Kingdom - Part 4 - Leper

 

"Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give." Matthew 10:8. New American Standard.

In this series, we've been talking about what Jesus meant by the phrase "kingdom of heaven." In the first post I gave an outline about the phrase and proposed that throughout the tenth chapter of Matthew, Jesus outlined what it looked like to "participate" in the kingdom of heaven. 

In the second part, I talked about what Jesus meant (as a first century Jew) by healing the sick, and in the third part I talked about what Jesus meant by "raising the dead." 

In this part of the series, I'd like to talk about what Jesus meant by "cleansing the lepers." But first, some language difficulties. 

The Hebrew word that we derive the word "leprosy" from is tsawrah'ath. In ancient Hebrew, the word was used to describe anything that had mold or mildew, or any person who had a skin disease. And according to ancient Hebrew, skin diseases as well as mold or mildew were considered unclean by the high priests. They were not to be contacted until they were ritually cleansed and considered "clean" by the high priest. 

And there were lists and lists of rules for things and people that were unclean. 

For example, 

"When a garment has a mark of leprosy in it, whether it is a wool garment or a linen garment, ⁴⁸whether in warp or woof, of linen or of wool, whether in leather or in any article made of leather, ⁴⁹if the mark is greenish or reddish in the garment or in the leather, or in the warp or in the woof, or in any article of leather, it is a leprous mark and shall be shown to the priest. ⁵⁰"Then the priest shall look at the mark and shall quarantine the article with the mark for seven days. ⁵¹"He shall then look at the mark on the seventh day; if the mark has spread in the garment, whether in the warp or in the woof, or in the leather, whatever the purpose for which the leather is used, the mark is a leprous malignancy, it is unclean. ⁵²"So he shall burn the garment, whether the warp or the woof, in wool or in linen, or any article of leather in which the mark occurs, for it is a leprous malignancy; it shall be burned in the fire. ⁵³"But if the priest shall look, and indeed the mark has not spread in the garment, either in the warp or in the woof, or in any article of leather, ⁵⁴then the priest shall order them to wash the thing in which the mark occurs and he shall quarantine it for seven more days. ⁵⁵"After the article with the mark has been washed, the priest shall again look, and if the mark has not changed its appearance, even though the mark has not spread, it is unclean; you shall burn it in the fire, whether an eating away has produced bareness on the top or on the front of it. ⁵⁶"Then if the priest looks, and if the mark has faded after it has been washed, then he shall tear it out of the garment or out of the leather, whether from the warp or from the woof; ⁵⁷and if it appears again in the garment, whether in the warp or in the woof, or in any article of leather, it is an outbreak; the article with the mark shall be burned in the fire. ⁵⁸"The garment, whether the warp or the woof, or any article of leather from which the mark has departed when you washed it, it shall then be washed a second time and will be clean." ⁵⁹This is the law for the mark of leprosy in a garment of wool or linen, whether in the warp or in the woof, or in any article of leather, for pronouncing it clean or unclean." Leviticus 13:47-59. New American Standard.

 This is quite a set of instructions, and this is for a mark on fabric!

Now, another note. When this Bible was translated, there wasn't a word for this sort of thing. The people who met together to decide what was to go into our modern Bible got together, they decided to use the term "leper" to describe "marks, stains, or skin problems." It was a convenient way for them to go about it since leprosy was a real disease in their world and there was no cure. And lepers were society's stain. 

They decided to use real people with real medical conditions to blanket over anything in the old testament that had to do with stains, skin, or mildew. If it sounds unfair and discriminatory then you're on the right track. 

