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We have gathered this morning particularly to
mark this Sunday as a day when we remember those who are
afflicted and affected by HIV & AIDS around the world. In spite
of all the education that has taken place on the subject, people
who are infected/affected by HIV & AIDS are stigmatized and
considered as the outcastes of society. In 2007, UNAIDS and NACO
estimated that between 2 million and 3.6 million Indians are
living with HIV. In India, as elsewhere, AIDS is often seen as
‘someone else’s problem’ – as something that affects people
living on the margins of society, whose lifestyles are
considered immoral. Even as it moves into the general
population, the HIV epidemic is misunderstood and stigmatized
among the Indian public. People living with HIV have faced
violent attacks; been rejected by families, spouses and
communities; been refused medical treatment; and even, in some
reported cases, denied the last rites before they die.
In ancient times people who had leprosy were treated very
similar to how we treat people affected/infected by HIV & AIDS.
They were asked to be outside the camp and they were not allowed
to mingle with the rest of society. The book of Leviticus gives
us a glimpse of what their condition was:
Lev 13 45 "The leprous person who has the disease shall wear
torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he
shall cover his upper lip a and cry out, 'Unclean, unclean.' 46
He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is
unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the
camp.
A person affected with leprosy was considered to be ritually
unclean and any Jew who touched him would also be defiled. They
were seen as people upon whom God’s favour did not rest. This
same attitude is now expressed by a large number of the
Christian community when dealing with those infected or affected
by HIV & AIDS. There is an inherent attitude of ostracizing them
and stigmatizing them as people with whom we cannot mix and they
are seen as people whom God has punished. Though two thousand
years have passed since the coming of Christ, our attitudes
haven’t changed very much and we are like the Pharisees and the
Teachers of the Law. This morning I would like us to look at the
life of Jesus and particularly of the call of Levi to be his
disciple and learn some lessons in the manner we can take the
lead in ministering to people who are infected/affected by HIV &
AIDS.
Luke 5:27-32 27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax
collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow
me," Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and
followed him. 29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his
house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were
eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the
law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why
do you eat and drink with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" 31
Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor,
but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance."
1. Jesus takes the lead in calling Levi a Tax Collector to
follow him
In Luke’s Gospel we notice that Jesus went out and saw a Tax
Collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. Tax
Collectors were Jewish agents who collected taxes for the Roman
Government from their fellow Jews. They were especially detested
for helping their conquerors and for frequently extorting and
defrauding their own people. Jesus however, spots Levi, singles
him out and then calls him saying, ‘Follow me’. Jesus takes the
lead in reaching out to those who have been rejected and
ostracized by society. The Bible records for us that Levi got
up, left everything and followed him. Luke records the complete
change of direction with one stroke of his brush saying that he
got up, left everything and followed him. Levi was so over
whelmed with this gesture of Jesus that he had called him home
for a banquet and had also invited many of his fellow tax
collectors and friends. The response of Levi is amazing. When
Jesus takes the lead in asking him to follow him, Levi has no
hesitations in doing that. There is an implicit obedience.
Two clear lessons can be learnt from Jesus’ action: Firstly,
that one has to take the lead in restoring people to their
rightful dignity. Jesus did that by willing to go for a banquet
that Levi had organized. Eating with a person indicated
acceptance and recognition. Jesus gave the tax collectors and
‘sinners’ the human dignity which they had lost because of what
society had done to them. Jesus was bringing them back to the
community. They could not be isolated.
The second lesson that we can learn from this incident is the
implicit obedience of Levi. As soon as Jesus called him to
follow him, he left everything and followed him. Levi obeyed
Jesus in spite of him being an outsider and an outcaste. He knew
that he had to obey the divine call and he therefore had to
leave everything behind and follow Christ. He took that bold
decision. Many of us who claim to be followers of Christ find it
difficult to be obedient to him. Levi here took the lead in
obedience.
2. Jesus takes the lead in breaking down social barriers
The Pharisees and teachers of the law were upset that Jesus was
mingling with the riff-raff of society. They thought they were
the educated and the elite lot and that Jesus would be much
better off spending time with them rather than with the rabble.
