Month: February 2024

Ashamed of the Gospel

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Lent, Sermons Year B1 Comment

Mark 8:31-38 NRSV

I believe the church needs to re-discover its mission to be the church, to be the body of Christ, to be the very embodiment of Christ in this world. We are to continue his ministry in this world, doing the very same things that he did while he was on this earth: feeding the hungry, healing to the sick, sheltering the homeless, liberating the oppressed, elevating the rights of women, defending those judged by religious hypocrites, siding with the marginalized and speaking truth to power.

Now, there may be some who are thinking: “I just don’t know if I am ready to make such a commitment. I think I will stick to just going to church for now, and maybe I can be the church another time!”

 “After all, I have some things that I need to work out first in my life. My faith needs some work. I have my doubts. I have some questions. I have so much to learn, so much to figure out. And I have some very personal issues to deal with. I have this problem with anger. Sometimes I act or say before I think. So right now, if you don’t mind, until I can get my act more together, learn a little more, I think I will pass on this following Jesus thing. I have enough trouble these days just believing Jesus.”

Well, here’s my response to that: “Have you ever met Peter?”

You know, Saint Peter. The one Jesus called a “rock” and said, “on this rock, I will build my church.” The one Roman Catholics recognize as the first Pope. Perhaps you’ve heard of St. Peter’s Square, St. Peter’s Cathedral, and St. Peter’s Basilica. Peter: the one whom Jesus loved and trusted to carry on his ministry in this world.

You may think, there’s no way I can be like Saint Peter. Well, let me tell you a little more about this Peter fella.

One day, he is out on boat with the other disciples. It is the middle of the night, and there’s this big storm. The wind is howling. The waves are crashing against and into the boat. And as you could imagine, they were all scared to death. But then, Jesus comes to them, walking on the water, saying to them to have courage and to fear not.

But Peter…Peter has some doubts. Peter has some questions. Peter needs to work some things out: “Lord, if it is really you, then command me to come out on the water.” And Jesus responds, “Peter, you of little faith.”

Later, Jesus is instructing Peter about discipleship. Jesus talks about being humble, lowering one’s self, even pouring one’s self out. Jesus talks about selfless, self-expending, sacrificial love, being with and for the least of these.

But Peter…Peter has some issues. Peter has some things to learn. Peter gets into an argument with the other disciples about which one of them was the greatest.

After Jesus prays in the garden, surrendering himself to the will of God, Jesus does not resist arrest. Jesus practices what he teaches and turns the other cheek.

But Peter…Peter loses it. Peter acts before he thinks. In a fit of anger, Peter fights back. Peter draws his sword and begins swinging it at Jesus’ captors, cutting off the ear of one.

And in our text this morning, Jesus foretells that garden event. He talks about being rejected by organized religion. Jesus is essentially saying:

“When you preach the word of God that cuts like a sword; when you love all people and try to teach others to love all people; when you preach a grace that is extravagant and a love that is unconditional; when you talk about the need to make room at the table for all people; when you stand up for the rights of the poor and the marginalized; when you proclaim liberty to the oppressed and say that their lives matter; when you defend, forgive and friend sinners caught in the very act of sinning; when you tell lovers of money to sell their possessions and give the money to the poor; when you command a culture of war to be peacemakers; when you tell the powerful to turn the other cheek; when you call religious leaders hypocrites and point out their hypocrisy; when you criticize their faith without works, their theology without practice, and their tithing without justice; when you refuse to tolerate intolerance; when you do these things that I do,” says Jesus, “then the self-righteous-powers-that-be will rise up, and they will hate. They will come against you with all that they have, and they will come against you in name of God. They will do anything and everything that is in their power to stop you, even if it means killing you.”

But Peter…Peter has some serious issues with that. Peter says to Jesus: “No way! Stop talking like that. This is not right. You are crazy. We will not let this happen!”

