“If you wish, you can make me clean.”

A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.”

Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him,  “I do will it. Be made clean.”

The stories and references of leprosy in the Bible serve as a kind of metaphor for how we deal with people who we judge as “unclean” and unworthy of having contact with God. Our treatment of lepers must come from a place of mercy and love, not legalism and fear. Our reaction to those whom we deem “unclean” is ultimately the barometer of our own humanity.  Today I want to look at leprosy from the perspective of Jesus’ healing of the leper by making direct contact with the man.

People afflicted with leprosy (http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/1270/1300) were not only ritually excluded from the religion, they were  excluded from the community. Traditional law dictated by Leviticus said that lepers must stand outside the community and even self-declare that they are “unclean.” Imagine the psychological damage done to oneself by being forced to yell to all passers-by, “Unclean! Unclean!”  (see http://www.religiousrules.com/Judaismpurity04leprosy.htm#sthash.YvEH99mm.dpuf). Lepers were never ever again embraced by their families and loved ones.

Being declared “unclean” had two levels of isolation: we already heard about social and emotional isolation but the most heartfelt isolation was religious isolation. The law of Moses said that anything that was declared “unclean” was unfit to use to worship God. When Jesus healed the man of leprosy, he not only restored the man to the community, but also back to God.  

Leprosy was believed incurable by humans and popular thought believed that God inflicted leprosy as a curse for sins. Throughout Western history lepers were restrained from social contact. Because the disease was associated with sin, when people isolated lepers and cut social ties, they felt they were justified in doing so.  They were, after all, punishing sinners.

One of the most infamous stories of isolating lepers was in Hawai’i. The island of Moloka’i was set up as a colony of lepers by imperial American interests.  To understand that statement, let’s look at the history of how Moloka’i became a leper colony. 

Native Hawaiians never had leprosy.  In fact the Hawaiian name for leprosy,  “mai ho’oka’awale," meaning the “separating sickness.” The name came from the effect leprosy had on people.  It wasn’t the disfigurement that came from the disease. In fact, disfigurement was not a problem for the Hawaiians. The most difficult hurt came from being isolated from family and being sent to an unfamiliar place.

Hawaiian culture was tied to family (‘ohana) and land (‘aina). The idea of “‘ohana” family and ‘aina - land came from native Hawaiian belief that people are directly linked by their ancestry to the land and to the gods. ‘Ohana means that we are connected to each other and that ‘ohana is there for all kinds of support: when hungry, there will be food. When there is danger, there are people who would protect you.  You will always have a place: ‘aina. It is your land your place, your family. And when there is illness, there is someone there to accompany you.  Helping someone out is called “kokua.”  

For traditional Hawaiians, it is inconceivable for an individual to face the world alone.  One’s identity came from ‘ohana and ‘aina. When Hawaiians were forcibly removed to Moloka’i, there was a member of their ‘ohana who would join them.  If it weren’t for “kokua,” the people on Moloka’i would not have survived. In fact leprosy wasn’t the cause of death, it was the poor housing from neglect and the social policy of isolation that killed the people.

In the 1860’s Hawai’i was still a sovereign kingdom and not a part of the US. At that time a leprosy outbreak occurred and board members of the Hawaiian “Royal Board of Health” - which by that time were dominated by Americans and descendants of Americans born into royal Hawaiian families - determined leprosy to be a “crime.”  This pretense of the “law” made people feel it was legitimate to round up people and send them away. This so-called “Royal Board of Health” were pawns in American interests: they used the leprosy outbreak to further destabilize the Hawaiian population thus making way for the eventual overthrow of the infamous 1893 overthrow of the Island Kingdom. (see http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/americans-overthrow-hawaiian-monarchy).

In this seemingly helpless situation, came Damien de Veuster, or St. Damien of Moloka’i. (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTS0mZcbffk  and http://www.catholichawaii.org/catholic-essentials/scripture-tradition/saints/saint-damien.aspx) Fr. Damien arrived in Moloka’i in 1873 to minister to the people of Moloka’i.  The colony had no real laws, no housing, farms or schools. Under this priest’s direction, the colony established rules, improved housing and organized farms.  Children attended school and the lepers were restored to human dignity.  When Fr. Damien contacted leprosy  in 1884 he was sadly shunned by civil and religious leaders, yet that did not deter him from continuing his work. He enlisted the help of other people to participate in “kokua.”  A Franciscan sister, Marianne Cope, joined in the kokua. (see: http://www.npr.org/2012/10/20/163269139/mother-of-outcasts-to-be-a-saint-for-leprosy-work

and http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2221026/Pope-canonizes-Native-American-Hawaiian-saints-huge-crowds-Vatican.html#ixzz3ReQ4goas)  She helped homeless female children of leprosy patients and cared for women and children who might be vulnerable to exploitation and abuse by establishing a home for them.  As Fr. Damien laid in bed, she was the only one from the Church to care for Fr. Damien in his last year of life.  She remained in Moloka’i after Fr. Damien died. She died of natural causes in 1918.

In 1995 Fr. Damian was named a saint and throughout Hawaii, Catholics and non-Catholics venerate his image as a sign of true ‘ohana and kokua.  His remains were returned to Moloka’i, his ‘aina after his canonization.  In 2005 Marianne Cope was named a saint as well. Her remains are in Connecticut.

Saints Damien of Moloka’i and Marianne Cope emulate Jesus. They restored humanity to outcasts. They became family to the dispossessed and their steadfast presence reminded the lepers of Moloka’i that they were precious in God’s eyes and the world was wrong not to see their humanity.  Sadly it wasn’t until 1969 that the old laws that classified lepers as criminals was repealed and that lepers would not have to live in fear of arrest or exile.  There is indeed much to do as we move forward from here. There are people - as this community knows from our experience - that will enact laws and label people as “criminals” thus giving bigots and small-minded politicians license for exiling people. We as Americans come from troubling history of isolating people we find “inconvenient.” Look at the Trail of Tears - the forced migration of several Native American tribes in 1830 (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_of_Tears) , The internment of people of Japanese descent in the 1940’s (see http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/08/world-war-ii-internment-of-japanese-americans/100132/), the way AIDS patients were first treated in the 1980’s, the mass isolation of Haitian refugees in the 1990’s, and how some congressmen today call for the mass deportation of undocumented persons.  

We can do better. We must do better. Faith demands that we reach out and touch others. To restore humanity. To stand with those who are isolated. To embrace the vulnerable. And to break bread with everyone.