarned. In this case, the man does not approach Jesus, but he does call out to him after he falls on his face, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” He recognizes in Jesus one who has the ability and one who may also have the inclination to help him. Jesus quickly assures the man that he is willing and immediately demonstrates that he is also very capable.
Jesus, by his actions, demonstrates far more than his power to heal one of the most dreaded diseases of that day. He models for his followers for all time how we are to approach the unapproachable. Regardless of the stigmas attached – be they physical, social, or spiritual – we are to embrace the outcast and the misfit with a heart oozing with Father’s all-encompassing love. And we are to do so without regard to any judgments as to whether the objects of our embrace are worthy.
None of us are worthy of God’s love. And yet God lavishes that love on us ever so “wastefully.” So too we are to “waste” that love on others around us, even the “pariahs” of our day.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Let’s Go Fishing, Simon
Luke 5:4-11
We last left Jesus in a boat teaching the people on the shore close by. He’d been watching earlier when Simon pulled the boat up on shore and got out – empty handed. It had been a long, useless night of fishing.
I remember a night like that once on Table Rock Lake in the Ozark Mountains with a couple of my dad’s cousins, Chuck and David. They said the fishing was great. I honestly cannot vouch for that. We caught nothing all night, and the next morning when they tried to crank up the motor, it didn’t work. Seven miles down lake from the marina and we had to use the trolling motor to get back. Chuck was late for a wedding he was officiating, as I recall.
Simon has had one of those kinds of nights. But it wasn’t so funny. Fishing was his livelihood, not just a pastime. No fish, no food. And as with most of Jesus’ audience, Simon was living close enough to the financial edge that a night’s catch or lack thereof could make a huge difference in the family budget.
Jesus was multitasking. He was teaching the people and he was keeping Simon in mind – both Simon’s physical and spiritual well-being. So Jesus had pushed off from shore, the better to communicate with the people on the shore.
Far from distancing himself from people by getting in the boat, he was getting closer to one particular person. Jesus was constantly being proactive and deliberate in connecting with people – be they the many listeners on the shore who could now hear him better or the one man in particular Jesus had in his focus.
Simon, he said when he’d finished teaching, let’s go fishing. Aw, Teacher, it is useless, the fish aren’t biting (ok, these guys were using nets instead of hooks). Aw, Teacher, it is useless, the fish are hiding.
But, said Simon, since you insist, I will let down the nets.
The catch was literally overwhelming, to the point of breaking the nets and sinking the boats, even after Simon called for his partners to help with their boat. Simon and his partners (James and John Zebedee) and companions (Simon’s brother, Andrew, at least) were all amazed – to understate it.
Simon’s reaction was particularly noteworthy. He recognized what a mess of a man he was, fell as Jesus’ knees and pleaded with Jesus to go away. It wasn’t that Simon didn’t want Jesus around. He desperately wanted Jesus’help, but as with most of us, he knew he was totally unworthy of whatever help Jesus could offer him, including this huge catch of fish.
Jesus said to Simon not to be afraid. Instead he invited Simon to be his partner in fishing for (catching, reaching) people. It was an amazing turn of events. Totally out of the blue. A man who admitted to being a rank sinner is now partnering with the Messiah in the greatest mission ever conceived. Of course, Simon wasn’t thinking in such cosmological terms, not yet. The reaction of Simon and those other guys was to pull their boats on shore, leave their nets and follow Jesus. Just like that.
I wonder about the amazing catch of fish. I guess if Jesus could do that miracle, they weren’t going to worry too much about the next meal. But I note that these guys did take time to pull the boats up on shore. Family members and neighbors could use the equipment. And those fish would feed a multitude that day – and the next.
We last left Jesus in a boat teaching the people on the shore close by. He’d been watching earlier when Simon pulled the boat up on shore and got out – empty handed. It had been a long, useless night of fishing.
I remember a night like that once on Table Rock Lake in the Ozark Mountains with a couple of my dad’s cousins, Chuck and David. They said the fishing was great. I honestly cannot vouch for that. We caught nothing all night, and the next morning when they tried to crank up the motor, it didn’t work. Seven miles down lake from the marina and we had to use the trolling motor to get back. Chuck was late for a wedding he was officiating, as I recall.
Simon has had one of those kinds of nights. But it wasn’t so funny. Fishing was his livelihood, not just a pastime. No fish, no food. And as with most of Jesus’ audience, Simon was living close enough to the financial edge that a night’s catch or lack thereof could make a huge difference in the family budget.
Jesus was multitasking. He was teaching the people and he was keeping Simon in mind – both Simon’s physical and spiritual well-being. So Jesus had pushed off from shore, the better to communicate with the people on the shore.
Far from distancing himself from people by getting in the boat, he was getting closer to one particular person. Jesus was constantly being proactive and deliberate in connecting with people – be they the many listeners on the shore who could now hear him better or the one man in particular Jesus had in his focus.
Simon, he said when he’d finished teaching, let’s go fishing. Aw, Teacher, it is useless, the fish aren’t biting (ok, these guys were using nets instead of hooks). Aw, Teacher, it is useless, the fish are hiding.
But, said Simon, since you insist, I will let down the nets.
The catch was literally overwhelming, to the point of breaking the nets and sinking the boats, even after Simon called for his partners to help with their boat. Simon and his partners (James and John Zebedee) and companions (Simon’s brother, Andrew, at least) were all amazed – to understate it.
Simon’s reaction was particularly noteworthy. He recognized what a mess of a man he was, fell as Jesus’ knees and pleaded with Jesus to go away. It wasn’t that Simon didn’t want Jesus around. He desperately wanted Jesus’help, but as with most of us, he knew he was totally unworthy of whatever help Jesus could offer him, including this huge catch of fish.
Jesus said to Simon not to be afraid. Instead he invited Simon to be his partner in fishing for (catching, reaching) people. It was an amazing turn of events. Totally out of the blue. A man who admitted to being a rank sinner is now partnering with the Messiah in the greatest mission ever conceived. Of course, Simon wasn’t thinking in such cosmological terms, not yet. The reaction of Simon and those other guys was to pull their boats on shore, leave their nets and follow Jesus. Just like that.
I wonder about the amazing catch of fish. I guess if Jesus could do that miracle, they weren’t going to worry too much about the next meal. But I note that these guys did take time to pull the boats up on shore. Family members and neighbors could use the equipment. And those fish would feed a multitude that day – and the next.
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