Then, having had about all that he could stand of Peter and his nonsense and excuses: his doubts, his questioning, his anger, his lack of faith, his personal issues, all the mess that he needs to work out, Jesus responds to Peter with some of the harshest words ever recorded by Jesus: “Get behind me, Satan.”

Jesus, calls Peter, “Satan.”

And yet, that did not stop Jesus from loving Peter, from using Peter. Jesus kept teaching Peter, kept calling Peter, and kept leading Peter to do his work in the world. In fact, that did not stop Jesus from calling Peter to start his church in the world.

So, if you do not feel like you can follow Jesus, and if your excuses are: that you have doubts; or you have questions; or you are just not ready; or you have some issues to work out; or even have days you feel unworthy, even have days you know you resemble Satan more than God; then you are going to have to come up with some better excuses, because as Peter teaches us: with Jesus, those excuses simply don’t fly!

So, what is it that is really keeping so many today who call themselves Christian from actually following Jesus?

After Jesus is arrested, Peter goes into the courtyard of the High Priest. It is a cold night, so he gathers with some folks who had started a fire to warm themselves. A servant girl begins staring at Peter and says: “This man was with Jesus. He traveled around with him doing the things that Jesus did, saying the things that Jesus said.” But Peter denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not even know this Jesus.”

A little later, another saw him and said: “You are a disciple, a disciple of Jesus who defended, forgave and friended sinners. You welcomed strangers, visited prisoners, clothed the naked, gave water to the thirsty, and fed the hungry. You restored lepers, elevated the status of women, gave dignity to Eunuchs, and offered community to lepers. But, again, Peter denied it.

About an hour had passed and another man began to insist saying: “Certainly this man was with Him, for he is a Galilean too. You called out hypocrisy on the behalf of widows. You challenged the status quo on the behalf of the sick. You disobeyed the laws of God on the behalf of the suffering.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about!”

Peter’s denials had nothing to do with his lack of faith. His denials, his refusal to take up his cross, his failure to follow in the selfless, sacrificial way of Jesus had nothing to do with his doubts and his questions, his personal issues and poor anger management because, as Jesus pointed out over and over, those excuses simply don’t cut it. Peter’s failure was shame.

Peter had trouble following Jesus because he was ashamed of the gospel.  He was ashamed of what the gospel stood for and for whom the gospel stood.

Which raises the question: “Could this be the reason why so many churches today are failing miserably in answering the call to follow the way of love that Jesus taught his disciples?”

Peter was ashamed to love, because living among voices clamoring to take their country back, it was more popular to hate.

Peter was ashamed to identify with the least because it was more popular to identify with the greatest.

Peter was ashamed to defend and forgive sinners because it was more popular to throw rocks.

Peter was ashamed to welcome and elevate little children because it was more popular to send them away.

Peter was ashamed to be last because it was more popular to be first.

Peter was ashamed to tell the truth because it was more popular to embrace a lie.

Peter was ashamed to embrace a way of humility because it was more popular to be arrogant, proud, condescending, and self-important.

Peter was ashamed to share his wealth because it was more popular to hold on to it.

Peter was ashamed to side with the poor, because it was more popular to call them “lazy.”

Peter was ashamed to include foreigners, because it was more popular to dehumanize them by calling them “aliens.”

Peter was ashamed to visit prisoners because it was popular to treat them as animals.

Peter was ashamed to stand up for the marginalized because it was more popular to call them “abominations.”

Peter was ashamed to respect the basic rights of women, because it was more popular to subjugate them.

Peter was ashamed to turn the other cheek because it was more popular to draw a sword.

Peter was ashamed to pick up and carry a cross, because it was more popular to pick up and carry a weapon of war.

And Jesus said: “Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

So, are we ready to follow Jesus? Are we ready to give sacrificially and serve graciously? If not, what’s our excuse? We must remember, with Jesus, a lack of faith, having a lot of questions and some serious issues, or not having ourselves together are no excuses at all!

