Quarantine (Luke 5)

When I was pastoring at Avon Baptist Church, I had an older member of the church tell me about her childhood experience with chicken pox. If I remember the story right, her brother had it first. Then, the rest of the siblings got it. On the second or third day of the outbreak, a public health inspector showed up. He slapped a quarantine sticker on the door and said that the family was not allowed to leave the house until cleared by a government doctor. Only the dad could come and go because he was able to document that he had chicken pox as a child.

I think the Pharisees and religious leaders would have liked being public health officials. They would have had a good time slapping quarantine stickers on people's doors. Of course, it wasn't just physical diseases that the Pharisees were fighting. They saw themselves as fighting spiritual diseases as well. In their minds, certain people- tax collectors, notorious women, etc.- were off limits. A good, religious person did not spend time with the wrong sort because sin could be a sort of contagion. And one did not want to be infected by unrighteousness.

That is why Jesus was so scandalous. He spent time with the sinners. And He seemed to enjoy it! In the Pharisees mind, one had to be very careful not to be in sinful places or to be with sinful people. I think many Christians today have the same habit of mind as the Pharisees. I have heard Pastors teach that Christians should only have Christian friends. While there are Biblical warnings about the dangers of deep, interpersonal Christian/non-Christian relationships (like marriage), the Bible certainly does not teach that Christians should live in perpetual quarantine. We must not adopt the habits of the world. But we must associate with the world. If we don't, how do we ever share the good news?

Jesus went to the "sinners." He did not spend all his time tucked away in church with the "good" people. He instead went to the people who knew their brokenness and preached the Good News. We should do the same. Don't spend so much time in church that you have no impact on the world.