KISSING THE
LEPER :
Seeing
Jesus in the Least of These
book by Brad Jersak
Book Review by Grace Wiebe, July 2007-
** All Scriptures from NIV unless otherwise stated **
|
Intro and Review |
From the back cover of the book |
INTRO: Over the past number of years, especially, God's heart for the poor, widow, orphan, fatherless and others that tend to be viewed as 'the least of these' has been coming to my attention more and more.
As I've been asking Him to show me His heart through the Scriptures and however else He wants to teach me about this, it has been a very interesting, painful and yet precious and rewarding journey to date, and I am sure I have only just begun!
Brad Jersak's book "KISSING THE LEPER…" is just one of the many things God has used and is using to help me and others in the Church to grow in our understanding of God's heart for 'the least of these', and to help us to learn to LIVE it out.
It seems to me that throughout Scripture God's heart is intent on maturing us through His love for us (Ephesians 3:17 "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-THAT you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."). Wow!! That is an awesome reality to consider as His desire and purpose for us!
The reason for this is that we will be able to mature in our love for Him and mature in our love for others. (Luke 10:27 He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' ")
So in order for us to become conduits of His agape love flowing through us to others, we need to know, experientially and deeply, His long, high, deep and wide love for us! (1 John 4:19 "We love because he first loved us.")
**"…The term agape is rarely used in ancient manuscripts, but was used by the early Christians to refer to the self-sacrificing love of God for humanity, which they were committed to reciprocating and practicing towards God and among one another." - from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agap?
I get the sense from many believers that they feel that they are being selfish if they ask for God to reveal His love for them to them, because He has already died for them and done so many other things. But I believe that God wants us to pray this for ourselves and others, because of His expressed will for us to be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God for His own purposes, which cannot happen unless we grasp His long, high, deep and wide love for us.
A couple of verses which have really have stood out to me the past year or two, especially, which help to give us God's perspective on how vital His LOVE through us is, have been: Galatians 5:6 "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."
Wow! We have tended to think that if we 'follow the rules', we're being a 'good Christian'. But the vs. in Galatians, above, emphasizes that religious works are not what counts IN CHRIST, but that THE ONLY THING THAT COUNTS is FAITH EXPRESSING ITSELF THROUGH LOVE.
Let me repeat that for emphasis: THE ONLY THING THAT COUNTS is FAITH EXPRESSING ITSELF THROUGH LOVE!
FAITH is extremely important, BUT this passage says that it must be expressed - how? Through LOVE.
Add to that what it says in 1 Corinthians 13:13 "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
Amazing! This vs. states that LOVE is even GREATER than FAITH!!
Do we really believe that? Do we live that way? Or does our paradigm need to shift some more?
It seems to me that over the past decades, our understanding of what biblical, godly love is has become so twisted out of shape that it is hardly even recognizable, for the most part. As a result, the 'salt' has lost most of its saltiness in the world.
Our 'love' seems to
have so much more to do with people pleasing / the fear of man / political
correctness than the kind of love Jesus modeled for us, or which we read about
in 1 Corinthians 13…ie." 4Love is patient,
love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is
not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record
of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It
always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never
fails…."
What about passages like 1 Corinthians 13:1 "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."
Let's really let this sink in!
Again, do we really believe this or live like it's true? Do we really believe it's better to love than to be a martyr?
I don't believe that our paradigm can ever shift to the extent that it needs to in these ways until we experience those increasing depths of the long, high, deep and wide love of Jesus, which will purify our hearts and enable us to increasingly see others through the eyes of our hearts which have been filled with His love.
Along my journey regarding the 'least of these', I have been realizing more and more how tied up that is, how tied up LOVE is, with the whole theme of 'justice' throughout the Bible.
A couple verses immediately come to mind:
Psalm 89:14 "Righteousness
and justice are the foundation
of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you."
Psalm 97:2 "Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness
and justice are the foundation
of his throne."
