In reading the story of Naaman and Elisha, and the passage from Mark’s gospel about the healing of the leper, it would seem obvious to focus on healing; on how God heals, why, who and why not!
I have heard from people who believe in God’s healing power, and who themselves have been healed in remarkable way. But I also know from my own experience and from other people that this is not always the case. People die early, people live with pain, physical and emotional, sometimes it seems their prayers for healing go unanswered.
And I would have to say I really don't know, I don't know why some people are healed and some people are not. In looking at these two passages together today, I hope that we might get some ideas about what Mark is trying to tell us through the story of the healing of the leper, and what we can learn from Naaman and Elisha.
The people of Israel expected a messiah to come, a messiah who would bring about a new world order; a messiah who would overthrow the Roman dictators; a messiah that would return the temple to the priests, that would put religion back in its right place. Jesus was not the messiah that the Jewish people were expecting.
A leper came to see Jesus, and then most texts will read Jesus was moved with compassion or with pity. Many ancient manuscripts or texts say that Jesus was angry. When biblical scholars look at different manuscripts or ancient copies of the Biblical books, where there is a difference between manuscripts, scholars currently tend to take the more difficult reading as the one most likely to be the original.
It's easy for us to think of Jesus being moved with compassion. It is not so easy to think of Jesus being angry, and then to think of why Jesus would be angry. If we go with the current thinking that Jesus is angry, then is he angry with the leper for asking for healing? That is unlikely. The explanation that makes the most sense to me is that Jesus is angry because the leper was unsure if a person of God wanted him to be healed.
If you had a skin disease, and leprosy covers a whole range of skin diseases, it is the priest who tells you that you are no longer clean and to leave the temple and your family. Because the priests were the ones who were trying to keep the Holiness code, trying to make sure that those who were unclean did not contaminate the clean.
I've met people who feel that the church does not want to know them, people who may not have been to church for a long time, but feel excluded, alienated; People who won't take the risk of coming to church because they will be shunned. One person I met probably 15 years ago had moved since her divorce and had not to hold people at church that she was divorced because she thought they might not talk to her. I have spoken with people wanting their child baptised who can't imagine walking into a church.
The priest was the one, who could declare you clean or unclean, and here is the leper saying to Jesus if you choose you can make a clean, if you choose. As if God would want any other outcome for us, as if God wanted people to have leprosy or be ill. So Jesus is angry, angry at the culture, the understanding of the time that people deserve their illness, it is because of their sins or their parent’s sin. If people are told often enough, especially by those perceived to be the experts, that they are outside of God’s grace, then they start to believe it. Jesus is angry, Jesus is angry at the abuse and misuse of religion.
And how does Jesus respond to the man, he doesn't condemn the man for sinning, he doesn't denounce the man for being caught up in structural oppression, he doesn't yell or scream; Jesus reached out and touched him. Jesus is angry, and his response is to reach out and touch the man.
Both the Old Testament and the gospel reading this morning show signs of a new world order. A servant girl captured in a raid on Israel is the one who tells Naaman about the possibility of healing. Naaman is a leader and thinks he knows how things work, so he arranged for a letter from his king to the king of Israel, packed jewels and gold and silver and went to the king of Israel. The king of Israel panic's, he doesn't know what to do because he can't heal the man of leprosy- are they trying to start a war. Even though the servant girl had heard of the Prophet Elisha, the king of Israel was not familiar with him. You will also notice in the passage that the Jordan River was not considered a particularly spectacular River. In a society, in a culture, the information is valued, we status is very important a slave girl was brave enough to suggest that healing is possible.
In Mark's gospel we see a change of position between Jesus and the man with leprosy. At the beginning of the story the man with leprosy is unclean, he is not able to travel freely; at the end of the story he no longer has leprosy, and travels freely. Compare that with Jesus, at the beginning of the story he is considered clean, after touching the leper is unclean; at the beginning of the story he is able to move about reasonably freely, at the end of the story he has to stay out in the country so was not to be mobbed.
Mark has been described as a crucifixion narrative with an extended introduction. In many ways the early chapters of Mark are background to what happens later in the gospel. In this early part of Mark's gospel, we hear of some of the conflict that occurs between Jesus and the religious elites. In the passage we heard read this morning there is no mention of conflict with the religious elites, but it is there. It is there in Jesus touching the man with leprosy, it is there in Jesus anger, and one of the reasons that Jesus was considered a troublemaker was because of the crowds, and here we have a crowd building around him.
Where do we find Jesus in the Gospels: in temple, synagogue, travelling, in people's homes. What kind of people do we hear that Jesus is with: fishermen, tax collectors, those with mental illness, lepers, women, and crowds.
The Jews were expecting a messiah, a messiah that would change the world. Jesus did come and change the world, but not in the way that people were expecting. People were expecting a messiah who would make everything wonderful, and Jesus came living with the poor, associating with the peasant class. One commentator has written “All the way to the cross Jesus will be trying to get those who think 'where the messiah is, there is no misery' to accept a new perspective--'where there is misery, there is the messiah'"[i]
This isn't just about our personal story. It isn't only a sweet story about Jesus coming and touching our lives and changing us. While that is true, and Jesus does come does sit with us in our misery, and offers transformation. There is much more to this story. This story challenges us to think about where we are as a church, as a congregation. Are there people around us who feel excluded, who fear that in coming to church they will be condemned?
In what ways do we perpetuate the myth that where the messiah is there is no misery; that once you give your life to Jesus everything is just fine; and life is one big party. In what ways do we continue the idea that church is for those who have their life together; that people who are suffering from mental illness, family crises, or unsure about their faith, are not welcome?
What might we do to help people see that where there is misery there is the messiah; that Jesus is always with us, that Jesus doesn't neglect us or avoid us when things are difficult, that Jesus is with us in the midst of life's difficulties?
