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It's possible for something to be simple and uncomplicated and, at the same
time, quite difficult. Let me give an example. Push ups! They are very simple. You lie facing down and
hold yourself up off the ground on your toes and hands, with your arms outstretched. Bend your arms to
lower yourself toward the ground and, just before you touch the ground, straighten your arms to push
yourself back to original position. Simple. But try a few to see how difficult they can be!
In our Old Testament lesson Naaman had such a problem. He was asked to do something that was
simple yet difficult. It is simple to go the Jordan River and bathe or dip yourself in seven times. And
it's not that it was difficult to get to or anything like that. The difficulty for Naaman was that he had
to trust, to have faith, that this simple thing would indeed heal him.
Naaman was an officer in the Syrian army and had a slave who suggested that he go to Israel to be
healed. The Syrians and the Israelites had skirmishes and battles back and forth in those days. When one
group would come into a city and win a battle they would typically take as slaves all those in the town
they had conquered. So Naaman's slave knew that some day she might be back in her own country and he or
his family might be the ones in this form of slavery. She cared enough for him to tell him how he might be
healed.
Naaman went to his King and asked permission to go to Israel and try to be healed. The leprosy he
was suffering from didn't keep him from being a good soldier, but it probably was painful and he wanted to
be rid of it. Leprosy is the word we have in the Bible that means many different kinds of skin conditions,
not just the disease of leprosy with which we are familiar. Naaman was willing to do whatever it took to
be healed of this condition, even if that meant going to Israel and asking for help. The King of Syria
gave permission and Naaman left for Israel with gold and other gifts to persuade the Israelites to heal
him.
When he arrived in Israel the King of Judah was distraught because he thought that the request for
healing was simply a pretext for the Syrians to start another war with Israel. But Elisha heard that
Naaman had come and told the King not to worry, just to send Naaman to him. Elisha didn't even go out to
see him, he just sent word to Naaman to go and wash in the Jordan River, dipping himself in seven
times.
Naaman was furious. How dare they treat him this way! Not only was little respect shown for him as
a warrior, the supposed healing was nothing special. It was simple, yet Naaman had difficulty doing this
simple thing because of his lack of trust that any good would come. He did finally go and was healed.
The story of Jesus and the leper is similar. The responses are different, but the same sort of
simple yet difficult issues are at the heart of it.
The leper came and said to Jesus, "If you will it" or in some translations, "If you choose it, I
will be healed." There are two simple things that Jesus must do for the man to be healed. First, he must
choose or will to heal the man. Notice how this phrase is an echo of how Jesus will teach us to pray later
in Mark. "Thy will be done." And how it is an echo of the words Jesus spoke in prayer in the Garden of
Gesthemene, "Father if it be your will, take this cup from me, but thy will and not my will be done." This
is to show that all good things come from the will of God. Indeed, all good comes from God and God does
will good for us.
The second simple, yet difficult, thing that Jesus had to do was to touch the man. The man was a
leper, and could have had any number of skin conditions that might have given him that label, but he was
unclean and untouchable. Lepers were in a special class because of their disease. They could not go to
worship with the rest of the community. They could not go to the market for food with everyone else. They
had to live outside the community, literally outside the walls of the town.
So touching him risked Jesus becoming unclean as well. But Jesus did touch him and heal him, made
him clean is actually what the text says, and thus made him a part of the community again. He told him to
go and give the appointed sacrifices to the priest who could then pronounce him clean officially. We don't
know if the man ever did that because he ran off and told people that Jesus had made him clean.
When Jesus touched the man he brought him back into a state of cleanliness, a state where the man
was again welcome in society. But it's just as important to note what does not happen in stories of
healing with Jesus. What did not happen, is that Jesus did not make the man immortal. He didn't stop him
from growing and changing as a human being who would some day die; he cleansed him and made him whole as a
human being. What Jesus did was not unnatural or against nature, but rather it might be thought of as
making nature whole again. The leper went on to die as we all die. So did all the people that were healed
in the Bible. Mortality, the notion that this life has a beginning and an end is true for all of us, even
when we are healed of a particular condition.
