Wishing, Willing, Choosing

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday February 15, 2009, the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

2 Kings 5:1-14
Psalm 30
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Mark 1:40-45

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

The Adventures of Pinocchio was written by Carlo Collodi and published in 1883. I think it is safe to say that we all know at least a little about the mischievous adventures of this animated marionette and his poor father, the woodcarver Geppetto.

The 1940 Disney version involves the wooden puppet being brought to life by a blue fairy, who tells him he can become a real boy if he proves himself “brave, truthful, and unselfish.” Thus begins Pinocchio’s adventures to become a real boy involving many encounters with a host of unsavory characters.

While in Collodi’s original story, the talking cricket is accidently killed by Pinocchio, in the film he fares better. In the Disney version he is translated into a comical and wise partner who accompanies Pinocchio on his adventures, having been appointed by the Blue Fairy to serve as the official conscience for Pinocchio.[1]

And of course, we are all familiar with Jiminy Cricket’s signature song, “When You Wish upon a Star.”

When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do

The reason I mention this is that as I have said before, all translation is interpretation, and this passage has one of the best examples.

Our reading this morning from the New Revised Standard Version began: “A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, ‘If you choose, you can make me clean.’ Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’”

The New International Version’s rendition of this verse is different. Instead of saying “If you choose” and “I do choose,” it says “If you are willing” and “I am willing.” So, what’s the difference? What’s at stake?

The English teacher would say that one of these verbs is active and the other is passive. This is what the teacher calls “grammatical voice.” An easy way to tell the difference is that in the active voice, action happens. Sending, doing, even seeing and smelling are in the active voice. The passive voice means that action is being done to something. In fact, in the passive voice the verb is prefaced by a form of “to be.” So passive voice examples are being sent, been done, being seen and were smelled. The active voice is preferred in speech and creative writing because it denotes action. Action moves stories along. Something happens; which is far better than when something is happening.

To show how important the differences between active and passive voice is in writing, when Microsoft Word runs its “readability statistics,” one of the statistics is the percentage of passive sentences, and the fewer the better.

So for the English teacher in all of us, the answer to the question “what’s at stake?” is that the man with leprosy and Jesus are both better doing than being. It is better “to choose” than “to be willing.”

Another difference between these two interpretations is that, frankly for my money, “to be willing” seems more wishy-washy than “to choose.” I don’t know if there is a difference in reality, but willingness is one thing, and it doesn’t necessarily lead to action. To choose is to do something. Of course, in a way, this is just another look at the active/passive discussion without using technical jargon like “grammatical voice.”

We’ve been together for three-and-a-half years, so by now I am sure that you who know me best anticipate a discussion on the Greek word used in this gospel. This is where we enter even more interesting vocabulary territory. You see, the word used here is not often rendered as either “is willing” or “choosing.” Usually it is translated as to have a desire for something; to wish, to want, to desire.

We have suddenly opened a brand new can of worms with this. Yes, the Greek word used here can mean to have a desire for something, to wish, to want; and to choose or to be willing.

One of my professors from Austin who was something of a “boy wonder” could not wait to get to seminary so that he could learn the scriptures in their original languages. He figured that this way he would be able to have all of his textual questions answered. He was surprised to discover that when studying scripture in their original languages he actually developed more questions than he had answered.

That’s frustrating if you let it be, but if you let the questions open you further to the mystery and the glory of God good things begin to happen.

The committees that translate the scriptures and publish bibles have to make decisions about the words they put in print. They have to choose specific words to use and not to use. Every word in our bibles can’t have two or three different choices of definitions and interpretations. If it did, then one bible as we know it would be the size of an Encyclopedia Britannica so decisions have to be made. In this case, the editors of the New International Version chose to go with “are willing” and the editors of the New Revised Standard selected “to choose.” Neither picked wish or desire.

Here’s the good news, the choices that the editorial committees have to make do not have to be made by you and me. We have the power, we have the authority to seek the Holy Spirit and make a choice of how we want to interpret this. We can pick one, or the other, or another still, but there’s one more choice we can make. We can choose all of the above.

