OK you all know I was in Melbourne
last week for two conferences. The first
Conference was “Stepping up in faith!” This was put on by the Ecumenical
Advocacy Alliance which is “an international network of churches and Church
related organizations committed to helping member organizations and partners
strengthen their capacity and engagement to help us all be more effective in
speaking out and acting for Justice and Peace”[1] This was a gathering of religious leaders
from all over the world. Most of us
living with or affected by HIV.
The common topic of not just this pre-conference but
throughout the WORLDAIDS2014 conference was the end of stigmatization and
discrimination. This is why I choose this passage for our reading today.
This Gospel holds, in contrast, two
stories that are riddled with the concept of stigma. When you hear the word
stigma what thoughts does it bring about? According to the Oxford dictionaries
synonyms for the word in the US are “shame, disgrace, dishonor, ignominy, and
humiliation”[2]
Simply put it is “a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance,
quality or Person.”[3] People are being judged, ostracized, and
discriminated against due to something they have no control over. Yet in these stories those boundaries are
crossed again and again.
In the opening we hear of this man
named Jairus an official of the synagogue. This was the man who picked the
readers and teachers and he made sure all things were done in accordance to the
laws. So what is this saying when a man,
in charge of keeping all traditions runs up and kneels before Jesus? In Luke’s
Gospel at this point we already know that people are plotting against
Jesus. We know that Jesus is bastard
born so he is not one to be seen socializing with. As matter of fact we have heard in other
stories that one from the temple usually sneaks at night to speak with Jesus.
Jairus is willing to cross all
boundaries, maybe even break a few laws to save his only daughter. This is a
direct contrast to a story in chapter 7 where a widow lost her only son and
therefore her only means of support. For a man to lose his only daughter
usually was not that important. This is
not a healing of necessity but of love, of compassion. But as Jesus is making
his way to Jairus’ house there is an interruption.
A woman who has been hemorrhaging
for 12 years reaches out in faith and touches Jesus. He is walking with the official of the
synagogue when a woman, who has been considered permanently unclean for 12
years now, is brave enough to walk through a tight crowd and touch Jesus.
According to Leviticus rules this would make Jesus unclean. He doesn’t seem concerned about that but he
does want to know who touched him. Peter
points out that there are so many people pressing up against them that it could
be anyone. Yet Jesus says I felt power leave me.
This woman, an unclean woman, a
woman who could not go to temple to pray or make offering, had enough faith
that she drew power from Jesus. Her need
to be whole allowed her to receive what she needed without even asking…the
first universal healthcare program if you have a need you shall receive
care! Technically this touch, as I said,
made Jesus ritually unclean. Yet this
did not concern him. Jesus proclaims to
the woman that her faith has healed her.
He not only announced that her
faith had healed her but he took this moment to continue to speak to her and
maybe teach and preach. I assume this because the passage says “while he was
still speaking someone came from the leader’s house to say “Your daughter is
dead: do not trouble the teacher any longer.” (Luke 8:49)
So Jesus doesn’t just heal and run
but minsters to the woman. During that
time of getting to know the unclean woman for scripture says that even after
the bleeding ceases there is a period of 7 days until one can return to the
temple and make a sacrifice. Jesus
continues to cross those prescribed boundaries.
Jairus’ servant refers to Jesus as
teacher. Again this says to me that Jairus must have had a huge amount of
respect for Jesus for even those of his household referred to him as the
teacher in spite of the rules and stigma of Jesus’ heritage. Then Jesus walks
into the Leaders house still ritually unclean and takes the hand of the dead
girl. Now Numbers 19:11 says “whoever touches a human corpse will be unclean
for seven days.” So again he ignores ritual laws and crosses the boundary of
that stigma and he is laughed at. Not
for crossing a boundary for simply stating that what all believe to be true is
not true. Once her spirit has returned
to her he orders them to give her something to eat.
“Give her something to eat.” A simple enough command and it makes sense
since she had been sick for a while so she probably had nothing to eat for a
while. But this simple phrase marks the
end of the events. Everyone is in awe
and he orders them to tell no one but the finality of all the boundaries and
laws that were crossed, crossed again, violated and ignored for the sake of
compassion and faith, ends with a meal.
Here at this table as we gather for
our sacred symbolic meal, which we understand means something different for
each person as they come forward, yet each and every one is welcome to come
freely. No matter who you are or where
you are on life’s journey you are welcome here.