Could it be that much of what is wrong with the church today is shame? Christians are ashamed of the gospel, what the gospel stands for and for whom it stands. Maybe it is due to peer pressure from family or friends, or to fear of losing some political or societal clout. The truth is there are too many who claim to follow Jesus who are ashamed to stand on the side of children like Nex Benedict and ashamed to stand against popular voices of hate like Moms for Liberty and other MAGA Christian Nationalists.

The good news is that Peter dealt with his shame. Peter repented, and this one Jesus called “Satan,” helped start the church and has been named by the Church as its first Pope.

And the good news for the church this morning is that there’s still a little time to deal with its shame.

When Monday Morning Comes

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Lent, Sermons Year B2 Comments

Mark 1:9-15 NRSV

One moment, Jesus is overcome with joy in the presence of God as the heavens were “torn apart” and the Spirit of God descends upon him “like a dove.” A voice comes from heaven: “This is my Son the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

And then, without warning, “immediately,” says Mark, Jesus is driven into the wilderness for forty days, hurled into a place of trials and temptations, into a place where God seemed to be absent.

At one time, when I was much younger and more naïve, much less experienced in this world, this passage of scripture used to bother me. For what kind of God would fill Jesus with the light of holy love and joy one moment only to drive him into the dark wilderness in the next moment?

Well, as I have grown older, I no longer struggle with this question. Because the reality is that the Spirit of God does not have to drive us into a wilderness. We are already there. We are there because we are human, and life itself is a rollercoaster of joyous moments and wilderness moments. We encounter suffering and trials in life, not because God drives us into it, but because we are earthly creatures living in a fragmented world.

Like happens with you and me, one moment, Jesus is standing in presence of God. The next moment, he’s standing in a seemingly God-forsaken wilderness.

Last Sunday, we were invited to go the mountaintop with Jesus. It was a magnificent scene as we were standing in the very majestic presence of the Holy One, the creator of all that is. There, we were enveloped by Love, Love’s self.

But then, Monday morning came. It came for me personally when I woke to the news that my Uncle Ernie had died.

The unexpected and harsh news from my brother was especially tragic considering the recent death of Ernie’s beloved wife, my Aunt Ann, who died right after Thanksgiving. Uncle Ernie had been overwhelmed with grief and was having a difficult moving forward.

Like Jesus, one day we experience the holy presence of God, but then, Monday morning comes, and we are hurled into the wilderness.

Did you hear the good news in that sentence? “Like Jesus…” The good news of the Christian faith is that God understands. The good news is that God empathizes. The good news of the gospel is that God has experienced this world as we often experience it through the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

But there’s even better news as we read Mark’s gospel. It’s just one short sentence, but it is a beautiful sentence. Mark says: “And the angels waited on him.”

Angels, representing God’s providence and presence waited on Jesus. Suffering, struggle, and trial are present in the wilderness, but so is God! Throughout Jesus’ forty days, God was not far away, and God was not absent! God was with Jesus, ministering to him, serving him, waiting on him.

And the good news is that as angels were there for Jesus in his wilderness, we can find angels sent by God to be there for us.

Last Saturday, Uncle Ernie’s only child, my cousin Trey, had the joy of coaching the basketball team of his five-year old son, Cooper. Cooper was named after our beloved grandmother Sarah Jane Cooper. If you are a parent you may remember, it was one of those basketball games where the final score is something like 8 to 4. It was the second to last game of the season. During that game, Cooper scored his very first basket. In the moment the ball went through that hoop, knowing my cousin Trey and his love for basketball, I am sure he felt like the heavens had opened up, and the Spirit of God had descended upon him.

The very next day, Trey went to visit his Dad, who he had checked on every weekend since his mother died a couple months ago. Trey opened the front door and called, “Dad! It’s me Trey.” Hearing no answer, he walked into his father’s bedroom and found him lying face down in the bed unresponsive. Observing that he was barely breathing, he immediately called 911.

One day, Trey is experiencing heaven on earth coaching his son’s basketball game. The next day, he’s hurled into a wilderness.

