Finding the God Who is Near

Do you sometimes catch yourself demonizing others, placing them on “the other side”? Do you catch yourself trying to justify those feelings because you may be right, “legally speaking” and there is a perceived good that you are trying to defend? This is a common result of the current divisive atmosphere in our world – everything has a side that begs to be chosen. However, I truly believe that it is stealing our humanity, our dignity, even as it robs others of theirs.

Our first reading and Gospel this weekend present us with lepers. In biblical times, leprosy was a terrible scourge and on top of that it was seen as a result of sin. Those who had leprosy were cast out of the community – ostensibly for health and hygiene, but this easily became judgment and moral rejection as well. It was right to quarantine them; however, this soon became a moral judgment of their “otherness,” and they often suffered even more because of it.

Jesus reaches beyond that surface affliction and is able to touch the root of the problem. He brings freedom to them – freedom from their illness, sure; but freedom, too, from their sins and an old way of life. The transformation that the lepers experience is not limited to them. It is meant for us all.

We, too, need to move beyond these surface maladies that mark our divided world. Whether people are right or wrong, they remain people. And we need to see deeper than the differences. We need to see the dignity. This is a strong theme in Pope Leo’s first major exhortation that he released this week. He speaks to the Christian need to love the poor in fact and in deed. The Holy Father recognizes that even in their poverty and marginalization they have much to teach us about the love of God and of our shared faith. Listen to what he says:

In light of this, it is evident that all of us must “let ourselves be evangelized” by the poor and acknowledge “the mysterious wisdom which God wishes to share with us through them.” Growing up in precarious circumstances, learning to survive in the most adverse conditions, trusting in God with the assurance that no one else takes them seriously, and helping one another in the darkest moments, the poor have learned many things that they keep hidden in their hearts. Those of us who have not had similar experiences of living this way certainly have much to gain from the source of wisdom that is the experience of the poor. Only by relating our complaints to their sufferings and privations can we experience a reproof that can challenge us to simplify our lives (DT, 102).

Jesus reveals a new way of living faith – one that is not tied to legalism and letter. He shows us the nearness of God, and especially His nearness to the poor and the outcast. Namaan – a foreigner – recognizes this in his own healing, as does the Samaritan leper. Both of them encounter the God who is love, the God who is near. And of God is near to them, and Jesus chooses to be near to them, then we too belong with them.  The pope also reminds us of the example of St. Mother Teresa:

Her love for the poorest of the poor meant that she did not only take care of their material needs, but also proclaimed the good news of the Gospel to them. … Teresa did not consider herself a philanthropist or an activist, but a bride of Christ crucified, serving with total love her suffering brothers and sisters. (DT, 77)

The Samaritan who returned to Jesus is meant to teach us – this poor leper from another place. He is triply marginalized and yet his example of gratitude is a lesson in the poverty of spirit that Jesus declares blessed in the Beatitudes. This is the response to Christ’s love – to His nearness and touch that heals and completes us. All of us have received that touch in our lives – in the simple kindness of a friend, in the comfort of a parent, and even in physical healing. In turn, we are called to respond by living gratefully in the love of Christ.

Like the world of Elisha and Namaan, like the world of Jesus, His disciples, and the leper, our world is too often divided; and those divisions often go along a line of denied dignity. Jesus shows a better way when he reaches out to those lepers; He shows us Christian love. Again, Pope Leo writes,

Christian love breaks down every barrier, brings close those who were distant, unites strangers, and reconciles enemies. It spans chasms that are humanly impossible to bridge… . By its very nature, Christian love is prophetic: it works miracles and knows no limits. It makes what was apparently impossible happen. Love is above all a way of looking at life and a way of living it. A Church that sets no limits to love, that knows no enemies to fight but only men and women to love, is the Church that the world needs today (DT, 120).

This love, which we are all called to show, is a real and tangible sign to others of the nearness of God – as He was to Namaan, as He was to the lepers. We cannot stand apart from those and only offer “thoughts and prayers” – powerful as these are. If we only keep ourselves in this spiritual realm we run a risk – as St. Oscar Romero observed:

Some [say] that the church should preach only about spirituality, only about God and the kingdom of heaven, and should not be concerned about earthly matters. These critics are unaware that they are leaving the Gospel disjointed; after all, Christ who came to save people also took care of their bodies. As Elisha cured Naaman, so Jesus cured the ten lepers using the ministry of the priests.”

Now, we are challenged to go past the surface differences that divide us – having first been touched and healed by Jesus ourselves – and to work to forge a more unified world, grounded in the dignity of every person.