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their
sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with
tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
Who were these sinners? The term ‘sinners’ was used for
notoriously evil people as well as those who refused to follow
the Mosaic law as interpreted by the teachers of the law. The
term was commonly used for tax-collectors, adulterers, robbers
and the like. These were the people who were gathering around
Jesus. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were muttering
under their breath that this man welcomes sinners and eats with
them. They were complaining among themselves and when they could
not cope with it any longer they ask the disciples as to why
Jesus was keeping company with the tax collectors and sinners.
The Pharisees were feeling quite self-righteous about the
company they kept as opposed to the kind of company that Jesus
was keeping. They had created social barriers in order to keep
some people excluded from participating as full members of
society with all its rights and privileges. But Jesus breaks
down these social barriers by eating with them. One of the best
ways to break down social barriers and to make a visible
expression of it is to eat with people whom society does not
find acceptable.
Many of us as Christians find ourselves in the shoes of the
Pharisees. We are so concerned about our reputations, our name
and our glory, that we have no time for exalting God’s name and
his glory. We are not keen to work with those who are
infected/affected by HIV & AIDS. We dare not invite somebody
with HIV & AIDS into our home. We are ready to accuse them and
judge them and consider their sickness as a punishment, but we
conveniently forget our own sham and hypocrisy. We forget how
God’s grace reached out to us when we were still sinners, but we
are quick to judge others. We do not want to have table
fellowship with them or to seek them and welcome them. As
disciples of Jesus Christ we called to seek and save the lost
and relate to them in a way that God’s grace is available to
them as much as it has been made available to us.
3. Jesus takes the lead in healing and restoring people
On hearing the complaints of the Pharisees, Jesus answers them,
‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have
not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’
Jesus uses a short saying to drive home his point. It is quite
obvious that only when you realize that you are sick that you
would want see a doctor. Likewise, Jesus makes it clear that his
work was primarily among those who recognized that they were
‘sick’. By saying this, Jesus shows that the Tax collectors and
the ‘sinners’ had come to a point where they realized that they
had strayed away from God, and had hurt themselves and were in
desperate need of healing, both physically and spiritually. They
were poor in spirit and they knew that they could not handle
their lives on their own any more and therefore seek divine
help. They have come to a point where they are ready to receive
the grace of God and seek his forgiveness for the way they had
messed up their lives and they want a new beginning. God takes
the lead in and through Jesus Christ and offers that new
beginning to each one of us. Very often those who are
afflicted/infected by HIV & AIDS respond to the call of God and
turn to him and put their trust in him. By doing this they
become the recipients of God’s grace.
On the contrary many of us consider ourselves as ‘righteous’. We
have a ‘holier than thou’ Pharisaic attitude and therefore we
believe that we are healthy people and do not need a Physician.
But anyone who looks into his own life truthfully will know that
we all have sinned and fallen short of God’s standards. We are
all sick and we do need the healing touch of God. Jesus has come
to call ‘sinners to repentance’. Only those who recognize that
they are sick come to Jesus, the Great Physician, so that he can
exercise his power to heal and transform them. The physician
seeks to call people to see themselves honestly, as they really
are. Spiritual restoration and healing can only be accomplished
when the individual concerned accepts the illness. This requires
humility.
Conclusion
As a community of faith Jesus calls us to follow him. Just like
he took the lead in calling Levi, a Tax Collector who was
ostracized by the community, we are called to invite those who
are stigmatized by HIV & AIDS to participate in community, and
more so within the community of faith. We are called to a life
of implicit obedience as Levi did. Jesus also took the lead in
breaking down social barriers. Likewise, we as his followers are
called to break down barriers which society has created for
those living with HIV & AIDS. Jesus mingles freely with those
whom society labels as ‘sinners’ and eats with them giving them
recognition and human dignity. As followers of Christ we are
challenged to do likewise. Jesus also took the lead in healing
and restoring people. God offers that new beginning to each one
of us through his Son Jesus. May we not be hypocritical like the
Pharisees, but may we truly recognize the need for God’s healing
touch in our own lives as much as in the lives of those affected
with HIV & AIDS. |