Later that night, after being told by a doctor that his father’s death was imminent, Trey and his wife Kaylee got on the elevator and headed to the ICU floor. As soon as they stepped off the elevator, they immediately heard a kind, inqusitive voice from a nurse who was sitting at a desk: “Trey, is that you?”

The nurse then introduced herself to Trey and Kaylee as the granddaughter of Ms. Ava who lived next door to our grandmother when Trey was growing up. She said: “Trey, when I would visit my grandmother, I remember watching you and your father playing in your grandmother’s backyard.” She then talked about how much she loved our grandmother, so much so, that she named her daughter Sarah Jane after her. Trey said, “we named our son Cooper after her!

Trey said that Ms. Ava’s granddaughter then empathetically walked them to the room where his father was. She then went and found two recliners which she pushed into the room so Trey and Kaylee could sit Uncle Ernie’s bedside his father during his final hours.

The good news is that when we find ourselves in the wilderness, there are angels are among us, reminding us like a nurse with a daughter named Sarah Jane reminded Trey, that God never leaves us nor forsakes us. Even in the darkest experiences in this wilderness called life, God is always present.

The Rev. Fred Rogers put it this way: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”

This is especially good news this Sunday, because whether or not we are ready for it, Monday morning is coming.

On Monday morning, anxiety is usually your alarm. You are awakened with a list of countless worries. If tomorrow morning is anything like the last few mornings, added to our fretful list are the children who were injured in yet another horrific mass shooting. You worry about your own children, your grandchildren, great-grandchildren. You worry knowing that they are unsafe wherever they are, at a ballgame, at school, at a party, even at church. You grieve over the state of our country. You anguish that so many of your friends have acquiesced to the notion that nothing can be done to prevent this from happening again.

The good news, there are angels among us.

Angels like Kansas City Chiefs offensive guard Trey Smith who saw a frightened boy with his father during the shooting and used his WWE title belt to comfort the boy saying: “Hey buddy, you’re the champion. No one’s going to hurt you, man. We’ve got your back.” Then, after they were loaded onto a bus, he talked to the boy about wrestling to keep his mind off the frightening and chaotic scene.

There are angels among us like Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire who also sheltered a boy during the shooting. The boy’s mother posted on social media: “Huge thank you to Clyde Edwards #25 for sheltering and getting [my son Zach] to safety… Clyde even went back to check on Zach to make sure he was still doing ok. What a great human being!”

And there are other angels among us living with a renewed determination to continue fighting for sensible gun laws, committed do doing more than sending thoughts and prayers.

This wilderness experience of Jesus is often called “the temptation of Jesus.” I believe we are sometimes tempted to believe that we can make it through our wilderness alone, on our own power. We are tempted to believe that our own physical power or even our own spiritual power can see us through our wilderness experiences.

However, we must be able to humbly recognize that we need another power. For if the Son of God needed angels to wait on him in his wilderness, how much more do we need angels to get through ours? How much more do we need God’s abiding presence? How much more do we need one another? How much more do we need those who have been called to be God’s transforming agents in this world, those who call themselves disciples fighting every day to make this world a more just and peaceful place to live, who are, even now, sitting all around us?

Which leads to this question: Come Monday, who might need us? Who might need us to wait on them, shelter them, calm and comfort them, fight for and vote for their safety.

It’s Sunday morning.  Gathered here in the presence of God, we are loved, and we are affirmed. The heavens are open. God’s Spirit fills this room, and God is speaking to our hearts.

In a few moments, we will receive the bread and the cup, and we will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are loved with a grace that is greater than our sins. We will pray. We will sing a hymn. And we will make commitments and our re-commitments. During the Benediction you will hear the wonderful words: “You are God’s beloved children, with whom God is well pleased.”

