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EPIPHANY 3 Matthew 8.4 Then Jesus said to the leper, "See that you say nothing to anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them. "The more things change, the more they stay the same" is a well-worn aphorism which has its counterpart in many cultures. Some argue that the Christian faith remains relevant two millennia after Jesus because human nature stays the same over time despite massive cultural changes. Western culture differs greatly from that in which Jesus lived. But even though his was a rural, agrarian, pre-scientific society, it is said that the essential nature of the people he spoke to hasn't changed. Therefore his message remains relevant regardless. To explore the idea further, let's look back at a historical event which is utterly typical of Jesus and his message - the healing of the leper recorded in Matthew 8.2-4. First, we need to get leprosy into perspective. Any sort of serious skin ailment would have been enough to bar the man from going to church. He would have been regarded as unclean, rather as paedophiles are socially unclean in Britain and elsewhere today. In short, he was an outcast until his condition could be cured. Second, it should be noted that the average reader almost anywhere in the world today is unlikely to spot the significance of the phrase,
To appreciate the poignant meaning of these few words, it has to be realised that by touching him Jesus would have automatically made himself unclean. To attend worship, or even to have significant contact with others, he was obliged to cleanse himself ritually - rather like going to confession in today's Church. The same mechanism of segregating the holy from the unholy extended to many other aspects of Hebrew life at the time. Samaritans were regarded as the lowest of the low, fatally contaminated by their history. Some Hebrews even took a considerable detour rather than pass through Samaritan territory. And, of course, all non-Hebrews were by definition second-class. If anything stands out about the Jesus of history it is that he utterly rejected this sort of posturing. He refused to exclude anyone from God's loving forgiveness. At the same time, he recognised that he was taking a risk in making physical contact with this man. So, not surprisingly, he says to him,
... not that you've been healed, but that I've touched you. I've put myself outside the limits of social acceptability; I've made myself different; I have become an outcast like you. So please keep quiet about it. If you're going to acknowledge it, do so through the usual channels. I suppose that Christians should internalise this radical, revolutionary way of relating to other people. What is central to the life and sayings of Jesus should surely be what they model their life and culture on. Look around you, wherever you are as you read this. Jesus was brought to his death by the radical changes he lived out. Despite that, has everything not perhaps stayed the same? Even the most casual examination tells us that the world hasn't changed. We still constantly exclude, and often persecute and kill, those who differ from us. We still apply the pseudo-standards of race, nationality. religion, intelligence, wealth, background, dress and a host of other factors to make ourselves feel superior. The Church of which I am part excludes many on the grounds of their wrong beliefs. It plans to penalise and dismiss clergy for heretical teaching. It even excludes from its fellowship Christians of other denominations and faiths on the grounds of "good order" and "right practice". Further afield other churches vilify men and women on the basis of sexuality and gender. The list of what hasn't changed goes on. Jesus stood somewhat apart from his culture because it acted as though only a defined minority are children of God. As we know from our records it was his revolutionary stand on this matter which inspired the first Christians. Inclusiveness powered the early Church's penetration of Roman culture. If the Church had stayed Jewish and exclusive it would have died. And yet two thousand years later the Church has lapsed into the same error which Jesus stood against. It all-too-often denies, except in theory, the loving acceptance which attracted the first Christians like iron filings to a magnet . The more things change, the more they stay the same. |