Mark 1:40

One day a leper came to Jesus and, falling on his knees, begged him for help. “If only you are willing,” he said, “you are able to make me clean.”


when is a question
not an expectation
ready to shift from effacement
to full-blown demand
in one digital flip

such as this very question
about churchiness
aligned with G*D and Guns
to whine and accuse
equally false masks

if you want to
flips the power arrangement
turning generous gift
into expected transaction
based on first blamed guilt

as with every transaction
there are consequential choices
will the outcome shift relationships
will getting one’s way lead to more
will we be gentled or hardened

plea is demand camouflaged
agreement is capitulation
style is non-loopholed fate
social capital is manipulation
questioning questioners opens a quest


After two thousand years of institutionalizing Jesus’ preaching and healing, this question of what we want is difficult to hear addressed to ourselves.

Yes, we affirm Jesus being able to choose. We remain unconvinced that this gift of making-clean is a choice open to us.

It wasn’t very long ago there was an HIV-AIDS epidemic that mimicked the social dislocation of ancient “leprosy”. People were fearful enough to not touch those with HIV-AIDS. It was associated with sexual identity or orientation and claimed to be of sinful origin which falsely justified withholding funds for treating or curing HIV-AIDS.

It was not until enough people began to see the foolishness of trying to closet this disease that, finally, people with AIDS were declared to be of worth and welcomed back into society and progress was made on dealing with the disease.

The question of choice is a critical one. Do you see yourself able to be an advocate for someone labeled by the larger community as of no current worth?

Depending on whom you engage in this anti-wilderness work, you will be identified as a liberationist or a law-breaker. Neither is as true as being a baptized (beloved) learner of Jesus’ way.

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