Yet as we know from just watching the news there are so many places
where this is not true yet.
Yet we ourselves probably hold
certain groups of people as less than.
Not because we think we are better but because it has been so ingrained
in our society that certain people and their choices which place them at risk
for HIV/AIDS are less than.
Can you think of any group who we
here in the US still criminalize? Who we,
as a society, consider to be okay to marginalize. I met sex workers, IV drug users, Transgender
men who have sex with men. All who live
on the margins of society? All because
of who they are have limited if no access to literature, counseling, or medical
care.
There are places in this world
where it is punishable by death to be gay.
There are 81 countries that have anti-homosexuality laws still on the
books and that includes the United States.
As of May 16th we knew of 102 people who were in prison for
being gay and 75 more awaiting trial.
There are faith based organizations
who infiltrate countries pretending to promote God’s love and yet fuel
hate. They teach abstinence,
faithfulness and, maybe, condom if one can’t be faithful this method called ABC
has proven to be a complete failure... The belief if you have AIDS it is Gods
punishment even if you are born with it is still being taught in some places. Children denied access to medication and/or
school for the belief that it was their mothers own fault that they contracted
HIV.
I have become part of an
organization known as INERELA+. This “is
an international network of religious leaders - lay and ordained, women and men
– living with, or personally affected by HIV.”[4] They have an education tool kit on their website
inerlea.org that uses a more empowering program. The acronym is S.A.V.E. which means Safer
Practices, access to treatment, voluntary and confidential and regular testing,
and empowerment.[5]
At this moment I wrote this
activists were fighting Uganda’s anti-gay laws in the constitutional
court. They have won on a technicality. The
man who promoted such a law, Scott Lively, has been brought up on human rights
violations by a Ugandan civil rights group and is awaiting trial in a
Massachusetts court. In Ibiza Spain the sex workers have formed a union which
allows them “to obtain work permits, pay taxes, reap the benefits of
Healthcare, pension and get their first credit cards.”[6] This
allows them access to testing not just for HIV but all STD’s
as well as hep c and TB.
I heard stories of how IV drug
users who were in recovery due to a wonderful program had gone back to work and
were supporting their families in Crimea but when Russia came in all the
programs stopped. You see due to ignorance, stigma and fear, Russia outlaws the
very drugs that help addicts to recover and move away from addiction. According to Bloomberg report; “Among the top
20 global economies, only India, with a population almost nine times bigger
than Russia’s 143 million, has more people living with HIV.”[7] All because of Ignorance and stigmatization.
The future of HIV reduction and a
better world is if we can teach everyone that there are no need for
boundaries. If the world could only say
no matter who you are or where you are on life’s Journey you are welcome
here. Then to look into our neighbors
eyes, the most marginalized, the most scared and frail and say what can I do to
help you make your life better. For these lessons, these lessons of love and
acceptance can only come from within their own culture and their own community
otherwise it is just the west imposing their liberal beliefs upon them.
So From her all we can do is continue to cross
the boundaries we can. Reach out to the
homeless, the less fortunate and offer care and compassion. Offer our resources to empower a place to
improve its facility so that it can make better use of its resources. Become involved in any one of the many
ministry opportunities throughout the UCC.
Whenever you get a chance in the Name of Christ…Break a boundary. Amen.
[1]. Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, about,
http://iac.ecumenicaladvocacy.org/about (accessed July 30, 2014).
[2]. Oxford dictionary, US synonyms,
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english-thesaurus/stigma
(accessed July 30, 2014).
[3]. Oxford dictionary, Stigma,
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/stigma
(accessed July 30, 2014).
[4]. Inerela+, INEREALA+ Positive Faith in
action, http://inerela.org (accessed July 3, 2014).
[5]. Inerela+, SAVE Toolkit,
http://inerela.org/resources/save-toolkit/ (accessed July 3, 2014).
[6]. Nadja Sayej, Ibiza's sex workers have
formed Spain's First Prostitution union,
www.vice.com/read/ibiza-sex-workers-have-formed-spains-first-prostitution
-union (accessed July 30, 2014).
[7]. Simon Bennett and Stephen Kravchenko, HIV
Epidemic Plagues Russia, www.russia-hiv-surge-shows-sochi
-games-swagger-can-t-maskbloomberg.com/news/2014-01-13/ (accessed July 30,
2014).
