Holy Avoidance

“People ought to know their place.”  These are the sentiments of most whose place is privileged, powerful and socially or religiously secure.  Most societies designate certain spaces for particular “kinds” of people.  The spaces are valued and sought according their proximity to the center.  In the center are the acceptable, the influential, the wealthy…or in the religious spectrum, the holy, the righteous, and pure.  From that center, people inhabit various circles, until the margins are reached.  The people at the margins “ought to know their place.” 

At the margins of 1^st century Judaism were the lepers.  They were so entrenched in the margins that they were legally unable to inhabit the same space as others.  Forced to walk several yards off of main paths, required to yell “unclean” as people approached, alienated from both communal and religious participation, “their place” was mandated by those in the center.  Now wait, let’s give those in the center a bit of grace.  They’d inherited a system where the treatment of lepers was religiously legitimated.  Their traditions, their laws, their forefathers had shaped them to believe “this is how it’s done,” “this is how we’ve always treated them,” “to be holy is to avoid those on the margins.” 

Then Matthew 8 happens.  Jesus can be so frustrating.  The way social structures are maintained is that not only do those on the margins know their place but that people in the center know theirs as well.  What would ever become of society if people stepped free of their places?  Jesus is a line crosser.  His reputation as holy man and rabbi, in the minds of many, anchored him firmly in the center…or at least just off center.   In this story, so much happens, so much that’s so wrong in such a short text.   In this text, a desperate leper courageously steps out of his assigned place because he’d heard about Jesus.  At this point, what should have happened was that Jesus should have stopped, done an about face with all others standing alongside him, and for the sake of purity and holiness left that leper standing alone.  But what actually happened was that Jesus honored the leper’s courageous step by stepping free from the expectations of those in center and the traditions that determined the center.  As he met that leper, as he did the unthinkable and touched the leper…a new space was created.  This is what I believe Jesus would call Kingdom Space and in Kingdom Space there is a shared place for all.  Because both leper and Jesus left their assigned places in this world and embraced a Kingdom Space, the leper’s life is radically altered.

The church has too often embraced the theology and tradition of “holy avoidance.”  In fear of being corrupted by those on the margins, the white middle class church has left them to wallow in their assigned, alienated, lonely places.  If any help is lent, it is done so from a safe distance, either through philanthropy or through social service organizations.  Helping from a distance leaves the world’s social structures firmly in place.  However, the church is called to step into the new space created by Jesus, the Kingdom Space.  The church is called to step free from whatever circles it inhabits and meet those desperate, marginalized folks as they step from the margins.  The Kingdom Space is that place of meeting, where those on the margins are radically altered …and…so is are those in the church through this encounter.  In Kingdom Space, NOTHING remains the same!