Yes, it is Sunday morning, and we are here in the very presence of God. But we can be certain of this:  Monday morning is coming. For some of us Monday morning may come this Sunday afternoon. As sure as we are here, the wilderness coming. The good news is: we will get through it. Something good will come out of it. Our fears will be relieved. Mercy will be given. Justice will prevail. Peace will come.  Love will win.

How can I be so confident?  Because when I look around this room, you know what I see?  I see angels.

Listen to Him

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Sermons Year BLeave a comment

 

Mark 9:2-9 NRSV

Jesus took just a few of his disciples, Peter, James, and John, with him up a high mountain by themselves.

I believe that is exactly where Jesus wants to take us this morning. He wants to take all of us here this morning, who represent just a few of his disciples in this world, up a high mountain.

Up high to a sacred, transcendent place where we can see the world around us more fully; and thus, see ourselves more honestly and see Jesus more abundantly— Up high to a holy place where our eyes are magnified, and our senses are heightened to a brand new, illuminated reality.

And there, by ourselves, Jesus wants to spend some very intimate moments with us. He wants to personally speak to us, speak to our hearts in a way that will transfigure us, transform us, change us forever.

So, this morning, right now, I want to invite you to take Jesus by the hand, and just for a few moments, leave behind your world, all your troubles and burdens, all the plans that you have already made for this day, even for this hour, and allow Jesus to take you up high to this place that we all need to go.

So, let’s go. Let’s take his hand and walk with him. Although we do not know exactly where we’re going, and although we do not even always fully understand who this Jesus is who is leading us, let’s just follow—let us faithfully, and even somewhat fearfully, follow our Lord as he leads us upward.

As soon as we get to the top, somehow, some mysterious way, although it is beyond our mortal comprehension, it is revealed to us that this Jesus is the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures. He is the culmination of the Law and Moses and the messages of Elijah and the prophets. For a moment, however fleeting, our eyes see it. And our ears hear an affirmation. It is inexplicable, yet undeniable: A divine affirmation that he is none other than the beloved Son of God sent into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save the world (John 3:17).

It is a magnificent scene. We are standing in the very majestic presence of the Holy One,—the creator of all that is. We are enveloped by Love, Love’s self. We are so enamored that we want nothing more than to make this place our home.

 As we are begging to stay, we are interrupted by what first sounds like thunder. In our fearful silence we hear three words from heaven that we’ve have heard before. In fact, we heard it the very first time we met this Jesus, the first time we heard Matthew, Mark, Luke and John tell his story, the first time we heard him speak, but this time we hear it even more convincingly, more credibly and more divinely: “Listen to him.”

The words are so real and so true, that even if it is just for a moment, all of our doubt vanishes, as we recognize that these three words, this holy command is the key to not only our salvation and the salvation of all humanity, but it is the key for the redemption of all creation.

 We cannot help but to fall to the ground. Awe and fear and wonder paralyze us. Unable to move, barely able to breathe, our heart feeling like it is about to beat out of our chest, his hand reaches out and touches us. A peace beyond all understanding overshadows us (Phil 4:4). And we look up and the only one we see, the only thing we see is Jesus…like we’ve never seen him before.

 And we listen to him as he looks us in the eyes, calls us by name, and fulfills the holy scriptures in our hearing by saying:

I am your God, and I am Love. In love, I created you and formed you with my own hands. Before you knew me, I knew you; and before you loved me, I loved you (Jer 1:5). I love you with all that I am, with a love that is without conditions, without reservations and without limits (Rom 5:8). Please understand what this means. I do not love you like the Pharisees who say that they love you but hate your sin. For my love does not keep a record of wrongdoing (1 Cor 13:5). Please know that in my eyes, your sins have been removed as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12) and my love for you will never end (1 Cor 13:8).

Listen to me, you must know that there is absolutely nothing in all of creation, in heaven or on earth, not even death, that can ever separate you from my love (Rom 8:39).

Please do not doubt that I will never leave nor forsake you (Deut 31:6). I am the God of love, mercy and compassion. I am the God of empathy and grace. I love you with a love that cannot be earned and can never be forfeited simply because you are my beloved children (2 Cor 6:18).

