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Weekly Meditation
by Ron & Christine White
Mark 1:40-45
A person with leprosy came beseeching Jesus and, kneeling, said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean." Moved with pity, Jesus reached out and touched the person, and said, "I will; be clean." And immediately the leprosy went away and the person was made clean. And Jesus sternly charged and sent away the one whom he had healed, saying, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded for a proof to the people." But the one who had been healed went out and began to talk freely about it and to spread the news so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town but was out in the country; and people came to Jesus from every quarter.
Leprosy is a chronic disease caused by a bacterium. The most common external symptom is skin lesions. But, the disease is progressive, causing permanent damage to the skin, nerves, limbs and eyes. The flesh literally rots away, leading to the death of the untreated victim. Little wonder, then, that in a day when no known treatment existed, the leper asked Christ to "make me clean." What does the phrase spoken by the leper, "make me clean," mean to you? To the man with leprosy, it meant healing from his physical affliction. Many of Jesus' religious counterparts believed that leprosy was a judgment from God of either the person's own sins or those of their parents'. Jesus consistently taught that physical ailments are not a punishment from God. Yet, he healed the leper with the words "be clean," and he wasn't referring to anything physical like dirt. Just as he did when he cast the demonic spirits out of the demoniac and put them in the swine, Jesus was addressing the spiritual component of the physical disease.
We don't hear much about the disease of leprosy any more. Yet, I believe that I suffer from a different kind of leprosy, a leprosy of the spirit. For me, whenever I carry around shame, my spirit is infected with a progressive disease. For you see, leprosy of the spirit is also progressive. If left untreated, it can lead to broken relationships, anxiety, deceitfulness and despair. What is the recommended treatment for leprosy of the spirit? In Psalm 32, the companion verse for this Sunday's Gospel reading, David speaks of the blessing that comes to those who declare their shame to God with complete honesty and transparency, and who trust in God's ability to make them whole. To those who come in faith and implore God to "make me clean," God replies with a resounding blessing: "I will! Be clean!" David says it far better than I could ever hope to paraphrase:
"Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the person to whom God imputes no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
When I declared not my sin, my body wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of the summer.
I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, "I will confess my transgression to God;
then you forgave the guilt of my sin.
Therefore let all who are godly
offer prayer to you;
at a time of distress, the rush of great waters
shall not reach them.
You are a hiding place for me,
you preserve me from trouble;
you encompass me with deliverance.
I will instruct you and teach you
the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
else it will not keep with you.
Many are the pangs of the wicked;
but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in God.
Be glad in God, and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!"
