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Willing Hands
The Hands of Jesus- Part One
Luke 5:12-16
February 10, 2008
Rev. Libby Boatwright 
All I have needed thy hands hath provided,
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me
Words of comfort. Words that describe the loving, compassionate hands of Christ. Hands that are willing to reach out to the blind, the lame, the infirmed, the crippled and those declared dead; hands that are safe and create a hedge of protection, hands that bless children, save those who would drown; Hands that wash the feet of the disciples, and break bread; hands that bleed and bear the scars of nails; The hands of Jesus describe what Jesus does for us, and what He calls us to do as His body; His hands and feet. So as we begin this season of Lent, we will, as our Ash Wednesday message reminded us, turn to Christ, to witness and to model what he would have us do to grow closer to Him and look to the cross.
Hear now the story of an encounter with a leper who asks whether Jesus has the willing hands to heal the untouchables of his day.
Luke 5:12-16 TNIV
12 While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." 13 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" And immediately the leprosy left him. 14 Then Jesus ordered him, "Don't tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." 15 Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
Rejection. Painful, fearful rejection is what filled this leper’s heart. Ostracized from society, he was forced to live outside the city limits in a hovel of discarded, unbearable rubble. Head bowed to the ground, he is ashamed of his physical condition; covered with any combination of sores, scales, inflammation and lesions -- white patches and huge boils. Forced to wear the uniform of the leper-worn, tattered clothing and disheveled hair, he lives alone or with a few other souls who would dare to travel together on the edges of life, covering their upper lips and crying “unclean, unclean.” Priests were the ruling judges of the day, scrutinizing the sores and abrasions; and if a person were suspect, would enforce quarantine for one to two weeks. If the disease persisted or grew, the person was banished away from their family into the unknown world of lost limbs and certain death due to the advanced disease. Poorest of the poor, they could not work, only beg and pray that someone would even notice; for they were invisible and dangerous. Touching a leper meant that the person would be ceremonially unclean and unable to worship in the synagogue. Leviticus 14 tells us if a person were declared clean, the leper had to be examined by the priest. A ritual involving two birds was performed and then the cleansed leper would bathe, shave and wash his or her clothes before returning home.
So it was unheard of that this man was even near or inside the town, in violation of the Law. And even more brazen that he would ask Jesus to make him clean. He’d remembered the stories of Naaman who, at Elisha’s command, washed seven times in the Jordan River and was healed; and he heard the recent news that Jesus was a healer and teacher. Maybe, just maybe, he could rush the crowd and find him willing. And with his cry of “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing” he said, “Be clean” And immediately, the leprosy left him. Jesus had healed the man by touch and five words. Notice the word, immediately. This healing was not seven days like the Priest, nor seven washings, as with Elisha, but immediately. The chalky white pallor and sores and boils were exchanged for a healthy, vibrant body with clean skin and clear eyes. The priest was no longer needed. Jesus could actually free the man from the disease forever.
But this was more than a physical healing, although that would be glorious enough. This was also a spiritual healing, for leprosy was considered the result of moral uncleanness, a stroke of divine judgment for disobedience to God. Lepers were cast out of the congregation, not only as a hygienic measure but also as a physical sign- to be cut off from fellowship with people of God. As there were only two recorded cases of healing in the Bible, the rabbis taught that only God could heal leprosy. So the leper approached Jesus, because he believed he had God’s power. The Greek for the words “made him clean”, katharizo, meant both forgiveness as well as healing. Christ was willing to bow to the temple rules of the day, because he wanted the Priest to witness the miracle and fulfill his role - declare the leper clean and forgiven. Remember Jesus had come to fulfill the law, not to destroy it; he was the bridge between the Old and New Testaments. So when Jesus touched him, in a symbolic sense he took the leper’s uncleanness upon himself and suffered the separation from society that was normally a leper’s lot, leading to a greater truth. That Jesus will die forgiving sinners and they will be given life. The healing of this leper therefore, is a mini-gospel lesson. His life for ours.
And there was also the emotional healing. After years of rejection and ridicule, bearing the psychological scars of hatred and fear, Jesus declared him whole, clean. It meant he could return to his wife and family and be accepted, to bear children, and celebrate and worship and be with friends. Jesus didn’t consider the distinction between clean and unclean valid because a person’s outward condition did not make them unclean, but that which proceeded from the heart. That’s what determined one’s standing before God. And this man’s heart was pure, full of faith, eager to know new life. He had no idea if Jesus would even respond. All he asked was, “are you willing?” And Jesus stretched out his hand and said yes.
