Healing of the Outcasts

Photo by Hudson Hintze on Unsplash

This is a recording of a sermon I gave on October 13, 2019 at Bountiful Community Church in Bountiful, UT. 

For context, that day's scripture reading was the story of Jesus healing the ten lepers:
Luke 17:11-19 (NRSV): On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” 

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Healing of the Outcasts
Jen Jesse – preaching at Bountiful Community Church, Oct 13, 2019

• ​First: what is leprosy? (today vs. in the Bible)
  • Today, what we know as true clinical “leprosy” is caused by Mycrobacterium leprae, discovered in Norway in 1873 by G. H. Armauer Hansen – leprosy is also known as Hansen’s disease – and it was actually the first bacterium that was identified as causing disease in humans. Previously, it was thought to be a hereditary disease – Hansen’s father-in-law actually wrote a book on it, and it was the standard reference text on leprosy.
  • So leprosy was not well understood until fairly recently, and was fairly widespread. Historical treatments included: blood as a beverage, blood as a bath (sometimes specific sources of blood), snakes (cobra venom), bee stings (up to 4000, in the 1900s), scorpions, frogs, fish, scarification (with or without irritants such as arsenic), castration, chaulmoogra oil (common in Ayurvedic medicine). Today, it’s treated with antibiotics over 6 months - 2 years, and most people continue their regular daily activities.
  • A recent study, published in 2018, found the oldest strains of leprosy in remains from Europe, the oldest being from England, and dating back to 415-545 AD.
  • When we look at the Biblical texts, the Hebrew word we now translate as “leprosy” is tzara’at, which is known more as a “spiritual leprosy” and can affect skin, but also textiles (cloth, leather) and even houses.
  • In the Old Testament, we see people afflicted by “leprosy” (tzara’at) as a direct result of sin:
    • In Numbers, Miriam speaks against Moses on the basis of him being married to a Cushite woman, and the Lord comes down in a pillar of cloud, scolds her and her husband Aaron, and leaves her with leprosy. Aaron goes to Moses, who prays for her to be healed, and God cleanses her but she still has to remain outside the camp for seven days according to their laws.
    • In 2nd Kings, Naaman is a warrior in a different army and suffers from leprosy. But a girl taken captive from the land of Israel says that her lord would cure him, so he goes. Elisha sends for him and tells him to wash in the Jordan River seven times, and be restored. Eventually he does it, and he is made clean.
      • Then, Naaman declares the God of Israel to be the only god, and offers gifts to Elisha and the others. Elisha refuses any gifts, but later, Gehazi (servant of Elisha) decides to go after Naaman and “get something out of him.” Elisha knows that Gehazi has taken money and gifts from Naaman, and curses him, saying, “the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever.”
    • In 2nd Chronicles, King Uzziah of Judah becomes “strong, to his destruction” and tries to make an offering in the temple; he is told by the priests that only the descendants of Aaron are consecrated to make the offering, but he becomes angry with them…then leprosy breaks out on his forehead, and he is leprous until his later death.
• Now that we have a better understanding, maybe, of leprosy, let’s look at the context of why lepers were pushed outside the community.
  • Let’s go way back to the beginning, to Genesis & Exodus….
    • Joseph [with the technicolor dreamcoat] became a high official in the court of the pharaoh, so the Israelites come to live in the Land of Goshen in Egypt during a famine.
    • But at the beginning of Exodus, Joseph dies and there is a new pharaoh “who did not know Joseph,” so he enslaves them and initiates genocide, by ordering all male Hebrew babies to be killed at birth; Moses is rescued from the basket in the Nile by Pharaoh’s daughter; Moses later kills an Egyptian that he sees beating a Hebrew slave, and has to live in exile in Midian.
    • Overall, the Israelites are in Egypt about 400 years.
    • Eventually there is a new pharaoh; Yahweh appears to Moses in the burning bush and tells him to free the Hebrew slaves and bring them to the promised land in Canaan.
    • Moses & Aaron go to Pharaoh, and the whole ordeal there with the plagues, the Passover, Pharaoh agreeing they can leave & then changing his mind, Moses parting the Red Sea and the sea drowning the pursuing Egyptians.
    • They reach Mount Sinai, Yahweh reveals himself and establishes the Ten Commandments, the Mosaic covenant, and the Aaronic priesthood with various rules and laws; but Aaron helps the people make a golden calf (common to have cult images in that day and region); Moses breaks the tablets, then there’s a new set of tablets; they construct the Tabernacle.