You were created by me, you came from me; therefore, like branches to a vine (John 15:5) you are a part of me. And when your journey of life on this earth ends, you will return to me. Listen to me, for I want you to continue this journey consciously with me, alongside me. Because I want you to forever be with me, so close to me that you always know that my grace envelops you, my love enfolds you (Luke 13:34).

I know all of your thoughts. I hear all of your words. I see all of your actions. I am aware of all of your inactions. I know the best you. I know the potential you. And I know the worst you. And I even know the potential evil within you. And I love you. I love you because you are beautiful, made in my own image, an expression of my most intimate love (Psalm 139 and Gen 1:27).

Please do not judge yourself. Don’t ever do that. And never let the judgment of others bother you. Let my love touch the deepest, most hidden corners of your soul and reveal your own beauty, a beauty that you have lost sight of, but which will be revealed to you again in the light of my grace (Psalm 139:7).

Listen to me. For I want this to be the very heart of your faith in me. Your faith is not about right beliefs or even right actions. Your faith is not about being against this or that, nor is it about being for this or that. The core of your faith is about your identity, your very being, as my beloved child, as a part of me (Gal 2:20).

This is the joy of living in the Spirit. This is what you taste even now on this mountain. My face shines. Even my garments are aglow. For my heart, my core, my very being is infused with the love of God, and so is yours. Listen to me, and your face will shine also (Gal 5:16-26).

Listen to me. Take and eat, for this is my body broken and given for you. Eat, chew, swallow my love for you. You don’t have to fully comprehend it, just accept it, eat it, let it go into your body and always remember that you are what you eat (Matt 26:26). You are my body. Remember, when Saul was persecuting the Church, I asked him, “Saul, why are you persecuting me?” For you are the embodiment of my love in this world.

Take this cup and drink. Drink my grace. Consume my forgiveness. And then be what you drink. This is your identity. This is who you are. This is how you live. Live in the Spirit of my love that is inside of you, apart of you, and you will bear the fruits of that Spirit (Col 1).

I know that this world is fragile and fragmented. Death, divorce, disease, discrimination, bigotry, violence, greed and the lust for power are everywhere. But listen to me. So am I. I am everywhere suffering with you. When you weep, I weep (John 11:35).

But I am also there resurrecting, redeeming, restoring, re-creating. I am everywhere working all things together for the good. I am everywhere wringing whatever good can be wrung out of every tragedy. I am everywhere in this world transforming despair into hope; transfiguring brokenness into wholeness, and changing death into life, because I love this world and every creature in it. That is why I am here (Rom 8:28).

It is also why you are here (John 20:21).

So, come closer to me, let me wipe away your tears (Rev. 21:4), let my mouth come close to your ear and say to you again and again, I love you. I love you. I love you. Let me say it until you not only believe it, but become it, be it, live it. Let my love flow through you (John 15:5).

We say, “Jesus, it is good that we stay here forever!”

But Jesus responds by telling us what we already knew. It is now time to come down from the mountain. But unlike the time the first disciples who went with him to this sacred higher ground, Jesus tells us to share this experience with all people (Matthew 28:19).

As we walk down the mountain with Jesus, we ask: “Why did you want Peter, James, and John to wait to share their experience until after your death and resurrection?”

And Jesus responds:

My love for you and for this world is so deep, my grace is so wide, my mercy is so high that no one would believe it unless God did something absolutely earth shaking (Eph 3:18).

 To reveal the height the breadth and the depth of God’s love for this world, God came into the world offering the world the very best gift that God had to offer. God came into the world knowing that people, especially the people who claimed to be the people of God, would not receive that gift and would nail that gift to a tree. And God would resurrect that gift giving that gift right back to the very ones who crucified him (John 1:11).

Thus, revealing to all of creation, that if God can turn around the killing of God, then there is nothing that God cannot turn around. If God can resurrect, redeem, restore the killing of God, then there is hope for us all (Rom 8:11).