Untouchables -- AIDS
So what would represent the leprosy/the untouchables of our day? The first that comes to mind is the obvious, those who suffer with AIDS; but then there are the not so obvious -- the marginal people who in light of their cultures do not exist, who live in the shadows; and finally what I call the isolated elders of our society. We hear of the adults and children who live with AIDS and assume they are relegated to the confines of African villages and small clinics and corners of cities in subsidized housing. But the pandemic is much wider than you can imagine. A 2007 AIDS update tells us that globally there are approximately 2.1 million children living with AIDS and approximately 290,000 died of AIDS in 2007 alone. And that’s just the children. Remember most of these kids are living in households where one or both parents are infected or dying or have died. If we add all those numbers up the total deaths in one year are 2,000,000. In many societies, these people live on the edge of life, in secluded hovels far away from the population similar to the leper in our Bible passage. They are deemed unlovable, untouchable, and unclean and people refuse to touch them, assuming they will be infected. Their property is taken away, as it is for widows in Rwanda, assuming that the husbands’ family now owns it and she is “unworthy,” while she faces life infected with AIDS herself. Children in Zambia are hurried off to clinics and places like the Mother Theresa hospital so they won’t be harmed or left to die and older children are given the responsibility to manage the household in tender teen years. And we wonder, would Jesus be willing? Would he stretch out his hand and embrace his children?
Untouchables -- Los Bordos
On the other side of the globe, in the bustling city of San Pedro Sula, Honduras is a village called Los Bordos, where children and adults are at risk as well. Because over 20,000 or more survive on the edge of a river, where there are no addresses, they don’t exist. They don’t exist, because if they did, the government would have to do something about it. As long as they are “invisible” to the authorities and potentially a danger, they will not receive any services. The only water is the murky river full of raw sewage and garbage where animals and children bathe together. Schools, medical clinics and electricity are non-existent. Shelter is flotsam and jetsam, cardboard, baling wire and exposed nails. The only jobs available are cleaning latrines, domestic and street cleaning and handling dead bodies and animals. And that’s only if there are people who will be willing to pay a day’s wages in cash. And like the leper, they didn’t have a choice on how they got here. Most of these people were skilled laborers who had good jobs and managed homes in town, until the multi-national factories moved out with profits and left them without a wage or livelihood. People walk the other way when they see them; like the priest and the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan; those who walk around the wounded, and avoid the heart of the matter. So some ask, would Jesus be willing and stop to administer aid?
Untouchables- Isolated Elders
You may disagree with me, but I believe the third area of untouchables are isolated impoverished elders. Those in advanced years, who for one reason or another, have lost their connection with the outside world. Living in substandard housing, cornered away in nursing homes and foster care centers, or in Medicaid beds in remote memory centers, they are the forgotten, the unlovely, primarily because very few people are willing to touch them, be with them. Families for the most part live in another area of the country and expect the aides and caregivers to do their work. And there are smells and unpleasant habits and habitats that are out of date. Many are unable to speak in a language that’s understandable, some are covered with sores or bruises or bandages, and most lost their social graces and their teeth long ago. And yet, as Mother Theresa would say, each one of these people represents Christ. They are his children too. We have many pictures of our “Go Teams” touching the heads of children in the villages in Africa and Mexico and Honduras, playing and singing, blessing the precious cherubs. In Honduras and Mexico we would touch the heads and whisper, “Dios te bendiga”- God bless you, in Senegal right now that phrase in the Wolof language is “nalla yalla defall jam.” But what about God’s elderly children, the ones who like little babies have a few wisps of hair and are confined to a bed? Would Jesus be willing to touch their heads? Would he say, “For such is the kingdom of heaven” to them?”
So the question, the challenge today is, are you willing? What does it mean to be his hands- to touch the untouchables of our day? Well I think we can follow the example of Christ modeled in this story with at least three kinds of blessing: Prayer, Passion, and Purpose.