For righteousness and justice to be the FOUNDATION of God's throne, shows how deeply intrinsic this is to His character/nature, Kingdom reign / rule and how vital it must be in and expressed through His people as we continue to pray "Your Kingdom, come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
The Bible has MUCH to say about justice. Unfortunately, as I understand it, some (or perhaps most?) translations / versions have mistranslated the word 'justice' as the word 'righteousness'. As a result, the justice aspects have been lost or hidden to a great extent, although righteousness is directly related to justice.
The Bible includes hundreds of passages about the poor, needy, orphan, widow, fatherless, homeless, helpless, hungry, naked, demonized, sick, disabled, downtrodden, slaves, etc. - any of 'the least of these' which are looked down on in some way, treated unjustly, treated with partiality, etc.
It seems that in past decades - and likely prior to that, as well - there has tended to be a great divide between those involved in 'the social gospel' and evangelism / discipleship, etc. While some seemed to focus on ministering to the practical and social aspects for the most part, the others tended to focus on ministering to the spiritual aspects of people and communities, for the most part.
It seems, however, that God appears to be bringing His true Church into a time when the two are coming together in unity in growing measure as God is increasingly revealing His love to His people and, in turn, flowing out of them into those He connects them / us with - affecting people spirit, soul, mind, body and practical needs.
It has been wonderful to have the opportunity to read about others, such as Brad Jersak, who are and have also been on a similar journey and to learn from them as they break out of the molds that we have tended to be raised with in our culture and even in our traditional Christian backgrounds.
Around the globe, believers have been having a growing sense, the past years, of God moving us into a new season. Many have sensed that a major focus of this new season is to really learn how to walk as God's Kingdom citizens - which is recognized by the hallmark of God's Kingdom - His agape love. This of course includes the whole aspect of His Kingdom coming and His will being done on earth as it is in heaven - His righteousness and His justice being brought to bear in all of our relationships, which will then have a ripple effect.
If we look in the early church, a major focus of theirs was to look after the poor, widows, fatherless and orphans. We have tended to lose that focus over time, but I believe, as do many others, that God is waking us up to the reality of this passion on His heart and growing that in us, as well, as we continue to walk with Him.
Brad Jersak's book KISSING THE LEPER helps us to see some of what this journey has looked like for him, his family and their fellowship of believers.
He introduces some thoughts early on in the book which really make one think - a passage which we have likely not spent too much time on, traditionally, for various reasons, is Matthew 25:40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:45 "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
Do we tend to treat people as though we were serving or loving Jesus?
Matthew 25:31"When
the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit
on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before
him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates
the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats
on his left. 34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come,
you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared
for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me
something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was
a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I
was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry
and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see
you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When
did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' 40"The King will
reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these
brothers of mine, you did for me.' 41"Then he will say to those on his
left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared
for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to
eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and
you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was
sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' 44"They also will
answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing
clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' 45"He will reply,
'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these,
you did not do for me.' 46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment,
but the righteous to eternal life."
Brad Jersak says: (35
from Kissing the Leper…) "…How is it that in Matthew 25, Christ's
criterion for entry into the Kingdom seems to be compassion rather than faith?
The judgment looks to be based on how we treat him in the least rather than
simple belief in him(John 3:16) or by "grace through faith, and not by
good deeds" (Ephesians 2:8-10)…."
To find out more about
what Brad is leading up to here, I encourage you to read his thoughts and
the stories included in his book.
Similarly, many of us are used to being taught that the sin of Sodom was homosexuality and their other sexually impure lifestyles, etc. While God included those things as wickedness and was greatly displeased by them, the following passage indicates that the major sin that caused God to burn Sodom up was focused on something else!
Genesis 18:20 Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous…" Ezekiel 16:49 " 'Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.
So it is VITAL for us to not only develop a biblical understanding of God's heart for the poor and the 'least of these', but to learn to receive His long, high, deep and wide love so that He can pour His love through us as He teaches us to see others with His eyes and teaches us to love and serve them out of His heart of love for them.
