Lobsters & Leprosy
I recently read an interesting story about some people who were at the seashore, watching some lobsters that had been brought in, in a bucket. They noted the strangest thing. From time to time, one of the lobsters would start to climb its way out of the bucket. But then, inevitably, one of the other lobsters would grab ahold of the one trying to escape and haul it back in.
The odd thing is that the lobsters probably could have escaped from that bucket, if not on their own, at least with a little help from one of the others. But instead of helping, they kept pulling each other down.
Two of our readings today deal with a subject that is not a normal part of our experience: leprosy. The first, from Leviticus, a book that contains various laws and codes, sets out how leprosy was to be dealt with. If there was a suspicious scab or blotch on the skin, the person was to be presented to the priests, who were the experts for dealing with the issue at that time.
We have now experienced what it is like to have a highly contagious, lethal disease in our midst, namely COVID. We had a taste of how much our lives were changed, and how careful we had to be. So, maybe we can begin to imagine what the lepers of biblical times felt like. The instructions in Leviticus are quite severe: “The one who bears the sore of leprosy shall keep his garments rent and his head bare, and shall muffle his beard; he shall cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’….He shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp.”
Now, turning to the Gospel, a leper approaches Jesus, and says something very humble and low-key: “If you wish, you can make me clean.” If you wish? The problem was that it was not allowed to touch or have any kind of contact with a leper. Doing so would not only endanger yourself, but it would also make you technically unclean, and you would have to go into isolation yourself (like we had to if a family member or someone we were in contact with developed COVID).
Mark is very specific in his description of what happens. “Moved with pity, he [Jesus] stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, ‘I do will it. Be made clean.’ The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.” Jesus risked touching the outcast, but out of compassion touched and healed him, nonetheless.
Now you may wonder what all this has to do with my story about lobsters. Well, here’s the point. Sometimes, it’s easy to treat someone who is different from us like a leper. Whatever issue you consider these days, people seem to be divided. Gay people/straight people, democrats/republicans, Kansas City Chiefs/San Francisco Forty-niners, pro-life/pro-choice, getting vaccines/not getting vaccines, people with homes/homeless people, middle class/poor people, skinny people/fat people, people with good complexions…well you get the idea. It’s very easy to start treating certain people like lepers just because they are different. And lots of times, we become like the lobsters, pulling each other down, rather than building each other up.
Today’s gospel shows that Jesus wasn’t like that. Rather than dividing, he built community. Rather than putting up walls, he created bridges. Rather than humiliating the outcasts, he embraced them. Rather than putting people down, he loved them. And he taught us to do the same. Now I know that a lot of people like lobsters, right? What I’m suggesting is that we should eat them, but not act like them.