Of Receipts and Leprosy
Note: I began this post soon after the pandemic made it to my state but before Costco required PPE for their shoppers. Whatever your feelings may be surrounding that decision, I hope you will put them aside and soak in the deeper truth. This post is not about Costco or politics. It is about the human condition and what our Savior has done about it.
The receipt gave it away. A strange feeling had been building as I shopped, but I couldn’t name it until I looked down at the receipt in my hand.
Photo by LOGAN WEAVER on Unsplash
Then and Now
I live in an unusual rural town. My little town can make a boast generally reserved for only sprawling suburbs and busy cities: we have a Costco. That’s right. Costco is as near to my house as any other grocery store. The best part is the laid back, small town feel of our local Costco. No fighting for a parking spot. Hardly any lines. Employees that coach our kids’ soccer teams or attend church with us and always take the time to draw a smiley face on the receipt as we leave. On any given week, I stroll along between the aisles, my cart full of groceries wedged between boys happily munching on free samples. We get pulled over multiple times to receive warm comments from the retired folk on the size and nature of our family.
“Are they all yours?”
“Wow. You’re outnumbered!”
“You’ve got your hands full.”
“What aisle did you pick them up on?”
“We had four boys too. Enjoy it! They grow up fast!”
Every Costco trip ends by loading up the trunk and stuffing my smiley-faced receipt into my cup holder. Not today. Today I almost returned the cart with my receipt still taped to the front.
Thanks to COVID-19, Costco trips have become a starkly different experience. The friendly faces of the employees have mostly been replaced by strangers, each sporting a bright red ribbon reminding me to stay six feet away. Shoppers who used to be inclined to chat now refrain from eye contact. I scurry through the aisles––solo, masked, and focused. The only comment I receive is a muffled, “Excuse me” if another shopper accidentally comes within arms reach,. Upon arriving at the checkout, an employee asks me through a plexiglass window to hold up my membership card to be scanned. He is not allowed to touch it. Too risky. He tapes my receipt to the front of my cart to eliminate the risk of either he or his coworker at the door accidentally brushing a hand against mine.
After my last trip, I paused in the cart return to remove my receipt. It looked naked without the highlighter streak and smiles, like a white flag flapping in the wind. Now please don’t misinterpret me. I understand my local Costco is simply doing everything they can to protect their employees and my community. I just hate it. Or rather I hate how it makes me feel––unclean and untouchable, like a liability.
Standing there in the parking lot, bare receipt in hand, I had a whole new appreciation for our Jesus.
Lepers and Leviticus
Did you know that social distancing was God’s idea? No joke. Centuries ago, God gave his law to the Hebrew people. In it, He built in protections for the community against various diseases, especially contagious skin diseases, referred to by the generic term leprosy (see Lev 13). Contained in the law were all the diagnostics that the priests could use to determine if a skin condition was “clean or unclean.” If the condition was deemed unclean (ie. contagious and a threat to the community), the individual was required to live alone outside the camp. When it was necessary to come into town, the person was required to announce their presence by shouting, “Unclean! Unclean!” so everyone could keep their distance.
Then a man with leprosy came to him and, on his knees, begged him, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched him.“I am willing,” he told him.“Be made clean.” Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. -- Mark 1:40-42 (CSB) (emphasis mine)
I’m sure multiple pastors and teachers have pointed out to me that Jesus touched the man BEFORE he healed him, but on this particular day, it struck me like never before. Forty-five minutes in Costco left me feeling like too great of a risk to be touched yet in desperate need of a hug. What about this man with leprosy? How long had it been since he experienced physical contact from another human being?
Being deemed unclean kept this man stranded from his family and society and ostracized from the temple where God’s presence dwelt. It wasn’t just being sick or even dirty. It was being shamefully untouchable. The request he made on his knees speaks volumes. As agonizing as the skin disease must have been, it wasn't just a healthy body he was after. He didn’t say, “If you are willing, you can heal me.” He asked to be clean. He begged for an end to his social distancing.
