Sermon: "Outside Help Needed"
The Right Reverend Charles G. vonRosenberg
Third Bishop of East Tennessee

Two of our readings today deal with a disease little known to us personally - leprosy. And, while we may actually be unfamiliar with it, we probably do have a sense of repugnancy about it, even as we mention it - repugnancy that frankly has biblical roots. As we consider the subject today, I suggest that we keep in mind a perspective mentioned in our collect. Earlier this morning we prayed, "O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace." That is, we do all have weaknesses that prevent us from being all that we are called to be. Further, only by God's grace are we able to accomplish the good that we do.

In biblical times, a variety of skin diseases might have been called "leprosy." If someone suffered from one of those, he or she would be isolated from the community. And that isolation came about for religious reasons as much as for medical ones. Lepers were considered to be ritually unclean, and therefore, they had to live in isolation. In fact, by Old Testament law, a leper had to be put outside any Jewish settlement. Further, that leper had to cry out the word "Unclean" whenever anyone approached. After all, if that other person touched a leper - even by accident - he or she became unclean also. The Jewish people believed that God would not be present in any settlement if an unclean person were there. Thus, this category of unclean people - including lepers - had to be cut off from the life of the people of God. This meant, in effect, that the leper was dead while still alive … for, to be cast off from God in worship was worse than death.

In the two readings this morning, we saw that help for the lepers came from outside themselves. In the case of Namaan, help came from the prophet Elisha and from the River Jordan. Notice that Namaan was not very excited about the prescribed cure, however. He did not like the idea of washing in the old muddy Jordan River. In fact, he pointed out that rivers in his own homeland were much purer and better. However, eventually he relented and washed in the Jordan as Elisha instructed - and, he was made clean.

Then, of course, in the Second Reading, outside help came from Jesus. The leper went to him directly, sought his healing power, and was cured of the skin disease that afflicted him.

Therefore, in the first place, it is important to realize that help for the lepers came from outside themselves. Lepers knew in their own experience the truth of the phrase in a familiar prayer, "We have no power of ourselves to help ourselves"(BCP, p167).

However, the second thing to realize about the lepers' situation arises from the fact that they were the objects of terrible prejudice. As a result, the necessary outside source of help was likely not to provide that help.

A circumstance in recent history makes this point well. Mother Teresa worked among the lepers in poverty-stricken areas of India. In 1975 it seemed that a community for lepers was about to become a reality - a community for the benefit of those afflicted with that disease. This would be a special place of treatment and care not found elsewhere. The government offered fifteen acres of land on a road outside Calcutta, and Mother Teresa received a gift of $800,000 for the buildings. The only further outside help needed was the support - or, even, just the tolerance - of neighbors. But, tragically, that community was never built. People from neighboring villages came out with bows and arrows to prohibit the work. Because of prejudice, the essential help from outside did not come.

Thus, the dilemma is obvious. The leper must have outside help. Yet, as an object of prejudice, he or she is likely not to receive that help.

Leprosy in our part of the world is seldom known, thank God. For us, therefore, it is important to understand biblical leprosy as a symbol - a symbol of those people who need help from beyond themselves and yet who are the objects of prejudice that prohibits the help from coming.

In our society, we do not have to look very far to find those who need help but who are objects of prejudice. They are the newcomers in a small town; they are the poor and disadvantaged in our communities; they are the minority people who somehow threaten dominant ethnic and racial groups; they are the alcoholic and the mentally ill. They are different. They need outside help. And, yet, they are usually met with prejudice that precludes the necessary assistance. That is their dilemma.

Yet, the dilemma is not theirs alone. Objects of prejudice are not the only ones who participate in the unfortunate circumstance I describe. Those who hold prejudice inflict a certain dilemma on themselves, too. For instance, whenever I have held a prejudice myself - either toward an individual or a group - I know that I have caused others to suffer … but I have suffered, too. In such cases, others are prohibited from receiving the help they may need from me. But, also, because of my prejudice, I put myself squarely in the middle of the dilemma. In fact - and most significantly - because of prejudice, I cut myself off from God. That is, in the face of every other human being, there we may see God. The words of our Baptismal Covenant put our promise this way - that we will "respect the dignity of every human being"(BCP,p305). In exercising prejudice, we fail that Baptismal Covenant, and we slam the door of our hearts in the face of God Almighty.

In summary, then, the objects of prejudice and those who hold prejudice all are caught in quicksand that can suck us away from awareness of the life-giving presence of God. Thus, it is with intention and with urgency that we pray, "O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace." Amen.

Copyright © 2003 The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee