Edina Hall

Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I remember the day one of my sisters got into a car accident. (She was and is still okay.)

My other sister drove us to the scene and as the car parked, I jumped out and ran to her side, pushing through a small crowd gathered. I have vague memories of the smashed car and her on the stretcher.

The clearer memory, however, is the feeling I had the moment when I ran, without hesitation, past the circle of onlookers/rubberneckers and into the “scene” with her, the other injured and the medical help. It felt weird because I felt like a little transformation had occurred. I had crossed a threshold of being a casual observer into a full participant in the drama of the accident and rescue. 

In today’s readings (Matthew 7:28-8:4), we meet Jesus walking with a large crowd. A leper breaks through the throng, kneels before Jesus and says “Lord, if you are willing, make me clean.” Jesus reaches out, touches the man and replies, “I am willing.” The leper is immediately cleansed of his affliction and made whole. 

Assuming that he is not a rascal, I suspect that part of the leper’s actual transformation did not start (or end) when Jesus touched him. I imagine him on the periphery of the crowd, absorbing the teachings of Jesus and like them, being amazed. When the leper kneels before Jesus, he proclaims the silent statement of “I AM willing” before the test (“if you are”) and request to be made whole (“make me clean”). 

I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be willing.

For me, it is more than just being capable of doing “the right thing” because we are “supposed to,” or worse, driven by guilt. I believe that it is the aligning of oneself with God’s plan. Sometimes it is easy, but often it involves active listening, bending, turning and stretching into a transformed life. 

Sitting with this vignette, I find that I admire the leper. Undaunted by his condition, he follows the crowd and Jesus. He hears Jesus’ teachings, bends his will towards a new and radical gospel of love available to everyone and, bucking convention, steps out to claim it.

He crossed the threshold of being a casual observer into a full participant. 

If not already there, may we all, like the leper, be so bold as to exit where we are “supposed” to be and enter into our life God call us to.

I will, with God’s help, 

—Edina