And with all of creation, we are changed. We are transformed. We are forever transfigured (2 Cor 5:17).

The Good Exorcist

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Sermons Year BLeave a comment

Mark 1:29-45 NRSV

As I mentioned last week, Mark 1 can be a challenging chapter for the educated mainline modern ear with its references to unclean spirits and demons. We progressives would always prefer to call Jesus “The Good Teacher” rather than “the Good Exorcist!”

However, when reading this chapter, it is impossible to ignore the fact that it seems very important to Mark to inform his readers that a primary responsibility in the job description of the Son of God is confronting, rebuking, and exorcising demons or “unclean spirits.”

Last week we read in verse 27:

They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, ‘What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’

And today, beginning with verse 32 we read:

That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons; …And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Now, before we decide to amend the church budget so we can purchase some holy water, a few giant crucifixes and a book of exorcism rights and begin looking for people whose bodies contort and heads spin around, let’s keep reading this chapter in Mark.

For I believe to understand the nature of demonic or “unclean spirits,” I believe it is important to look closely at the details of the story which ends chapter one.

A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, ‘If you choose, you can make me clean.’

 Isn’t that interesting? At the end of the chapter about Jesus casting out unclean and demonic spirits, comes someone considered to be unclean begging Jesus to make him clean.  In other words, “Jesus, if you choose, you can exorcize the unclean or demonic spirit that is tormenting me.”

Leprosy was the most feared and dreaded disease of Jesus’ day, one that always brought horror and despair. “Leprosy” is an indefinite and general term used for a whitish rash on the skin. Spots, sores and swelling may also be present. It was an uncomfortable disease; however, what made leprosy so feared, and so demonic, was not what it did to a person physically, but what it did to a person socially. Perhaps like no other disease, leprosy excluded, marginalized and utterly otherized. You could say that it demonized another.

And it must be pointed out that this demonic otherization was created by so-called, “good,” Bible-believing folks who loved to quote passages from Leviticus to back up their demonic acts.

Chapters 13 and 14 of Leviticus discuss the social side effects of this disease at great length. Because a person with leprosy was considered “unclean,” a leper had to wear clothes which had been torn so they could be easily recognized and avoided. Lepers also had to cover their mouths and cry “unclean, unclean” in the presence of others so no one would approach them. Eduard Schweizer comments that rabbis considered a leper to be a “living corpse.” They were alive, but not alive. They were here, but not here; in the community, but not a part of the community. They were unalive, unaccepted, and untouchable.

We are then told that Jesus is “moved with pity…”

It is important to note that the Greek word used here describes visceral, gut-wrenching feeling. Jesus was moved from deep within his soul. Jesus literally felt the pain and the stigma of the leper. Because the leper suffered, Jesus also suffered. Some scholars say that the word is better translated: “angry.” When Jesus encountered the suffering of the leper, it angered him, but he was angry not only by the physical pain of it, but by the social pain of it— how this dehumanizing disease took people out of community, how it made them social outcasts, outsiders, other.

Here’s how we know that Jesus is angry at not the disease itself, but at the social injustice of it all.  Jesus reaches out his hand and “touches” this one who was considered by faith and culture to be “untouchable.” “Immediately the leprosy leaves him, and he is made clean.”  Then we read: “He sent him away at once, saying to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

Although Jesus had healed the man from the leprosy, Jesus needed him to follow through with the cleansing rituals that would restore him back into community. More than anything else, Jesus wanted this outsider to become an insider. Jesus wanted this untouchable to be touchable, this otherized to be welcomed, seen, heard, valued, loved, and supported.

1972 was a year of enlightenment for me. For it was not only one of the first times I experienced the love of God in action when Mrs. Banks came to visit me in the hospital after my tonsils were removed, it was the first time I had an encounter with the demonic.

