Today’s
Scripture Reading (July 12, 2012): Leviticus 14
There is a great scene in Henry Harland’s novel (written in 1900) “The
Cardinal’s Snuff Box” where the protagonist of the story (Peter) is confronted
with the sickness of his servant (an older lady called Marietta). And at the
beginning of the sickness, Marietta simply denies that she is sick. She just
wants to keep pushing through the sickness to get the job done. Maybe in the
back of her mind is the thought that she just cannot afford to be sick – that
she needs to keep at the job and keep making the money that needs in order to
live. There is also a feeling that she if she stops, she might be replaced. And
that was a chance that she just could not afford to take.
But finally, Peter finds her in the kitchen hard at work and he has to
give her an order. And it comes in the form of a question – do you want to
please me? And there is nothing more that the Marietta wants to do than please
her employer. And so Peter tells her, the only way for you to please me is if
you will go to bed and begin the process of getting better. She finally
complies with the wish and Peter sends for the doctor.
The illness is serious, but not grave. But as Marietta lies in bed she
begins to consider her own mortality. She asks the doctor to send for the
priest – in her mind she is preparing to make her final confession. The doctor
comes to Peter with these instructions – “She is no worse—she is, if anything, rather better.
Her malady is taking its natural course. But people of her class always fancy
they are going to die, if they are ill enough to stay in bed. It is the panic
of ignorance.”
Maybe we all suffer under the panic of ignorance
when we are sick. It is then that our mind allows us to ask the question – is
this the end? What do I have to show for the years that I have spent on this
earth? And in most of our cases, the road to recovery is dependent on our
ability to understand our own capacity to get well. It was a fact that the
doctor in Harland’s novel understood well.
Leprosy in the ancient world was incurable. So it
was almost ridiculous to have a ritual for the cleansing from it. And the
ritual had to be powerful enough for the patients to really believe that they
are clean. So God orders the priests to use powerful symbols in order to
illustrate the cleansing process.
The
cleansing process started with two birds – cleansing always starts with a
sacrifice. But the sacrifice was not the end of the process. It continued on
with the presence of three other symbols. The first was cedar wood. Cedar in
the ancient world was considered to be relatively indestructible. Its value was
that it was not normally subject to disease. The scarlet yarn was simply in an
indicator that death was still present. The participant had been cleansed from
an awful disease, but death was universal and still in the future. And finally
hyssop was present in the cleansing ritual. The disease would often create a
powerful negative smell as the flesh began to rot. Hyssop was a strong smell
that reminded people of God and of his ability to cleanse in the first place.
It was the smell of God that permeated the tabernacle. And when the ritual was
completed, God’s plan was that we would understand that we really can be
cleansed and can be well.
But the process cannot even start until the person
recognized both his need for cleansing and God’s ability to cleanse. The truth
is that God cannot heal us from a brokenness that we either will not admit or
that we do not believe that he has power over.
Tomorrow’s Scripture
Reading: Leviticus 15
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