  • The Tabernacle (mishkan, from Hebrew root meaning “to dwell”) is portable; the Israelites carry it with them in the wilderness for 40 years. In the Tabernacle is the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctuary, with the mercy seat, creating place for the Shekhina, God’s presence and dwelling on earth. – so God travels with them.
    • reinforces the view of Genesis creation story, that God wants to interact and live with the humans.
    • symbolizes renewed closeness and covenant between God and Israel
    • comes after Israelites escaped slavery under Pharaoh – who was the civil and military and religious leader, the intermediary for the Egyptian gods – and thus were given new life by the true God, who meets with Moses, and who even meets with them themselves in the Tabernacle.
    • But to enter into the Tabernacle and be in the actual presence of God, humans had to be worthy enough – hence the laws of…
  • Tumah & tahara, laws of ritual purity or ritual cleanliness
    • Tumah – tamei, impure/unclean. Tahara – tahor, pure/clean
      • Tumah is also used as the opposite of kedushah, “sanctity” or “holiness” or - “purity of the soul”
      • if tamei, you would usually have to live outside the camp for a period of time, and go through cleansing rituals before reentering the camp
    • many activities that create tumah (make you tamei)
      • some are forbidden: eg, eating non-kosher meat
      • some are permitted: eg, certain priestly roles in sacrifice, giving birth
      • some just happen, maybe as punishment or maybe just because: tzara’at skin diseases, tzara’at in the house
      • some are even unavoidable: eg, menstruation, tending to a deceased person [a mitzvah]
    • thus it is not strictly a moral determinant. So what exactly is it, what does it mean?
      • contact with a corpse is called avi avot ha-tuma, the “father of fathers of all tumah”
      • may suggest that tumah is a reminder of our own mortality, of life/death, of a loss of connection {review specifics mentioned above}
        • and to consciously sin (like Miriam, Gehazi, Uzziah) is to consciously choose to go against God, against that who brings life, which causes tumah (separation)
        • in fact, when Aaron pleads Miriam’s case, he says, al-natina k-meti, “Do not leave her as if she is dead.”
          • of course, the dead would go to Sheol – a place of stillness, cut off from life and separated from God
        • perhaps tumah meant separation from life/God, whether by conscious non-benevolent actions or simply by events of life
          • perhaps activities/events that cause tumah were so strong that they would distract us from the true meaning of our lives and our existence
      • purification rituals often include submersing in a body of water (mikvah)
        • in Hebrew, mikveh has the same root letters as hope
        • in Jeremiah 2:13, God describes Godself as ”the Fountain of Living Water”
        • Jeremiah 17:13 calls God “the mikvah/hope of Israel” and “the fountain of living water”
      • to be tamei, then go through purification to become tahor, is to become cleansed, renewed, reconnected with hope, living water, the giver of life
    • some tumah (like tzara’at) meant you had to stay outside the camp until a priest confirmed that you had been cleansed/healed
      • staying outside the camp - perhaps a blessing and a curse
        • like a kind of purgatory
        • separated from community
        • time to contemplate and reconnect with Life
        • a time of reflection and preparation to rejoin the community
        • to contemplate the importance and holiness of being in God’s presence in the Tabernacle, to not take it for granted
    • tzara’at (skin condition(s), “leprosy”) is one specific condition of tumah; if you had tumah from tzara’at you were a “metzorah”
      • referred to as a nega (plague) – appears only one other time in books of Moses, in Exodus 11:1: “Yet one more plague I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt.”
        • Medieval Jewish scholar Ramban pointed out that the purification ritual for tzara’at resembles the Passover offering
        • there are two wild birds; one is killed and the other lives
          • the firstborns of Egypt die but the firstborns of Israel live
        • the bird who dies, its blood is poured into water, turning it red
          • just as the Egyptian army was flooded in the Red Sea and turned the water red with death
        • the other bird is dipped with hyssop into the blood, and sprinkled on the metzorah or on the lintel of the house
          • hyssop was dipped into the blood and spread across the lintel of the house
        • Passover gave Life to God’s people and unified them under a common identity as a community
          • the metzorah, the “almost dead,” goes through purification to be able to rejoin the Life-filled community

