josephholubsermons


 

February 5, 2012  -   Epiphany 5

Mark 1:40-45 

“GUTSY LOVE…” 

“Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and he said to him, ‘I do choose.  Be made clean!’”  (Mark 1:41)

Lately, I have been hearing the word “epic” used more than ever before.  It seems to be a word growing in popular usage.  I have heard it in reference to the weather of 2011.  I heard it used again on Friday as one weathercaster spoke of the latest Front Range storm as “epic.”  It references a particular ski pass that is available in this area.  I have heard it used as a substitute for one of the most overused colloquialisms in the English language - that being “awesome.”   I was in the hot tub at the Rec Center not long ago having a conversation with someone, and I mentioned I had lived in Alaska at one time.  The person responded, “Epic!”  Really?  Epic? 

Anyway, I looked it up to get an accurate definition.  The first definition refers to “epic” as a noun: a long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero.  Homer’s Iliad is an “epic” poem.  But the word also means “heroic, impressively great or of unusually immense size” in terms of its impact.[i] 

This little gospel story for today from Mark is a story I would call “epic”, and I choose the word carefully.   This is an epic story, but it is easy to miss.  We must plunge deeper into the context to see the epic nature of this story  There are three things in the story that I would call “epic.” 

But first, we need to understand a few things about leprosy during biblical times and culture.  Leprosy was a most dreaded disease, not only for the physical suffering, but even more for the social and religious stigma it imposed upon its victims.[ii]   

Leprosy rendered a person religiously unclean, a designation that had dire consequences.  When the priest declared a person with leprosy unclean, that person was banished from the community.  Religious law, belief and practice required that the leper maintain sufficient distance between self and others so as to not religiously contaminate others, for if a leper got too close or was so much as touched by another, the state of ritual un-cleanliness would be transferred to the other.  So, the leper was required to announce his presence in the prescribed self-deprecating manner by shouting “unclean” as he traversed the village streets. Leprosy meant social isolation, as well as humiliation.  

So, when the leper approached Jesus, a gesture that in itself would have been considered sacrilegious, Jesus did not back off as others would have.  He held his ground and  engaged the man.  The leper spoke first, “If you choose you can make me clean.”

The next thing is the first “epic” piece to the story.  Mark comments, “(Jesus was) moved with pity…”    The Greek word translated “pity” or “compassion”, is a very special word.  In fact, it is one of the most interesting words in the New Testament.  The word in Greek is σπλαγχνίζομαι, and it literally means “guts.”  It means the inward parts, bowels or viscera.  Used figuratively, it means strong passion for another person’s situation-to feel for another in the gut.  

It was used like we might use the word "heart," but it is far more intense.  To the people of the New Testament era, the viscera or bowels was the seat of emotions, involving the one’s whole being.   It is the deepest level of human feeling and passion. 

It is used numerous times of Jesus in the gospels.  We see that Jesus not only had σπλαγχνίζομαι  for this leper, but the two blind men he encountered in Matthew 20; the man with a demon in Mark 9;  a widow whose only son had just died in Luke 7; and three other times for whole crowds of people who followed him.[iii]  

Jesus had σπλαγχνίζομαι.  But I doubt you will remember that word, nor should you, so I have translated it into the vernacular.  I call it “gutsy love.” Jesus had “gutsy love” for the leper when everybody else withheld it, and it was epic! 

The second epic piece to this story is, “Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him.”  In every instance Jesus had “gutsy love” in the gospels, Jesus followed it with action.  In other words, “gutsy love” lead to “gutsy action.”   In this case, Jesus’ action was totally scandalous.  The one thing a person would never, ever, under any circumstances have considered doing was touch a leper.  By doing so, it would render the toucher  “ritually unclean.” But  Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him.”   

There has been much written about the healing power of touch.  Experts, counselors and caregivers tell us the most ordinary gestures of human touch such as a pat on the back, a touch on the arm or a hug contribute immensely  to emotional, physical and even spiritual health.   Touch is the primary language of compassion and the principal means of spreading compassion.   