As a first century Jew living in Rome, you didn't have the word leprosy. Instead, you had rules and laws that pertained to different types of situations in real life. So, if you had a skin disease, the only word you had for it was "unclean." And here's what the rules were for skin diseases:

 "When a man has on the skin of his body a swelling or a scab or a bright spot, and it becomes an infection of leprosy on the skin of his body , then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests. 3 "The priest shall look at the mark on the skin of the body , and if the hair in the infection has turned white and the infection appears to be deeper than the skin of his body , it is an infection of leprosy; when the priest has looked at him, he shall pronounce him unclean. 4 "But if the bright spot is white on the skin of his body , and it does not appear to be deeper than the skin, and the hair on it has not turned white, then the priest shall isolate him who has the infection for seven days. 5 "The priest shall look at him on the seventh day, and if in his eyes the infection has not changed and the infection has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall isolate him for seven more days. 6 "The priest shall look at him again on the seventh day, and if the infection has faded and the mark has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean; it is only a scab. And he shall wash his clothes and be clean." Leviticus 13:1-6. New American Standard.

Since there wasn't a cure for skin diseases in ancient times, diseases were thought to be a sign of disdain from the gods. And the only way to make the gods happy was to go through the detailed, tedious process of making the gods happy again. And the only way to make the gods happy was through the high priest of the village. The high priest was the mouthpiece for god. 

Fast forward to modern day 2015. 

Who are the "unclean" in American society? 

It shouldn't take long to figure that one out. Homosexuals. Transgenders. Lesbians. Queers.

I have to give it up to the majority of society and the government though for moving way faster than the American church on pronouncing our LGBTQ communities as "clean." The church just doesn't get it yet, and mostly because of severe misinterpretation and literalism. 

Jesus however had a completely different objective in mind. He seemed to know that the ancient scriptures were inherently misguided on the subject. He seemed to know that stains and disease didn't keep people from connecting with the divine. He seemed to have a very postmodern view of some outdated rules and regulations that he himself would have known pretty well. And he seemed to know that a high priest didn't stand between anyone's relationship with the divine. 

Skin disease back then was a threat to the established religious system. If skin disease was a sign that the gods were angry, then there had to be a way to get the gods happy again. No one wants to live in a city where the gods are angry all the time, so find a way to make people clean and cast them on the outskirts of the city in the meantime. 

Just as in ancient times with leprosy, the mainstream religious ideology holds that the LGBTQ community is a "threat" to the established, archaic, outdated, and bogus system that says the gods are angry with certain people but favor others. Everybody's vying for their position with the gods, and making sure to let the gods know who's unclean. While it has a modern look with all the technological advances we have today, the message is still the same as it was in ancient times. Whatever or whoever is not considered natural or homogenous with the mainstream religious context must be a red flag that the gods are ready to strike at any moment. 

And Jesus turns that idea upside down. He throws it out. He declares it nil and void. So why is it taking so long for the church to follow suit? 

That's a question I don't have the answer for, and it's not worth diving into here. 

Jesus says that to experience the "kingdom of heaven" is to throw out the whole system of "clean and unclean." There are no longer insiders and outsiders, saved and unsaved, clean and unclean. There is no longer a high priest (or a pastor, minister, reverend, etc.) standing in the way between us and God. We have direct access regardless of the condition of our skin or the condition of our sexuality. We are humans seeking to connect with the unspeakable and the mysterious nature of God. 

So, to "cleanse the leper" means to start pronouncing people as clean. And how does that work? It starts by pronouncing myself as "clean." If I believe the gods are angry with somebody else because of their way of life, what does that say about me? It means I still have a remnant of a decaying ideology inside of my mind, distorting the way I view the world and its people. If I can't see my own worth before the divine, then I won't see anybody else's worth before the divine. 

It starts with me. Once I pronounce myself as clean, and believe it, and start living it, I'll begin to see everybody else in a totally different light. 

I once was just as bigoted and prejudiced as the next person. I laughed at homosexuality because I thought it was a joke. I thought it was a way of attracting attention. I wrote it off as "daddy issues." I still held the remnants of "Sodom and Gemorrah" literalistic thinking and saw the world through that lens. 

But that all changed. It turned on its head. Thanks to a couple of friends, I was introduced to the reality that everyone is clean and everyone has direct access to that which they call God. 

And thanks to the teachings of Jesus, I was introduced to the notion that no high priest or religious law will ever determine where I stand with God. Ever.