What if we choose to allow all of the nuances of this Greek word to flow into our translation, our interpretation of this passage? What would happen if we did use all three translation choices; wishing, willing, and choosing? What would happen is that we would get a fuller idea of the richness of what the man with leprosy asked and what Jesus did, a fullness that no single translation can give us.

Jesus wants to cleanse us—and Jesus wants us to be cleansed. The Lord has a desire for a loving relationship with each and every one of us, with all humanity, with all creation. God’s wish, God’s desire is the restoration of all creation. When the leper says “you can cleanse me if you wish” he is absolutely correct. Jesus answers with “I wish, be cleansed.” Translating the passage this way points out the greatest wish, the greatest desire of the Lord; it is a good translation.

Jesus is willing to heal us. I believe willingness is similar to desire, with one additional element, power. Jesus not only wants to cleanse us, but he has the power to cleanse us and is willing to use that power to restore our relationship with the Almighty. The man with leprosy knew Jesus had the power, he knew Jesus could make him clean if only the Lord was willing. Jesus is able and Jesus is willing to use his power and authority to cleanse us.

Finally, Jesus chooses to cleanse us, heal us, make us whole. With all action there is choice. Not only must there be the want and the power, there should also be conscious choice in the matter. Please note that I did say “should” here. People leave things up to chance all the time, but making the conscious choice to do something, choosing to make a difference, is the hallmark between intent and accident. God intends action.

In our Call to Worship from Psalm 30, David cries to the Lord “you restored me to health, you brought me up from the dead, you restored my life as I was going down to the grave.”

In our gospel reading the Lord Jesus Christ cleansed this unnamed leper because it is what the Lord wished to do, was willing to do, and chose to do. In our Old Testament reading Naaman was cleansed by the Lord God because it is what the Lord wished to do, was willing to do, and chose to do. The Lord seeks every opportunity to make connections, to develop relationships with God’s people.

Notice one more thing; the people God chooses as examples of this relationship are not the perfect people, far from it. It’s not the people without problems that are noticed in scripture, it is people who have flaws.

People with leprosy were considered unclean. To be unclean means being contaminated by a physical, ritual, or moral impurity; the absence of such impurities constitutes cleanness. These concepts have very ancient roots in tribal life, and in advanced religions evolve into a system of ritual laws, administered by the priests. At this stage uncleanness is thought of as what is displeasing to the deities or as what belongs to the sphere of the demonic.[2]

Those who were contaminated by a physical, ritual, or moral impurity were required to separate themselves from the community. When others were within earshot they were required to cry out “unclean” so that the unsuspecting traveler would not be accidently made unclean as well. The unclean were separated from their families, friends, and homes.

The procedures to bring about ritual cleansing involve a waiting period of one, seven, or more days; ritual employing water, fire, or some other cleansing agent; and often a sacrifice of the nature of a sin offering.[3]

At the risk of becoming a social leper himself, Jesus reaches out to the man. Jesus restores him to his family, friends, and home. In our readings today, the cleansing power of Christ, the healing power of God put an end to the need for ritual purification. In Christ we are restored not only to health, but to our people, ourselves, and our Lord.

When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do

It is little known that there are actually two endings to Pinocchio. The original ending of the story is what today we call the end of the first act. The talking cricket is still dead, the blue fairy is not yet in the story, and Pinocchio himself is not redeemed, he does not become a real boy. This ending is no children’s story. It is a frightening tale bordering on horrific.

But the second act was created. In the end, all is restored and made well in the world. The marionette becomes flesh and bone, the cricket lives, and Geppetto, who was quite ill, is healed. The request for all to be restored, no matter how absurd, how extreme it may be, is granted.

Through Christ, we are cleansed. We are restored to right relationship with the Lord. In the Call to Worship we prayed, “I cried out to you and you restored me to health.” This because God wished, was willing, and chose to make it so.

When joy comes in the morning, we too must wish, be willing, and choose to join the Lord in the work of restoration. Is it scary? Sure it is. Imagine being Elisha’s messenger at the door telling a war ready General Naaman to take a bath. But let us do just that. Let us join the Lord Jesus in his restoring work.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiminy_Cricket
[2] “Clean and Unclean,” Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible
[3] Ibid.