A real cleansing
On Sunday the priest at my church gave a sermon about the lepers who approached Jesus and asked to be cleansed of their infirmity. Leprosy has mostly been eradicated from the major disease lists of the world. However, pockets of high endemicity still exist in parts of the poorest countries of the world. So what was leprosy in the ancient world? The priest in his sermon explained that any skin malady was considered leprosy. Today, we can easily control Hansen’s disease, as well as serious skin problems such as acne, eczema or psoriasis. So what is our leprosy today?
Humankind mistreated the lepers of Jesus time, forcing them from society through the legal isolation declared by the high priests. Who do we isolate and debase today because of their difference from the rest of us? As a Christian I live by the premise of loving all my fellow humans. I do not always agree with their activities or lifestyles. However, I do get to choose my own lifestyle and how I choose to act. Politically, I am a progressive who revels in the idea God wants us to learn. But I have listened to rancorous political ads and candidates who vilify people who do not fit their idea of proper people.
Whether a person is straight or gay, tall or short, black or white, obese or slim, why do we vilify people by ostracizing some who are minorities of some sort? We can be cruel to a person who does not fit into a belief or tenet of our social strata. Being a Christian means I reveal my faith to others. I do not force it upon them. I am not to condemn others who are Islamic, Jewish, or followers any other religion. I do not condemn atheists or agnostics.
Jesus sent the lepers to the priests, a proper action so they could rejoin society. Only one turned back proclaiming his thanks. Jesus declared his faith made him whole. Funny, isn’t it, that the leper who was made whole was an outcast Samaritan. Guess we all need to be sure we are not condemning anyone.
My father’s sermon was given on October 9, 1977 at St. Paul’s Church in Bremerton, Washington. Please enjoy and become whole.

As they went they were cleansed
One day, as Jesus was traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem, he was met by 10 men who were lepers. How they knew Jesus was going to come we do not know. Somehow word of Jesus visit was given and these men were waiting- hoping for a miracle of healing.
Today with miracle drugs and modern medicine, it is hard for us to realize with what fear and disgust a man with leprosy was held by society. It was a terrible, mysterious, disfiguring affliction. People were afraid of it, not only as a disease – but as a sign of the curse of God. Consequently, lepers were outcasts of society – living in caves, dumps, etc.
Use your imagination to see how there men looked, and what their need was, when they cried out to Jesus, “Master, have mercy on us.”
Jesus responded instantly. “Go show yourselves to the priests.” That was in strict accordance with Jewish law. Since leprosy was thought to be a curse of God, it was recognized that none by God could affect a cure. So before a person could be admitted back into society, he had to convince the priests of his cure. So Jesus said, “Go show your selves to the priests.”
The lepers cried for help and all they heard was his command. The leprosy was still in them. What would they do? What would you do?
I suppose the great miracle was they did what they were told. Even with their leprosy still on them, they started out. “And as they went they were cleansed.”
I cannot emphasize that too heavily. It is fundamental in our Christian life. “as they went they were cleansed.”
Christian understanding, Christian power, Christian soul-cleansing, renewal of life is a growth – not a conclusion. Christian conversion is a beginning not an end. The Christian Gospel is a medicine not magic. Even the best of medicines are powerless to heal if they are left in the bottle on the shelf of the medicine cabinet.
Many important people demand that the Christian Gospel heal them, and cleanse the world about them, demand it without taking one step, themselves in the way the Gospel points. They want life without walking in the Way of Life.
They say, “God has failed me. I asked Him to heal me and to cleanse my world, and He has done nothing.”
It is significant that the name the first Christians most often used to describe Christianity was “The Way.” There are some many in the today’s world not working in The Way that it is not cleansed. Look at the world and its people. What leprous things we love. Cruelty, hatred, suffering, greed, drugs, but human in the spirit of it all.
Like those lepers who met Jesus: odious, deformed, frightful – but human. That is the tragedy of it all. If all were bad, we might not care. Humanity under a curse, yet with every capacity to be a child of God. There, in that modern form is the light of reason, the capacity for kindness, the flame of courage, the tenderness of love. It’s all there in the poor leper’s life.
We all cry out with them, “Jesus, have mercy.” And He does have mercy. He is powerful to save and cleanse. But His answer is not magic, it is medicine. To heal, it has to be used. We have to wash in the Way. As we go we shall be cleansed.
So I speak to you and to myself. How satisfied are you with your life? How is it with you? I’m not speaking to anyone who is satisfied – who have no problems. If such is your life, God bless you. But to those who hurt, no matter how well you hide it. Those who have sorrows or problems, those who have nothing but desperate futility and emptiness, I tell you Jesus can lift you out of that. He can give you joy in your living – even though everything doesn’t go your way. He does give peace, and a richness and fullness of life. He can make you clean, can restore your self-respect.
There isn’t one of us that is all he might be, or should be. We still gall short of perfection. But Jesus leads us on.
Put yourself in His Way. His Word to you and me is the same as it was to those lepers whom he healed long ago. Walk in God’s Way. As you go, you will be cleansed.
The Reverend Norman Stockwell
October 9, 1977 at St. Paul’s in Bremerton, Washington