What Jesus did in reaching out to touch this man was simple, yet it was difficult in that it
carried the risk of Jesus becoming the one who was unclean. Touching can be very simple for all of us, but
difficult because it is so important and carries so much weight for us. Touching is an important idea in
our lives and in our language.
When we read a good book that moves us in a special way we say that we are touched. When we see a
movie or hear a story that helps us to understand in a special way we say that we are touched. We are
talking about a different kind of understanding, something that is more than just cerebral understanding
when we say that we have been touched by something. When we are touched there is an impact on us that
changes us and leaves an imprint on our souls. Touching is important to us.
I remember a specific touch from a time in my life. When I was growing up we would take all the
young people in the parish and go to a few nursing homes to sing Christmas carols and bring some Christmas
spirit to the people in the nursing homes. There probably were people in the nursing homes that some of
the adults knew, but we did not know most of the folks personally, especially to the young people.
I don't know how strong a grip you've ever felt, but I felt the strongest grip I've ever felt in
that nursing home. As we were greeting the people I went to say hello to a frail little old woman in
wheelchair. She was bound to the chair and as I held out my hand to say hello and shake hers she grabbed
me so hard that I thought I would never get away. Fortunately I just stood there and talked to her and
soon an adult came over to stand with me and pat me on the shoulder, letting me know that it was OK, the
woman just wanted to connect with someone and talk for a minute.
I recalled that experience when I was in seminary. Several students used to go to a nursing home
every couple of weeks to lead worship services for some of the residents. One day as I was greeting people
after the service a similar grip took hold of my hand and I remembered that experience as a child. I don't
know if spasticity or some other condition was part of what made those grips so firm. I do know that some
people yearn to be touched and feel as though they are untouchable - and that may make them hold on tight
when they do find themselves touching someone.
There are people in our society who feel as though they are as untouchable as the caste that we
hear about in India. The mentally ill often feel untouchable and sometimes are even afraid to be touched,
making their condition doubly difficult. People who have physical illnesses, especially when they are
infirm and bound to chairs and beds, feel untouchable. When I was growing up, and I think it has changed
some, people with cancer were untouchable. We may be getting past that one. But what about AIDS? Many
people with AIDS are afraid that if others find out about their condition that they will become
untouchable. And today, in our society, what about Muslims? Are they untouchable for us?
It's not only physical conditions that make people feel as though they are untouchable. People who
are going through divorces or dealing with the death of someone close to them; people who are dealing with
some kind of emotional loss often feel as though they are untouchable.
The church has long recognized that touch is important to our well being. When we pray for healing
we anoint with oil and touch people in the process. When we baptize we touch by signing people with the
cross. At confirmation we lay hands on people. At ordination we lay hands on people. We touch to show that
a change has taken place and that we are connected to one another.
The touch doesn't have to intimate; just a touch on the shoulder or head or hands, but it does
have to be intentional. It is something very simple, yet it can be difficult because of our own reluctance
to touch or to be touched by another.
There are those among us who need to be touched and will find it as difficult as Naaman to trust
that healing will take place. There are those of us who will find it difficult to reach out and touch. But
we all need to touch and be touched.
St. Teresa of Avila had something to say that helps me to understand this. Here are her words.
"Christ has no body now on earth but yours. No hands but yours, no feet but yours."
"Yours are the eyes through which must look out Christ's compassion on the world."
"Yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good."
"Yours are the hands with which He is to bless people now."
It is simple - but difficult.
If Christ is to bring about healing in the world today, if He is to bring about peace in our
world, if Christ's love is to be spread; then it is through our touching people's lives, our risking
enough to reach out that it will happen. What I do know is that if we touch one another, Christ will
spread his love and healing through that touch. And our world will be better for it. + |