The Outsiders | Getting Too Close

A man with a skin disease approached Jesus, fell to his knees, and begged, "If you want, you can make me clean."

Incensed, Jesus reached out his hand, touched him, and said, "I do want to. Be clean." Instantly, the skin disease left him, and he was clean. 

Mark 1:40-42(Common English Bible)

In Jesus' day, people with skin diseases were the ultimate outsiders. It didn't matter if it was leprosy or some other condition. If you had a visible skin problem, you were considered ritually unclean. And that meant you couldn't go to the temple. You couldn't participate in community life. You couldn't even get close to other people. The Law required you to keep your distance and shout "Unclean! Unclean!" if anyone came near you.

So when this man approached Jesus, he was breaking the rules. He wasn't supposed to get close to anyone. He was supposed to stay isolated. But he was desperate. He'd probably tried everything else. And now he was throwing himself at Jesus' feet, begging for help.

And notice what he says: "If you want, you can make me clean." He's not questioning whether Jesus has the power to heal him. He's questioning whether Jesus wants to.

Because this man knew what everyone else thought of him. He knew that most people would rather avoid him than help him. He knew that even if someone had the power to make him clean, they probably wouldn't want to risk contamination by getting too close.

So what does Jesus do? Jesus reaches out his hand and touches him.

Let that sink in for a moment. Jesus didn't have to touch this man. Jesus could’ve healed him from a distance. Jesus could’ve spoken a word and made him clean without any physical contact. But Jesus touched him anyway.

And according to the purity laws, that should’ve made Jesus unclean. By touching someone with a skin disease, Jesus should’ve become contaminated. Jesus should’ve needed purification himself.

But that's not what happened. Instead of Jesus becoming unclean, the man was made clean. This is what happens when God moves toward what's unclean instead of avoiding it. 

We're afraid that if we get too close to people whose lives are messy, we'll be contaminated. We're afraid that if we engage with people who are struggling, their problems will become our problems. We're afraid that if we associate with people others consider outsiders, we'll become outsiders too.

So we keep our distance. We offer prayers from afar. We donate money to organizations that work with "those people" so we don't have to get our hands dirty. We create buffers between ourselves and anyone who might threaten our comfort or our reputation.

But Jesus didn't keep his distance. Jesus touched the untouchable. Jesus moved toward the people everyone else avoided. And instead of being contaminated by their uncleanness, Jesus brought healing and wholeness.

So who are we afraid to touch? Who have we been keeping at arm's length because we're worried about what might happen if we really engage? Who needs us to reach out and make contact instead of maintaining a safe distance?

Maybe it's someone struggling with addiction. Maybe it's someone whose mental health challenges make us uncomfortable. Maybe it's someone whose lifestyle choices we don't approve of. Maybe it's someone whose past is too messy or whose present is too complicated.

But here's what we need to understand: When we move toward people the way Jesus did, we're not the ones who get contaminated. We're the ones who bring healing. We're not the ones who become unclean. We're the ones who extend God's cleanness to others.

Jesus touched the untouchable. And he calls us to do the same.

Prayer:

God, we're often afraid to get too close to people whose lives are messy. We're afraid of contamination, afraid of what others might think, afraid of getting in over our heads. But Jesus touched the untouchable. He moved toward people instead of avoiding them. Give us courage to do the same. Help us reach out to people instead of keeping our distance. And help us trust that when we move toward others the way Jesus did, we bring healing instead of becoming contaminated. Amen.