BURSTING WITH ENERGY

February 12, 2012
Epiphany 6
1st Corinthians 9:24-27
Mark 1:40-45

{scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off}

In my undergrad degree at the UofA, I took more than my fair share of macro-economics classes – and the content was all about that exciting. Although, I never found that I needed to sleep or stare blurry eyed off into space.

I think that the difference is that I may have had slightly more engaging professors than the one we just watched.

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An audience has a better chance of enjoying a presentation if the presenter has some obvious energy for what is being talked about.

As many of you know, I am involved with the local minor football association. I have been part of many-a pep talk before and after games. I have seen the power that an engaging speaker can exercise.

History is scattered with charismatic, speakers who are able to energize crowds – in both positive and disastrous ways.

I’m enjoying the current US election season, because (certainly as an outsider), the debates and rhetoric have an entertaining value. It is kind of fun to watch, sometimes. But, even as an outsider, when I meaningful, passionate words that touch at the core of my values, I can be moved.

An energetically charged message can be incredibly powerful.

Of course to mention the obvious, for me as a preacher, this topic is highly applicable.

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And yet, as I think back to my economics courses, what I appreciated the most – and why I chose to take extra economics courses to fill option slots in my schedule – was that there was a life-applicable aspect to what I was learning.

There was a practice behind and beyond the theory. Even Ben Stein’s character in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, was trying to engage the class in the practical implications of public economic policies: raising tariffs didn’t help raise new revenues during the great depression, and how early 1980s supply-side economics policies were guided by the controversial Laffer curve.

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I think it is generally true that people are more impressed by actions rather than words – it is always true if there are inconsistencies between words and actions.

But when impressive actions are tied to engaging words, the impact can be remarkable.

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Today we read a story from the gospel of Mark that comes from Jesus’ first ‘road trip’ as a travelling preacher and healer. The section leading up to today’s passage (which people would have heard in church here over the past two Sundays) told about Jesus’ ability to teach with authority and to bringing wholeness and wellness into people’s lives that allowed them to be full participants in their communities.

Jesus had discerned that this is what he was meant to do; so he told his new group of Capernaum-based followers that they would be going to the neighbouring towns as well to share these kinds of experiences there, as well.

What we read today in verses forty to forty-five is the first account of Jesus’ expanded ministry.

A man sought Jesus out. He suffered from what is described as leprosy. Now, in the bible, when a person is described as a leper, they could be suffering from any range of skin diseases by modern description, not simply Hansen’s Disease (or leprosy). None of that subtlety matters.

What is important is that the ailment was obvious to an outside observer and that it was contagious. People who were afflicted were forced into isolation – sometimes into communes with others also with the disease.

In a similar vein to the ways things were in Capernaum, the ‘sick’ that were brought to Jesus needed not only a healing of their body or mind, but also their dignity as persons and their place in society.

We now know that leprosy is a bacterial disease, but there was no anti-biotic treatment for people in Jesus’ day. Even so, people did recover occasionally, if the conditions were right (or it was a less serious skin disease). In cases, where lepers were cured of the disease, before they could reintegrate into society (following the traditions laid out in Leviticus chapter fourteen) they needed to call for the priest to come and examine their skin and if they were seen to be clean, the person would have to go through an elaborate ritual involving two living birds, some cedarwood, crimson yarn and hyssop, followed by the washing of clothes, a full body bath and shaving all of all the hair on the head and face (including eyebrows), living outside the camp for a week, another clean shave and bath. When that was all done, the former leper could re-enter the worship life of the people, beginning with another elaborate temple ritual, this time involving three sheep (two male, one female), a grain offering and choice flour mixed with oil.

Lepers were not welcomed back into the general workings of society easily.

The leper in the Mark reading asked Jesus to make him clean. With compassion, and touch and word, the man was healed.

Jesus knew the levitical law: simply having the disease cured was only the physical cure – the society still needed mending. Jesus told the man to not get too excited yet: he needed to go see the priest and get the birds and yarn and wash and...wait – and then the man could offer his special lamb and grain offering. And finally, he would not only be clean, he would be treated as clean. It seems to be this last part that was ultimately important to Jesus – the healing of a person that leads to the healing of community.

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But...the healed man could not wait for the rituals to be done to share his goodnews.

It seems that Jesus’ act of compassion spoke much more authority that the words of the ancient ritual texts.

When you are so filled with joy and appreciation and wonder and excitement – it cannot be contained.

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The apostle Paul makes the point many times in his letters to early Christian communities that faithful living is something to be worked on with great effort. One such teachings was our other reading for today from one of Paul’s letters to the church in Corinth.