#Jesus, Lepers and #Healthcare-Pt.1

by Stacy Dandridge 
R3 Contributor

*This is the first of two parts

In March 2010 President Barack Obama made history. After two years in office he passed a new healthcare bill that would seek to change the course of America’s healthcare system. The new bill proposed to make healthcare more affordable for the uninsured as well as more obtainable by those with pre-existing conditions. Though history has been made, the antics continue in 2013 as many politicians plot to repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act and leave at least 44 million people without health insurance.
 
Many are saying that President Obama’s healthcare bill will cost the economy too much money. While others are saying that the new bill will put the government in full control of American’s healthcare options thus forfeiting the country’s title as a democracy. In an effort to cut spending, the House of Representatives are fighting to defund “Obamacare” and has even shutdown the government in order to further endorse their antics. However, President Obama remains resilient and even hopeful that his healthcare plan will have the number of uninsured people in America lowered within a decade.

While I watch this debacle, I am reminded of the leper who went to Jesus to be clean. The man came to Jesus, fell prostrate before him, and begged him for a touch, a touch that would rid him of his leprosy. The man said “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

The request of this man is interesting because he asks Jesus to clean him rather than heal him. Scholars suggest that to be healed from leprosy meant that the physical signs of the aliment could no longer be seen. However, to be cleansed from leprosy meant that the defilement from the disease would be removed. Essentially, this man is not only asking to be physically restored, but perhaps he is asking to be socially, economically, and spiritually restored. Perhaps he is asking Jesus to give a new reality; a new reality that would allow him to go to the temple without people staring at him. He is looking for a reality that would allow him to go to the synagogue and learn; a reality that would give him a sense of value. Jesus responds to his request by reaching out his hand and saying “I am willing; be clean.”

It is important to note that lepers were the outcast of society. They lived autonomously not because they wanted to, but because their aliments forced them to the margins of society. They were considered to be highly contaminated which often forced them to live isolated and lonely lives. This man’s leprosy could have shown up in various ways because his culture understood the illness to be more than just an aliment of the skin, but they understood that it could be a social affliction instead of a medical one. Therefore, leprosy in this text and for us today does not merely represent an aliment of the skin or a medical issue, but leprosy speaks of the circumstances that people who live on the margins of society face. Leprosy sheds light on those who have been pushed to the peripheral based on race, class, and even socioeconomic status.
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At the cries of the leper Jesus, moved with compassion, came in contact with this unclean man, and cleansed him from his leprosy. For those who followed the ministry of Jesus and watched his every move, it was one thing to see him give sight to the blind, but it was another thing for him to be found in the presence of a leper. It was one thing for Jesus to associate with tax collectors, but it was another thing to reach out and touch a leper. It was one thing for Jesus to forgive the sins of those who committed adultery, but it was another thing for him to make a leper whole again.

Likewise, it’s one thing to provide healthcare to people who are in large tax brackets, but it’s another thing to provide healthcare to people who don’t have the means to give back to the economy. It’s one thing to provide healthcare to people who have a history of good health, but it’s another thing to provide healthcare to a woman who has been stricken with breast cancer. It’s one thing to buy prescription drugs for two or three senior citizens, but it’s another thing to initiate a program that pays half the cost of prescription drugs. It’s one thing to provide moral support for the HIV/AIDS community, but it’s another thing to provide the same amount of healthcare for those who are infected with AIDS as we do for those who are affected by AIDS.
 
Many believed that lepers were plagued with leprosy because God was paying them back for their sins and it is also implied that people who need government assistance are lazy, trifling, and good for nothing. Neither of the assumptions reigns true. I submit to you today that leprosy is not God’s payback for sin, neither is a person who relies on government assistance lazy. Sometimes circumstance and even systemic evil is the culprit.

Truthfully speaking, healthcare reform is not the full responsibility of the government. If we are willing to act as Jesus and make an effort to cleanse and come in contact with the lepers in our midst, then healthcare reform must take place in our own communities. We must begin to build organizations in our communities that embrace and reinstate the lepers among us.

You can follow Stacy on twitter @sddanridge