According to prophecies of the end of the age, there will be more and more people that are considered 'the least of these' than there are now, especially with further predicted natural disasters and wars, with increasing fears, violence, emotional issues, breakdowns in relationships, etc….
2 Timothy 3:1 "But
mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be
lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient
to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous,
without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash,
conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God- 5having a form of
godliness but denying its power…"
We need to learn how to love 'the least of these' - who else will reach / love them? If we don't know God's love for us to the degree that we are able to love Him in the least of these (and I am talking to myself just as much, as I have such a long way to go with this!) how will we be able to love them?
Brad's book is one tool that I believe is very timely and which will be a help to many in expanding horizons and breaking through some old paradigms that have kept the Church from growing and maturing in some of these basic ways.
I appreciate his sharing of parts of his own story, and sharing some stories from the journeys of others as well.
I also appreciate his willingness to 'get out of the box' and try some new approaches as he, his family and church have stepped out in faith and been trusting the Holy Spirit to lead and teach them in ways they had not gone before.
As such, some thoughts in his book may be new for you to consider and may cause some shaking up of your theology.
But that's good!….may it encourage you to search the Scriptures for yourself about these things, as the Bereans did, and to trust the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth, as the Bible says He will as you follow His lead. (Acts 17:11 "Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." John 16:13 "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.")
Although I appreciated the whole book, the chapter I personally found the most helpful and fascinating, and which I hope to read again a few more times as I consider it further, is the one called OPEN TABLE - OPEN TEMPLE…
I think this chapter would be of particular interest to folks in house / simple / emerging churches, especially since the whole aspect of the Lord's Table and how it has been done traditionally as compared to how it was done in the New Testament is already a paradigm shift for most people - this may shift the paradigm even further…
I am grateful for Brad's contributions to the Body through sharing this book with us. May God indeed use it to help our hearts come increasingly into line with His and the eyes of our hearts in line with His perspective. May His love continue to fill us and mature us so His love can increasingly flow out of us so that we may indeed invite those in the highways and byways to come and banquet at His table!
+ + +
From
the web site:
http://www.bradjersak.com/ktlfeature.html
You can order Brad's book through the link above
"Kissing the Leper is a book about eyes that see.
Jesus once counseled
us to "Buy medicine for your eyes from me so you can see, really see"
(Rev. 3:18 MSG). Kissing the Leper is about getting our eyes repaired from
religious and cultural prejudice so that we can see Jesus in others, especially
those that our world discards as "the least." The author has compiled
the voices and testimonies of historical and contemporary practitioners to
develop a devotional theology of encounter. Specifically, he challenges us
to meet and welcome Christ in human form from the society's margins to the
banqueting table of God.
Eugene Peterson says
- "Brad Jersak's book is a gathering of field notes on Jesus-sightings
among the disabled, the children, the prodigals, and the poor. He has a practiced
and discerning eye and ear for bringing Jesus to notice among "the least
of these" among whom Jesus is present to be fed and welcomed and clothed
and cared for and visited . This is first-hand witness, a freshly articulated
documentary, on Jesus' story of the sheep and goats (Matthew 25)--with an
emphasis on the sheep who served Jesus when they didn't know they were serving
him."
Steve Nolte - Samuel's
Mantle: "The Lord has put a pen in Brad's hand that has become a sword.
In obedience to God, he is tearing holes in the old theology of exclusion,
helping us to see Christ with new eyes. Some of us have been blinded to who
God really is, but with new eyes, we'll embrace the outcasts that the Father
is calling back home. The church will begin to let people know who Jesus really
is and take up its call to invite everyone to the Feast of God. Brad is one
who has been called to repair cracks in our Christian foundations, and to
rattle the church where it needs to be rattled."
Kissing the Leper:
Part 1. Seeing Jesus in the least of these
Part 2. Being Jesus to the least of these
Part 3. Meeting Jesus through the least of these
Part 4. Joining Jesus at the open table
Part 5. Following Jesus on the narrow path
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