As most of you already know, COVID made a visit to our house last week and like the annoying neighborhood kid, kindly let itself in. Most of the time when we the parents are sick it is because the children have come home sick. So, we are mostly all sick together. But, this time was unique, rather than the illness coming from the school, Randele was infected at the hospital and then quickly gave it to me. The kids, on the other hand, were just fine. The adults were the ones who had to go to their rooms and the children had free reign of the house. Imagine a four person performance of Lord of the Flies, Jr.
Being quarantined away from the kids had the immediate consequence of us missing their snuggles, and they (Isaac, our five year old, in particular) missing ours. Do not underestimate the basic need that God designed into us for connection and affection. And, that is what I kept coming back to, again and again, in my mind and in my heart each time I read this story of the ten lepers.
Ten people, all suffering from some sort of skin disease, remain at a distance from their village and from their families. Even when Jesus, their “master” arrives unexpectedly and amazingly in their own village, they keep their distance as they call out to him.
It is for the best, of course. Their distance keeps their disease from spreading. We all know too well how rampant illness can disrupt lives and ruin economies.
Their persistent disease holds them in the religious and spiritual category of “common” and “earthly.” Unable to connect with others they are unable to be “set apart” to do “holy” things. They cannot even give the simple, but essential, gift of a snuggle or hug to someone they love. Do not underestimate the basic need that God designed into us for connection and affection.
In fact, that is what this whole, “Go and show yourselves to the priests” thing is all about. It was a way that allowed people to connect again.
It was like the ancient world’s COVID test. Take a test, and if you are in the clear, you are free to be connected with the world again. In the same way, when the priests examined your wounds and saw that you were healed, you were allowed to connect with others once again. You were allowed to connect with friends and family who have long been waiting. You were allowed to connect with God in the temple, to be set apart as “holy” once again, with nothing hindering your ability to carry the presence of the Lord in your life.
And, all of this makes sense. Keep away from others to keep them healthy, get tested to make sure you are healed, and return to God’s work when you are able to do God’s work.
It all seems pretty regulated and institutional, which I guess is good.
God was the one who instituted this whole idea in the first place. Those of you who are reading through the Bible in one year have long ago plodded through all of the health regulations contained in God’s laws.
“This shall be the ritual for the leprous person at the time of his cleansing: He shall be brought to the priest; the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall make an examination. If the disease is healed in the leprous person, the priest shall command that two living clean birds and cedarwood and crimson yarn and hyssop be brought for the one who is to be cleansed. The priest shall…” (Leviticus 14:2-5).
You may have given up reading the Bible in one year because of amazing literature like this! But, what if your skin disease lasts longer than a week? What if it is chronic, and lasts years? I can imagine that it would be devastating. Never forget the basic need that God designed into us for connection and affection.
What if God was one of us?
What if God is just on a trip, coming through town, and a bunch of Lepers suddenly calls out, asking for mercy? What if a bunch of people who feel like outcasts, who feel excluded and unclean call out to Jesus?
What if you, when you feel like the outcast; when you feel like the one who just does not fit in; when you feel like the one who has been forgotten, misunderstood, unheard, and unloved; what if you called out to Jesus, asking to be shown some mercy, how would he respond?
What if God was one of us? How would he respond to us if we were the ones left behind and left on the edge of town, and left out of the family?
This is what the Bible has to say: Jesus saw them and, “said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were made clean.”
If God was one of us, he would see us…and I want to stop us right there because I do not want to skip over this thing that is so essential: seeing. Because, this is how so many people fall through the cracks. They become “unseeable.” Is that even a word? They become unable to be seen.
They become an embarrassment, so people look away.
They become too difficult, so people walk away.
They become forgotten, because daily life is busy and people just simply forget.
They become “unseeable,” but Jesus sees them.
So,
if God was one of us, God would see you, but God would do more than simple
stare at you; God would restore you.
No, I said that wrong: When God is one of us, he sees you, and he restores you; because, God does not forget the basic need designed into us for connection and affection.
God always intended us to be together. God always intended us to be with each other. God always intended for us to be one.
I am convinced that connection with others and with God is at the center of God’s heart. And, in case I ever doubted God’s intentions in this, Jesus himself prays concerning us, “that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us” (John 17:21).
With that in mind, I cannot wait to finally get a nice long snuggle from my children. We are almost there; two more days!
And, I am so grateful to God that this illness turned out to be no big deal. I am grateful for my healing. I am grateful that it did not spread, especially to the kids. I feel kind of like the tenth leper who turns back to Jesus when he sees that he is healed. That tenth Leper falls down at Jesus’ feet in gratitude, after being pulled into the healing and love of Jesus Christ our Lord.
That brings me to something very fascinating about this little story. The Bible says that all ten lepers were cleansed, but only the tenth leper was “saved” or “made whole.”
Now, to be clear, the other nine lepers were made clean by Jesus. They presumably went to the priests, got their clearances from their health examinations, and went back to their families and settled back into normal lives. They were restored back to normal. But, what is interesting is that somehow their sense of “normal” does not really include much of a relationship with God. They show no gratitude.
As shocking as that may seem, I actually think that I get that. I am not sure that I think of God all that much when I have a cold. I just get over it, make sure I do not have a fever, and I go about my business. It is as if God played no part at all; not in my healing, nor in my restoration back to normal, everyday life.
It is like I have this sense of entitlement to have a good and healthy life. It is like I expect that my life should just be good and healthy. It is like I am entitled to such a life, and anything less than that life is stealing the health that is rightfully mine.
And, in all of that entitled living, I have forgotten the one who gave me the gift of health and life in the first place: God. In forgetting, I have failed to connect with the one who gives the gifts. In forgetting, I am less than whole. Without God, we are less than whole.
Do you know who are always the most grateful? Those who have the most need...those who know the extent of their dark place in life.
The tenth leper, the Samaritan, is not only pushed away from life and those he loves by his illness, but is also pushed away from others because of his race. The tenth leper has to deal with this sort of alienation and resentment every day. He is constantly seen as a foreigner and outsider. The illness is just a cherry on the top of a tough life. He is one of those people who is most in need.
I find that those who are the most grateful are those who are never able to take their good life and their good health for granted. It is always a surprise when they discover they have been given the gift of health and goodness in life.
The tenth leper, the Samaritan, turns back to his Lord, gives thanks, and thus not only is his skin cleansed, but his entire being is made whole. Goodness and life is standing right next to him. He is with the Lord.
We are standing with the Lord too, if only we would take the time to stop and “see.”
Sometimes I do not think that we ever slow down enough to consider the gifts that are the simple things in life. Monks will sometimes spend hours and sometimes even weeks focusing only on their breath until they notice it and recognize it as the gift of life that it truly is.
Excellent food that takes hours to prepare and is served in small portions, forces you to eat slowly, savoring each bite until you see the gift from God that it truly is.
Just as Jesus takes the time to look at you and connect with you, sometimes Jesus forces us to slow down and take a look at our healed skin, so that we can return and give thanks to God who gives us every good gift.
Entitled living is blind living.
Gratefully living is living with sight.
Gratefully living is living as a healed soul.
Grateful living is life connected with Jesus Christ, who sees you and makes you whole.
Live your life of gratitude.
See, gift thanks, and live in the gift of God.
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