I will never forget a scene from my ministry that occurred long ago.  A husband lost his beloved wife of over 60 years.  There was a visitation before the service and the husband stood near his wife’s casket as people filed by to offer their comfort and condolences.  They were a well known couple in church and community and many people came.  I happened to be sitting nearby watching the scene unfold.  I became deeply intrigued by the way people offered their compassion.  Most offered words,  others freely gave hugs and handshakes, and some seemed uncomfortable and uneasy.  I spotted another older gentleman waiting his turn in the long line of people.  I knew the gentleman for I had officiated at his wife’s funeral some months before. 

When it came to his turn, I was especially tuned in.  He spoke not a word, but simply grasped both hands of the man in his and gave them a huge squeeze while looking him in the eye.  He then hugged him and held the hug momentarily, looked him in the eye again, nodded his head and then moved on.  Sitting maybe ten feet away observing, I could literally sense the profound energy that passed between the two men, and not a word was spoken between them.  An intense level of love, understanding and shared pathos was mutually given and received strictly through touch.  A deep connection occurred between them.  As the gentleman exited, he walked past me, and I could see tears rolling down his face. “Gutsy love” In the deepest recesses of his being he felt what his friend was feeling, and he expressed it through the “Gutsy-Action” of his touch.   

“Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him.”  I guarantee you that, for the leper, it was not any ordinary, idle touch, but Jesus’ touch sliced directly through the dehumanizing barrier that religion had constructed around the leper’s life that isolated him from the warmth and affection of others.   It was a touch that erased his personal sense of self-loathing that was the inevitable consequence of being declared ritually unclean.  It was a touch that conferred dignity, erased religious stigma and judgment.  It was “gutsy love” that lead to “gutsy action” and it was epic!

The third epic piece in this little story is, “and Jesus said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean.’”  In case you thought Jesus got carried away by his feelings and acted without rationally thinking it through, this little line reminds us that he knew exactly what he was doing, and he knew the conflict with Torah Law and the religious authorities that he created by so doing.  Only the priests had the authority to declare a leper clean and restored to the community.  So Jesus, by declaring the man clean, was clearly challenging the social control that religion employed over people, often in dehumanizing ways.   Even though Jesus told the man to go show himself to the priests, the man ignored Jesus’ request and conflict was inevitable which Mark’s gospel later reveals.  We might call this epic piece “gutsy intentionality.”

Three epic pieces:  gutsy-love; gutsy-action; gutsy- intentionality.

It seems to me that modern day Christianity is far too often out of touch with the gutsy love, gutsy action and gusty intentionality of the one who occupies the very center of the religion.  It is at those times and circumstances that Christianity needs a healthy dose of the three epic pieces of this story.

When Christianity becomes preoccupied  with itself and its beliefs and doctrines and mistakes them for the real essence of the Christ journey, it needs to reconnect with the gutsy love of Jesus who experienced the Divine, not on a mountaintop of beliefs but in the deep, often dark valleys of human suffering and need.  He experienced, with his whole gut and from the depths of his being, the suffering of others victimized by oppressive-judgmental religion, political and economic oppression, or the ambiguity of life itself. Christianity without the gutsy love of Jesus has lost its very soul.   

When Christianity becomes impotent to take action in response to real human need because of its own self imposed restrictions and narrow interpretations, it needs a healthy injection of the gutsy action of Jesus who reached through the restrictions of his own religion with scandalous and radical actions of love and compassion.
            Or, when we are moved to tears by the suffering of others, but take it no further finding ourselves paralyzed by fear, or our compassion neutralized by our own self-indulgence, we need the empowering prescription of the gusty action of Jesus trusting that his self-giving way is the way to fullest life and the way of discipleship. Christianity without the gutsy action of Jesus is irrelevant.

When we are inclined to oversimplify life’s complexities with shallow sound bites that put people in categories and places labels on everything and everybody, we need to take a page from Jesus’ gutsy intentionality using all our powers of rationality to look deeper into issues and intentionally broaden our understanding of the political, economic and sociological dynamics of suffering and oppression.  Christianity without the gutsy intentionality of Jesus, in the end, uses God as an excuse to rationalize inaction, injustice, oppression and even violence. 

In Mark’s gospel, Jesus arrived on the scene announcing the Kingdom of God that he proclaimed and embodied, and he invited others to follow him into the experience – including us.  I pray that our following and discipleship will involve the gutsy-love; gutsy-action and gutsy-intentionality of Jesus that are epic!