That’s why the order of events here is so shocking. Jesus “should” have healed the man first and then touched him. Instead he began by reaching out his hand. Some in the crowd looked on and saw nothing but the scandal of a rabbi defiling Himself. Others saw a miracle. I see the gospel––God wrapped himself in flesh not just to heal the untouchables but to touch them. To physically put his skin on their skin. I can imagine this man locking eyes with Jesus and knowing deep down in his gut that he was loved. Even before he was clean.
Leprosy of the Heart
For those of us deemed “non-essential,” one unavoidable consequence of COVID-19 is an exorbitant amount of time spent with ourselves. Stripped of our status quo, our false sense of control, and our usual coping mechanisms, what are we left with? We’re left with the condition of our hearts exposed––heart leprosy.
Living under a stay-at-home order has provided ample opportunity for me to get a look at what lurks under the surface of my heart. Turns out my self-centeredness runs deeper than I realized. Insecurities plague me. Anger and pride well up unsolicited. And in the face of it all, I want to curse the virus and go back to normal life.
In the words of Henri Nouwen, “As soon as we are alone . . .inner chaos opens up in us. This chaos can be so disturbing and so confusing that we can hardly wait to get busy again.”
You see, pre-COVID life allowed me to fill my schedule with people and activities to numb the nagging sense of inadequacy and mask my insecurities. But being home with myself for weeks on end has forced me to acknowledge that I suffer from leprosy of the heart. Just like in Bible times, my “uncleanness” tends to drive me away from intimacy with my people and my God. Just like in Bible times, the right thing to do is to go to the Priest for examination and cleansing.
Our Higher Priest
In Biblical times, if a person’s leprous skin condition went away on its own, they couldn’t just waltz back into town and pick up life where they left off. They were first required to visit the priest. The priest would confirm that they were indeed no longer unclean, and then the religious ceremonies would begin. The former leper had to bring an assortment of items including birds and lambs to be sacrificed. Then, as appalling as it is to us, the priest would sprinkle the blood of the bird over the person and anoint their right ear, thumb, and toe with the blood of the lamb. (See Lev 14)
Jesus referred to these offerings after healing the man.
Then He sternly warned him and sent him away at once, telling him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go and show yourself to the priest, and offer what Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” -- Mark 1:43-44 (CSB)
How ironic. At the time, there was no way for this man to understand who was speaking with him. But we do. We know Him to be more than an unconventional rabbi, more than a miracle worker. We know him to be both the Lamb whose blood cleanses us and the Priest who applies it to our hearts, interceding for us.
Perhaps, like me, the stress and solitude of COVID-19 have exposed your own heart leprosy. Let’s reject the lies that we can clean ourselves or that we are unworthy to enter His presence in this state. Rather, like the man in the story, let's cry out to Him. He will touch us. Heal us. Cleanse us.
The Living Word
Below, I have gathered some excerpts from the book of Hebrews. Soak in them with me. Let’s marvel together at the Priest who is the Lamb. For us. He loved us even before we were clean. And He loves to clean us.
Now many have become Levitical priests, since they are prevented by death from remaining in office. But because he remains forever, he holds his priesthood permanently. Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them. For this is the kind of high priest we need: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He doesn’t need to offer sacrifices every day, as high priests do — first for their own sins, then for those of the people. He did this once for all time when he offered himself. Now the main point of what is being said is this: We have this kind of high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, -- Hebrews 7:23-8:1 (CSB)
But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation ), he entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. -- Hebrews 9:11-12 (CSB)
He did not do this to offer himself many times, as the high priest enters the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another. Otherwise, he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for people to die once — and after this, judgment — so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. -- Hebrews 9:25-28 (CSB)
Final Thought
There are few things I hate more than coming face to face with my own depravity. Even so, my mind echos with the words of Jesus. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3) Despite the searing discomfort, exposing our spiritual poverty is nothing short of divine mercy.
The man with leprosy had the audacity to get down on his knees and beg Jesus for cleansing because he was aware of the gravity of his situation. If, like me, this strange season has left you painfully aware of your heart leprosy, Jesus is waiting. We don’t have to approach Him like the man in the story, questioning His willingness to cleanse us.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need. -- Hebrews 4:15-16 (CSB)
It is the heart lepers who run boldly to their Priest and find mercy and grace.
