I have real social anxiety about most social gatherings, especially regarding awkward interactions like "greeting" time during a church service. Unless I am being intentional, I don't want to shake hands and make eye contact and say something like "peace to you" or "God bless you" or "hello, how ya doin'". But it is (or can be) valuable, nonetheless - especially considering Jesus' relationship with lepers. Most of us probably know...
"Leprosy meant not only sickness and disfigurement, but also social banishment. Leprosy was [considered] highly contagious. Sufferers had to stay well away from everybody else. Nobody approached them; nobody would dream of touching them. We can feel, then, the shudder going through the onlookers as Jesus reaches out and touches this poor man. But you can also feel the thrill of warmth and life that came over the leper himself. Nobody had touched him for a long time, perhaps many years. He was, to his surprise, caught up suddenly in God's renewal movement, God's restoration of His people." - Wright
Monumental. A fantastic contemporary symbol of "Christ and the leper" is this clip from the film "The Motorcycle Diaries" (below). In this clip the young doctor Ernesto Guevara and his traveling companion are visiting a leper colony. The doctors and nurses live on one side of the Amazon river, and the lepers live on the other side. The nuns have made a strict rule that no one (even doctors and nurses) are allowed to touch the lepers without rubber gloves - despite the current modern knowledge that leprosy is indeed NOT contagious. Even though the clip is in spanish, you will still see the process of humanization occur visually - as the young doctors reject the rubber gloves, then greet a few residents of the colony.
This particular portion of the clip is from 4:40-6:25.
I still remember lessons learned when I began encountering men and women begging for money on the streets of Boston. I had these kind of encounters previously in New York and Columbus, but I would just hand-over some coins anxiously. In Boston, I contemplated a different encounter - one that did not include money. So I simply decided that I should stop and acknowledge the person with eye contact - an apology ("sorry man, I don't have money to give") - allow him/her to respond - then be on my way. These encounters were always brief, but completely humanizing. The response would often be, "That's alright man - no problem", as if the eye contact and apology were worth more to them. I believe significantly that this was true. It was also true for me. I would almost always "feel" that I had a genuine human interaction with the homeless man or woman.
On that note, let's look at what that might look like in our everyday relationships...
Andre: Have you read Martin Buber's book On Hasidism?
WALLY: No.
Andre: Oh, well here's a view of life! I mean, he talks about the belief of the Hasidic Jews that there are spirits chained in everything. There are spirits chained in you, there are spirits chained in me. Well! There are spirits chained in this table! And that prayer is the action of liberating these enchained embryo-like spirits, and that every action of ours in life, whether it's doing business or making love, or having dinner together, whatever, that every action of ours should be a prayer, a sacrament in the world.
Now, do you think we're living like that? Why do you think we're not living like that? I think it's because if we allowed ourselves to see what we do every day we might just find it too nauseating. I mean, the way we treat other people. I mean, you know, every day, several times a day, I walk into my apartment building, the doorman calls me Mr. Gregory and I call him Jimmy. All right, what's the difference between that and the southern plantation owner whose got slaves? You see, I think that an act of murder is committed in that moment when I walk into that building. You know, because here's a dignified, intelligent man, a man of my own age, and when I call him Jimmy then he becomes a child and I'm an adult because I can buy my way into the building!"
What small ways are we dehumanizing one another? What barriers exist between you and another because of credentials, titles, occupation, and stature? How can we transcend our "rank"? What methods of routine, control, and discipline are dehumanizing to our own family members?
One last thought. The concept of dehumanization is of foremost importance in the military to prepare new soldiers psychologically for annihilating the "enemy". It is the first step towards developing capacity to literally end another human being's life. That said...I must now ask, how can we counter this process of dehumanization? Could we train ourselves to intentionally humanize one another, and in that way, actually give another human being life, meaning, encouragement, love? If so, I believe that this humanizing process might begin with meaningful eye contact, appropriate affection, listening ears, humility...
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