Creating Inclusion & Release

Thomas Robinson, Luke: Anointed with God’s Spirit 13, October 10, 2021 Jesus Heals Leprosy and Paralysis and More We’re in the early days of Jesus Galilee ministry. Lk told us about Nazareth, positive response turns bad when Jesus talks about a Gentile widow and leper, Naaman. In Capernaum he casts out an “unclean being of power” (demon). He calls Simon as a disciple with no training, declaring himself a “sinful man.” Now two amazing healings. It’s good to “hear a text for the first time.” Note how Lk makes the settings general. These are side by side for meaning. Lk leads us toward Jesus’ ultimate meaning. Lk is using Mk with events that shaped controversy and clarify Jesus’ distinction. Lk shows how Jesus sees varied human problems together. He heals fever like a “demon.” Gentiles, lepers, demons, paralyzed, sinful – all show human brokenness. Freedom from Exclusion First, the “leper.” (5:12-14) [Remember Naaman. In Lk 17, ten lepers, one Samaritan.] “Leprosy” a horrific disease: Mother Teresa, Father Damien, Dr. Paul Brand, Gift of Pain. But this is the “leprosy” law of Lev. 13-14 – long, strange. Not about the disease we call leprosy, but forms of skin scaliness, flaking (eczema, psoriasis), after burns or boils; leprosy in clothes, in walls of houses, etc. A visible sign of ritual uncleanness, impurity, like touching the dead, bodily emission, etc. But devastating result. Not sick or contagious, but excluded from human contact. This is an archetypal purity boundary. Jesus says it’s now over. Jesus intentionally breaks the law, the boundary. Jesus touches and impurity doesn’t flow to him, but the man is cleansed. We’ve had such boundaries! W.E.B. Du Bois, “the color line” (1903); a girl pregnant out of wedlock; a divorced person; a person who grows up with same-sex attraction and discovers that they’re gay; sometimes a person who disagrees with “us” about church organization or worship practice. People didn’t cheer when Jesus touched him. Jesus knows the assumptions are deep. Don’t talk. Go offer the sacrifice. Let the priest certify you. Free your life. Freedom from Bondage Next, Lk really emphasizes the unity of human brokenness and Jes’ power/authority to heal. It a teaching situation: Pharisees, law experts & God’s power to heal. A man is disabled, can’t walk, but maybe quite vocal and engaged. Lk & Jes both call him “human”/anthropos to show all of us in him. He & friends break open roof to get to Jesus. Wow, What a scene! Jesus sees faith in breaking roof boundaries. Jesus breaks back – through physical disability to human brokenness of sin, like Peter. Teachers are disabled; can’t see how God heals the whole person – “blasphemy.” Jesus, son of the human (Dan 7:13-14), lives out God’s authority to renew humans. Jesus raises the human to new life – to walk in freedom, whole, released, at home. This is the Gospel in anticipation. Jesus will take on our suffering, sin, & give life! A kind of ecstasy breaks out – even some Pharisees? But it’s also scary. God engages not just mighty rulers but ordinary broken, bold humans like us. “Incredible things”!