I Am Willing — St. Andrew's Redondo Beach

Mark 1:40-45

A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.

Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

According to Levitical Law (Lev. 13:45) a leper was to go about crying, “unclean, unclean,” so that no one would approach him and be contaminated. Witherington II, The Gospel of Mark a Socio-Rhetorical Commentary: Pg. 103.

The conversation about clean and unclean between Jesus and this man with leprosy is distinct to the Jewish culture of the time. It is not just about the physical body, that conversation would have most certainly used, “well or unwell,” language. The statement, “clean and unclean” points to an additional layer of the societal consequences that come with the stigma of defilement.

This is a relevant topic for today. Currently churches and businesses across the country are trying to figure out how to reopen during a time of pandemic. Let’s be honest; one of the things that they want to avoid is being “that church” or “that business” where an outbreak occurs. This is not only because they do not want anyone to get sick, but also the public stigma of being labeled “unclean.” My inbox is currently full of news articles, shared between pastors, of churches experiencing Covid 19 infections, in Germany, Canada, the state of Washington, and Bakersfield, California, to name a few. They are being held up as cautionary tales regarding what you don’t want to have happen to your church. It is the new the virtual shaming post. Every day we see a new person or business take their turn in the stockade of public reprove. One might wonder, will these churches forever carry the public shame of spreading a deadly disease?

Jesus heals the man with leprosy, in part, to answer this question. The Levitical priest can declare someone clean or unclean, but Jesus can MAKE someone clean. Jesus desires to free hurting people, who have been cast out to the fringes of society. This is especially true if they had little or no control over what has happened to them. They call out to Jesus, “I am willing.” Are we?

Let’s examine this idea from another angle by looking at Mark 2:13-17.

Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Laurie Santos is a professor of psychologically and cognitive science at Yale University. She was distressed by the number of students who were struggling with anxiety and depression in her class. So she developed a course entitled “psychology and the good life,” and it quickly became the most popular course in the history of Yale. She begins her course with this picture.

This is McKayla Maroney. She was the favorite to win the gold medal in the 2012 Summer Olympics for the gymnastics vault competition. Unfortunately, she stumbled during a routine that she routinely performed flawlessly in practice, so she won the silver medal, not the gold. As you can see McKayla is not impressed. Surprisingly, the Bronze Medalist next to her is much happier. How can this be? McKayla has just proven that she is one of the best in the world at what she does, (an achievement most of us can only dream of) and she is unhappy. Why?

Professor Santos points out our mind is constantly telling us what we need to be happy, but what if sometimes it’s telling us the wrong thing? As it turns out silver medalists are very prone to experience a common psychological problem. We do not just react to what actually happened to us, we also react to what might have happened. What could have happened, what almost happened!? The silver medalist who is so close to attaining her desired goal, think of her achievement, not as an achievement, but as a failure. Failing to achieve the imagined reality of winning the gold, poisons the reality of the great achievement of winning silver. This can cause what is known as toxic envy. It is natural for the mind to obsess over, the one person who beat you.

“This experience isn’t just a problem for Olympians; it is a part of human nature. It is a bias that is deeply ingrained in all of us. People do not react to what is actually happening to them, they react to the meaning they attach to the experience. Second place is great, unless you have assigned the meaning of nothing but gold.

Interestingly, bronze medalists are almost always happier than the silver medalist, who just beat them, because they are focused on all the people who didn’t beat them. They are thinking about the likely scenario, they avoided, of not getting a medal at all. Some of the happiest moments in people’s live, are the moments when they think something bad might happen to them, and then it doesn’t. They think they might have a brain tumor and then the results come back negative.” - Laurie Santos

We use other people as reference points often to our disadvantage. If we constantly pick unflattering reference points, we make ourselves unhappy. We compare ourselves to the very best pictures of others. We never pick reference points that are in the middle of the road, we always compare to those that are the very best looking, the very best at doing our jobs, etc. This standard is the worst possible standard. If we are constantly comparing ourselves to perfection, it makes us miserable.

Jesus didn’t come to reward the overachievers, the most talented, the best keepers of the law, the rich and powerful. He came for the sick, the poor, the oppressed.

So what meaning do you attach to your life’s story? Are you the silver medalist, doing very well in the eyes of others, but internally always comparing, always wanting more, focused on what you don’t have or just missed out on? Or are you able to pause, breath, and even in the midst of a pandemic, count your blessings.

Does the voice in your head sound more like a forgiven tax collector that gets to be the honored guest at Jesus table of friendship, or the jealous Pharisees who despise that tax collector, because they think he has no right to be near to God.

What are you focused on today? All of the things you don’t have, …yet? Or have you have been paying attention to how God is working in this time? Have you counted your blessings?

Forbes magazine recently reported that calls to the suicide prevention hotline have sky rocketed by 600% since the beginning of the pandemic. My wife is a therapist and she can tell you, the demand for mental health services has dramatically increased.

Where we put our attention, as things seem to be getting worse all around us is so important. What we expect our lives to be, and the meaning we assign to our life is so vital to our well-being.

St Ignatius has a beautiful way of teaching on this, it is called the Prayer of Examen.

The Ignatian Examen, or the Daily Examen is a contemplative prayer led by memory. Rather than a prayer utilized to clear one’s conscience, the Examen is a prayer of consciousness. During an Examen, one reflects on the current day, focusing on memories from the events of the day as a way of recognizing the Divine Presence.

Often, the Examen awakens the practitioner to the Divine through routine, or ordinary moments, to illustrate the subtle and surprising ways God speaks to us. This prayer practice helps cultivate and refine discernment, as well as an awareness of God’s presence.

Traditionally there are five movements, or steps in the Examen. The steps outlined below are adapted from the technique outlined in the Spiritual Exercises developed by Ignatius Loyola in the 16th century. St. Ignatius required his companions, the Jesuits, to practice the Examen daily at noon, and before turning in for the night.

Instruction

This is a vision of the five-step Daily Examen that St. Ignatius practiced.

Acknowledge an awareness of the Divine.
Review the day in a posture of gratitude.
Recognize a “Consolation” and a “Desolation” from the day.
Choose a “Desolation” to pray into.
Look with hope for new tomorrow.

A consolation is an experience that causes you to feel fully alive, at peace, joyful, happy, comforted, whole, connected, your best self, etc. This could be understood as an experience in which you feel close to God.

A desolation is an experience that causes you to feel drained of energy, frustrated, irritated, angry, sad, sorrowful, alone, isolated, unaccepted, fragmented, less than your best self, etc. This could be understood as an experience in which you feel far away from God.

Let us spend some time in prayer with these themes in mind.