 

• So back to Luke.
  • In the story, the metzorah/lepers ask “have mercy on us!” – ambiguous, what does this mean? What kind of mercy? Money? Food? Healing?
    • In an earlier story, a single leper asks specifically for cleansing. He directly expressed a desire to be physically & spiritually healed, and so, Jesus instantly heals him.
    • But the group of lepers is indirect, so Jesus’ reply is indirect as well. “Have mercy on us,” responded with “Go show yourselves to the priests.”
  • When Jesus tells them to go show themselves to the priest, how do they react?
    • Did they know he had cleansed at least one leper previously?
    • Are they skeptical, do they think he’s just leading them on?
    • Do they hurry? Are they excited? Do they run?
  • They’re not healed instantly like the leper in the first story.
    • Are they gradually healed over the course of the journey?
    • Or are they instantly healed?
    • Are they all healed at the same time?
  • The Samaritan seems to turn back as soon as he notices he was healed.
    • He does two things: he praises God, and he thanks Jesus.
    • So he didn’t go see the priest first – remember, seeing the priest for the Jews would have meant they were allowed back into the community.
    • Perhaps he realized that he would be allowed back in, but his surprise and gratefulness was greater than his urge for immediately rejoining the community.
    • Perhaps he considered that Jesus had already extended the invitation of community to him, even though Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi and this man was a Samaritan, and the two groups were at odds with each other religiously and politically. Not only did Jesus heal him, but Jesus healed him, a Samaritan.
  • But the other 9 do not return with the Samaritan, and Jesus is pretty ticked about that.
    • Once again, a Samaritan is portrayed as the Only Good One among a group of people (like the Good Samaritan, the Samaritan woman at the well).
      • Maybe we shouldn’t let differences or bias determine someone’s value.
  • And Jesus says, “Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” and tells the man, “Your faith has made you well.”
    • he does not say “the power of God in me” or “my miracles” or “my mercy” or “my pity”
  • “faith” has made you well?
    • There’s no reason to believe that the Samaritan ‘believed’ in Jesus more than any others in the group, at least not before Jesus healed them.
    • “made you well” - “well” in this usage means: safe, delivered from death.  And also saved from sin and eternal death – given life.
      • The Samaritan was a metzorah, tumei, separated from the community. But his faith – his dedication, his faithfulness – brings him back to the community. He is enlightened by Jesus’ actions and brought closer to God, closer to the giver of Life.
  • And what about the others?
    • Did they take God, take Jesus, take healing, take community, take Life for granted?
    • Did they think this was Jesus’ job, so they didn’t have to express gratitude?
    • Did they contemplate the deep nature of what had transpired? Or did they rejoin the community without having given thought to the blessing of being able to be back in the community?
    • Did they allow this experience to bring them closer to God?
    • Compare this with the parable of the 100 sheep, and one of them is lost; God seeks out the single lost sheep, because every member of the flock is precious.
      • Here, there are 10 lost sheep, and only 1 allows itself to be found.
    • Compare this with the parable of the prodigal son, who leaves home and then returns to a warm welcome.
      • Here, there are 10 lost sons, and only 1 returns home.

 

• So what does this mean for us today?
  • Tumah & tahara rules originated in Leviticus are not in place today – they were for the days when YHWH came and dwelled in the Tabernacle – but certainly there are still takeaways for us today.
    • There is no physical Tabernacle that we have to prepare and be pure in order to enter;
    • but God is present in each of us, and we then are both: made holy by God’s presence, and called to continually prepare, and repair, ourselves to be present with God, with Life, and with the larger community.
  • There are still times when we are more separated from God and from community.
  • How does all of this parallel with our own healing?
    • What activities or events are so distracting or distressing to us that we forget about community, God, and Life?
    • When others are separated…
      • Do we wait for them, as the Israelites waited for Miriam? Do we “gather them back in” as they did? Or do we let them continue in purgatory exile?
    • And when we ourselves are “unclean” – separated, out of tune with Life…
      • Do we let the community know?
      • Do we exile ourselves without telling anyone?
      • Do we turn to God for help?
      • Do we have certain rituals that are meaningful to us, to help center us and bring us closer to God?
  • Our spiritual healing comes from the root of knowing that God is Life, God is Love…and wanting to, making efforts to, reconnect and rededicate ourselves to that foundation.
    • We remember that God has given us Life, demonstrated through Jesus – because Life is not gained passively but actively, with intention and action.
      • community with God and with others is an extension of Life, again requiring intention and action
  • And once we are healed (but we are never fully healed, only actively healing and growing closer to God):
    • We should do as the Samaritan leper, and praise to God for providing Life and demonstrating Love
    • And, we should thank those who helped us grow and heal, not take those actions of love and commitment for granted
  • And one final note, and question. In the story of the ten lepers, they were a mixed group with opposing views, but they formed a community together while they were outcast from mainstream society.  (This is not unfamiliar.)
    • Once they were healed, did they speak to each other ever again?
    • Did they forget that they were all outcasts once?
    • We are all outcasts and separated, at some times more than others.
    • Jesus himself was outcast of all outcasts, persecuted by our own calls for death. But even then, Jesus acted faithfully, in Love.
    • And similarly it is our faithfulness, our dedication and rededication to God, to The Way demonstrated by Jesus, to the commandments to love God and love all others, that brings healing and restoration, that brings us closer to God and to Life.