6th Sunday after the Epiphany (Mark 1:40-45)  2/12/2012

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The leper said to Jesus, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” (Mark 1:40) “If you choose…” Every day we are all confronted with decisions that must be made; in the course of our lives we discover new opportunities that cause us to make choices. Two weeks ago today I had the opportunity to spend the morning education hour with the J2A Youth group, helping them prepare for their approaching confirmation at the Cathedral. Our discussion was based upon a lesson that was entitled, “Decisions, Decisions.” As young adults in the church, they are already becoming familiar with the idea that their decisions are more informed by their own choices than with the choices of their parents or their guardians. And they, like the rest of us, have some choices to make. The Sacrament of Confirmation, according to the Prayer Book, is a mature commitment to Christ; a choice to affirm and renew the vows taken at one’s Baptism. The lesson prepared and challenged these young folks to consider how they might react when confronted with choices, especially choices made under difficult circumstances.  Every Christian has choices to make and many of the choices we are confronted with are not easy choices; and they are not always choices that are obvious or popular to the society in which we live.

The leper said to Jesus, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” (Mark 1:40) During the past few weeks we have been reading from Mark’s Gospel account and we have heard that Jesus has been very busy making choices. In these first few verses of Mark’s Gospel account Jesus has selected some of his closest disciples; he has rebuked and expelled unclean spirits; he has healed the sick and the lame, including Simon Peter’s mother-in-law…and we are still reading from the first chapter of Mark! Today we hear the story of a leper (a person with some type of skin disease that prevents him from being part of the community – one who has been set aside as being unclean). But the afflicted man, filled with faith in Jesus, says, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Jesus has a choice! Jewish law is fairly clear about skin disease: you need to present yourself to a priest; no one must touch the afflicted person; sacrifices must be made in the approved holy places; and there is at least a 7-day waiting period. Jesus understood Jewish law very well and we are told that he has made his choice: “Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’ Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.” (Mark 1:41-42) “I do choose,” said Jesus and his decision was not at all what those in attendance might have expected. How often does Jesus choose in a way that we might not have expected? How often does Jesus reach out to us in various ways and invite us to make choices that are surprising; surprising to those around us and perhaps surprising even to ourselves.

This morning we are enjoying music from the rich musical heritage of gospel and spiritual traditions. We do so in remembrance of Absalom Jones, the first African American person to be ordained a Priest in the Episcopal Church (Tomorrow, 2/13 is the feast day for Absalom Jones on the liturgical calendar). Jones and his good friend, Richard Allen, were members of a well-established Methodist church in Philadelphia and were licensed as lay preachers in 1785. Their gifts for preaching drew large crowds to the church, so many in fact that the church leaders decided to have the new black members sit in the balcony in order to allow more room for the white members in the church’s main nave. Absalom Jones and his friends had a choice to make – they had to choose to stay and live under the restrictive conditions that had been set for them or go out in to the world seeking the freedom to pursue their full and genuine path in this world; and they chose to leave their church in order to seek an opportunity to serve God as they felt called. For Jones and his friends, their decision was not a singular action to seek freedom, but one small, yet important part of how they decided to live their lives. Jones would continue to serve the community in many ways – he provided assistance to the hungry through the establishment of a mutual aid society (the Free African Society); he continued to preach the Word of God; and he established the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas as he sought Holy Orders in the Episcopal Church.[i] Absalom Jones had a choice to make and he chose to follow the call of Christ in his life.

Jesus said to the leper, “I do choose. Be made clean!” And then Jesus said, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest.” “But [the man] went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word.” (Mark 1:44-45) The man who was made clean had a choice to make – and he chose to go his own way; he chose to follow his own path rather than the path that Jesus had shown him. Every one that follows Christ has decisions to make and many of the choices we are confronted with are not easy choices. Each decision we make becomes an important part of our life; an important part of the community’s life in which we live. Throughout the course of our lives we will have choices that are both large and small; choices that are simple and choices that do not appear to give us any rest at all. But in the midst of every decision, regardless of the challenge, is Christ’s promise to be with us in all of life’s complexities; to be a source of comfort and strength in all that we set out to do. Christ stands before us today, and every day, and says, “I do choose. I choose you!” As followers of the One who has chosen us, let us respond through word and deed, “I do choose. And I choose you too!”

AMEN.