WHY WE TELL STORIES ABOUT OTHERS

Stories are powerful, aren’t they?Perhaps this is why, off all things, we tell stories about those who are not like us. We rationalize our poor behavior toward them and to further the distance between ourselves and “the other” by telling stories. This is nothing new; it’s been happening for 1,000’s of years.Leviticus 13 commands the people of Israel on what they are to do if you have an “infectious skin disease” (what many moderns refer to as leprosy). The commands conclude with, “… they must live outside the camp.”While this may sound extreme, this was a way to quarantine the sick and protect public health. It had nothing to do with who the person was, what they did or where they were from. It was quarantine, plain and simple.However, some religious leaders could not let things stay there. As poor religion commonly does it added rules and regulations to these laws. What began as a command to stay outside the camp for the health of the general public, turned into those inside the camp viewing the diseased as objects to be avoided at all costs. And it did not stop there either.The question arose, “What caused these people to become diseased?” The answer was that God struck them with the disease because of their sin. These were not just diseased people; they were morally deficient and needed to repent.To review: the original instruction was to stay outside the camp for the sake of public health. Which led to teaching the diseased were objects to be avoided at all costs. Eventually, common public opinion held the diseased were morally bankrupt individuals. These stories caused the lepers to become reviled in the eyes of the majority.Stories are powerful, aren’t they?We are much the same today. We insist on telling stories about those we want to keep “outside the camp.” We have our lepers - those who are viewed as “objects to be avoided at all cost” due to their “moral defectiveness.” And who are our lepers?Consider the attitude toward undocumented immigrants. Some spin tails about them being criminals, stealing jobs and costing tax-paying citizens money. The stories are told and retold and the more they are the more they are believed.What about the attitude toward the Black Lives Matter Movement? Not long after a grand jury failed to indict Darren Wilson there was a protest just outside my office in Denver. Thousands of high school students marched peacefully for justice. I chose to go outside and to spend time with them, asking questions and listening. I later posted a comment about my time with those young people and how they were bright, articulate and insightful. What followed were some of the nastiest, racist and incendiary emails and comments I’d ever received. The comments I received were rooted in false stories by some about young, African-American males.Think about the stories told about the LGBT Community. One story was that AIDS was God’s direct punishment against the gay community. After 9/11 Christian leaders blamed the “gays and queers” for the attacks on this country. Not long ago I was invited to meet with several Christians who said through gritted teeth, “We are to have nothing at all to do with gay people!”Stories are powerful aren’t they?We use them to exclude, to revile, to push others away and keep our distance. I wonder what could ever undo the power of a story? The answer, perhaps, is found in a single action that involved no words at all.Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell the story of a leper kneeling before Jesus and saying, “If you are willing you can make me clean.”All the rules, the attitudes, all the stories were represented in this man kneeling at the feet of Jesus. The gospel writers tell us Jesus “reached out his hand and touched him.” Before Jesus said anything to him, before he healed him; he touched him. Everyone who saw Jesus touch the leper would have thought Jesus was unclean. In other words, Jesus became a leper.Jesus’ attitude toward the diseased and whether or not he believed all the stories about them was summed up when he touched the leper. He didn’t add to the stories nor did he create more boundaries. He chose to be with the leper.Father Greg Boyle says, “Jesus was not a man for others. He was one with others. There is a world of difference in that … The strategy of Jesus is not centered in taking the right stand on issues, but rather standing in the right place – with the outcast and those relegated to the margins” (Fr. Greg Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart, p 72).Perhaps the question we should ask ourselves is “Are we with Jesus?” If the answer is “yes” then we will be with the other. We will not tell stories, create more boundaries or work to keep our distance from others. No, we will reach out our hand and touch the other, become like them, be with them and they with us. And if we do this, we will, like Jesus, find ourselves standing in the right place. *This blog is an excerpt from a sermon preached at Denver Community Church on August 23, 2015 titled, “I Think You Can,” you can download the sermon by clicking here.