"(I'm glad) That's not my job!"

"When a person has on the skin of his body a swelling or an eruption or a spot, and it turns into a leprous disease on the skin of his body, he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests. The priest shall examine the disease on the skin of his body, and if the hair in the diseased area has turned white and the disease appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is a leprous disease; after the priest has examine him, he shall pronounce him ceremonially unclean."

(Leviticus 13:2-3)

Having grown up in Hawaii, with the shadow of Kalaupapa (the leper colony on the peninsula of the island of Molokai in Hawaii) looming large, it behooves me to comment when I read Leviticus. This 3rd "book of Moses" in the Old Testament recounts how priests are to be dermatologists when it comes to leprosy designation. It need to be said, however, that a LOT of conditions in Leviticus are classified as "leprosy," most of which we wouldn't classify as leprosy today. Including many skin conditions.

I understand the social/societal implications of having someone in your midst who has a contagious (& potentially life-threatening) disease like leprosy... and praise God we have an antidote for Hansen's Disease today. But as I was reading Leviticus 13 this morning, I couldn't help but think that if it was the role of pastors and priests still today, we'd be seeing a LOT of acne cases.

I was an "acne case" myself. Id' been conditionally accepted into the United States Coast Guard Academy's class of 1990, pending my physical. It was fall 1995, my senior year of high school. I failed my aforementioned physical because of one reason... ACNE! Yep. In the eyes of the USGCA, I was "ceremonially unclean."

The aftermath, of course, is that this was the catalyst that eventually led to me hearing God calling me into the ministry (which is truly where God created me to be!). By the way, guess where I first heard that call into ministry? On the island of Molokai... at a summer service camp for the UMC... down on the peninsula of Kalaupapa.

But I'm glad skin disease diagnosis is not my job. In fact, I'm grateful that as a pastor I don't have to declare anyone "ceremonially unclean." That's not my job, either. The honest truth is that we're ALL unclean. That's our human condition. No one is perfect. But thanks be to God that Christ Jesus, in his sacrificial love, makes all of us clean. Period.