Prayer -- Word Blessing
One of the most important things that Christ models in this passage is that he pulled away to lonely places to pray. He knew his power source was God and without it, all the healing and touching were going to burn him out. Prayer is amazing and empowering - and like the properties of a touch, it is a word blessing - a willingness to say that we will come alongside another person. So before we even begin to minister to the untouchables, before we take on the world with our passion or purpose, we need to pray; both that God will give us the strength to carry out the task, but also that God will give us the vision to know what we can and cannot. When we pray in the teams on Sunday and Tuesday and on the prayer chain all week, we pray over literally hundreds of requests per year and there are days when it’s exhausting. There are prayers for families in need of repair, and hospitalizations and deaths, and children stretching limits and elderly without families and resources; prayers for mission partnerships here in Portland and all over the world. Prayer means we support them and are focusing on their needs because they’ve asked for it. Last week we had an amazing time of prayer for Gail Williams, one of our mission partners in Lebanon. We prayed for God’s healing as she’s been fighting a very aggressive cancer for many months and she was headed back to the Middle East. And I have to tell you with the elders and the two prayer teams on their knees; it was a time of deep, precious fellowship. I have no idea what God’s plan are for David and Gail, but I can tell you this; they know we will not forget them. The healing began with a word of blessing that led us to pray for God’s will in her life. We have Send teams who pray faithfully for the people who are in the field, and help with the presentation when they return, who are prayer partners. You may want to pray for the field workers in Zambia who are building schools, and drilling bore holes and preventing new cases of AIDS, and remember the new missionaries, and the schools and the medical clinic in Senegal and pray that the new land is prepared in Honduras for the thirty families who will soon inhabit the acres and leave behind the squalor of Los Bordos - and pray for International Justice Mission workers like Clay Creps who are righting the injustices found in so many places in the world. If you’ve got a calendar in your home, you can mark a prayer a day for those 40-50 home bound we serve each week. Prayer is something anyone of any age, can do. For instance, take Viola Robison. Up until about a few weeks before her death at 93 she was a member of our prayer chain. Viola’s “amen corner” was filled with daily devotionals, funny jokes, a Bible and the Wall Street Journal! She’d roll her walker up to her computer and check the prayer list, pray, and then call to follow up on how folks were doing. She knew more about our church than many of our staff. She was a willing servant.
Passion -- Touch Blessing
So after prayer comes Passion- a very misunderstood area of ministry. In the Bodyworks course taught here at Lake Grove, its one of the first things we cover -- because it is where/who we will serve. If you haven’t already done so, take a day to pray and write down all the places and/or people you would like to assist or be available to. I would guess that there won’t be a ton of people who sign up for those considered the untouchables because it takes passion and spiritual gifts to do a focused ministry with them well. But there are those here today that would feel drawn to these people. Keep that thought. We need you. Pray about it, Write down specific tasks you would be willing to do- read, bathe, dress, transport or feed, repair a home or advocate for them. To bring hope in the form of a real person who walks alongside them like one of our friendship visitation volunteers. We have a team led by deacons Jill Sherman and Jenny Haymore who meet monthly and take care of our home members. Many of these volunteers wouldn’t dream of traveling to Africa, but they can travel across town to visit elders or perhaps visit the Salvation Army or Portland Rescue Mission. Or you can be like our youth and choirs who visit our senior centers and residences, and the little pre-schoolers who bring flowers to assisted living centers in their Lilies of the Field program. Let’s say you can travel. You might consider being on a Go team with those at World Vision or Medical Teams International that visits AIDS wards in Zambia or trains young people in Micro enterprise to support a family crippled by AIDS. And we need home teams who will find resources for clean water so people will remain healthy and will be able to go to school. And need I remind you of those who sit the walls on Sundays and find themselves without someone to talk to because their family is in another part of the country, or their spouse is gone. Make a point to climb out of your comfort zone and check in with those who can’t get up. Sit down with them and let them know they matter. There are so many places and people that could use a willing heart.
Purpose -- Hope Blessing
And finally all this leads to purpose- significance. Jesus knew his purpose was to do as the scriptures revealed in Luke 4: to “preach good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Dr. Paul Brand, who ministered faithfully to lepers in India and Carville, Louisiana rite in his book Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, a profound message of purpose. “Although we cannot change the whole world individually, together we can fulfill God’s command to fill the earth with His presence and love. When we stretch out our hand to help, we stretch out the hand of Christ’s body.” About two weeks ago, I had a chance to do just that. I got a call from Mary’s Woods to come and pray for a woman who was actively dying. Her two sons, both Catholic, had heard her final request that a Presbyterian Pastor come and pray for her. It wasn’t an easy day; five people had died the previous week, and I had a full schedule; but we moved the calendar and I rushed over, even taking a parking place from the resident chef. (Forgive me Lord...). I quickly rushed into her room, the aides and adult children parted to let me through to her bedside to see her pale and still body, breathing the shallow breaths. I knelt down in prayer, remembering every scripture I could from memory, anointing her head with oil, offering a blessing of hope and solace and asking God to release her into his kingdom. About thirty seconds after the prayer was finished, she died in my arms. Her sons had witnessed a miracle of life. God had fully healed her body and she was in heaven with him. All he asks of us is to be his willing hands. St. Theresa of Avila says it so well,
Christ has
No body now on earth but yours;
No hands but yours, No feet but yours
Yours are the eyes
Through which is to lookout
Christ’s compassion to the world
Yours are the feet
With which he is to go about
Doing good;
Yours are the hands
With which he is to bless now.
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