 Since I attended a segregated church and a private kindergarten, First Grade was my first exposure to children whose skin color differed from mine. During the first few weeks of school, I immediately became friends with a student of color named Robert whose desk was directly behind me. I also remember playing on the playground with Robert during recess and eating lunch with him in the cafeteria.

About a month into the school year, I remember overhearing my parents and my grandparents, who lived just down the road from us, having a discussion that I did not understand. Although it had been three years since the assassination of Martin Luther King, I remember his name being invoked as an example of how “colored people” like “to stir up trouble.” They talked about a racial riot which had occurred at the high school, how a school bus was set on fire and how a white girl was stabbed with a knife by a black boy.

I remember hearing my parents and grandparents talk about people of color as if they were animals, suggesting that they, like the Native Americans, did not have souls like white people. And I distinctly remember them somehow using the Bible to back up their beliefs.

Before going to school the next day, I will never forget my mother sitting me down at the kitchen table and telling me that “colored people were bad people and wanted to cause trouble,” and they may try to start a fight with me.

Mama said: “So, if a colored person comes up to you, I want you to just ignore them. Don’t pay them any attention. Do you hear me?” I had learned that whenever she ended a sentence with “Do you hear me?” I better do what she said, as I was constantly reminded as a child that God would punish me if I disobeyed my parents.

While standing in the front of the line preparing to go to the cafeteria on the following day, I will never forget Robert, who was standing three or four students behind me calling my name, “Jarrett, Jarrett.” And obeying mama, I ignored him. “Jarrett, Jarrett, Jarrett, Jarrett,” he kept calling my name. “Jarrett, can’t you hear me? Jarrett!” I just stood there, acted as if Robert did not exist.

And as we walked in a single line to the cafeteria, I remember feeling sick, convicted that I just did something terrible, diabolical. It was the very first time that I realized that my parents could be wrong. That their understanding of scripture could be wrong.

All because during the first few weeks of first grade, Robert had become me my friend. All because we talked and listened to one another in class, at lunch and on the playground. As novelist and gay activist Sarah Shulman has written: “Nothing disrupts dehumanization more quickly than inviting someone over, looking into their eyes, hearing their voice, and listening.”

It has been said that the greatest problem of the twenty-first century has been the greatest problem in every generation: the problem of “othering,” a demonic evil that has existed since the human beings first walked on the earth. Virtually every global, national, regional, denominational, church and family conflict is because someone made the decision to identify a group that is “us” and another group that is “them.” Othering undergirds territorial disputes, sectarian violence, military conflict, genocide, the spread of disease, hunger, food insecurity, and even climate change.

And it almost always begins with words. A few dehumanizing, otherizing, demonizing words describing a group of people as “illegals,” “aliens,” abominations,” “animals,” “vermin” or an “infestation.”

We heard it this past week from a congressman from Florida when he suggested that we not refer to even babies on the Gaza strip as “innocent Palestinians’”

And recently we have heard a presidential candidate repeat the assertion: “They are poisoning the blood of our nation.”

I often wonder how much better this world would be today if churches took Jesus’ response to the evil of otherization as serious as we took Jesus’ acts of healing, if along with the great hospitals that churches have built all over the world, churches built advocacy centers for social justice. What kind of world would it be if every church taught and advocated for social justice like they pray for people who are sick?

As disciples of the Good Exorcist, we must always stand ready rebuke and call out any otherization we encounter today, in all its forms, as the abhorrent, demonic evil that it is. We must be moved to holy anger like Jesus when we see anyone marginalized by culture or religion.

We don’t need carry around holy water or a giant crucifix. We just need to possess some courage to speak up and speak out whenever we encounter racism, xenophobia, queerphobia or any type of hate. We must never be ashamed of the good news of the gospel that all people, all tribes, all nations are beloved children of God. And we must continue to be a church that welcomes all people to the table, believing that there’s no such thing as “us and them,” because there’s only us. This church must always be a place where everyone is seen, heard, valued, loved, and supported, and there are never any exceptions.