Gospel Mk 1:40-45
A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me made clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean. Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once. He said to him, “See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere.
Homily
I remember once meeting a man who lived in the forest alone for three years. After those three years he had changed tremendously but in speaking to him one realized that he had had to come out of the forest and reintegrate himself into the community to which he belonged. He himself knew that he could not spend all of his life alone. Human beings need community and seek in many ways to build community around themselves or to integrate themselves into community. Even those whom we may unjustly consider the rejects of society seek to congregate with others like themselves. We see it with street dwellers today and in the time of Jesus it was true of lepers. When in the Gospel reading for this Sunday we see the leper coming to Jesus and begging him; “If you wish, you can make me clean” what we are in fact seeing is a person who was ostracized and excluded from the community seeking to be reintegrated so that he could live a fully human life.
Jesus who came so that we could have life and have it in abundance, i.e. that we could be fully human, is aware of the plight of the leper and so we are told; “Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” With this healing, Jesus not only reintegrated the leper into society, he also gave to the ex-leper the possibility of working, of gaining his own bread and so restored his dignity. Jesus returned to the leper the possibility of living a fully human life.
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This is the vocation of every disciple of Jesus. We have to help others live fully human lives. Doing this is not easy however. When Jesus touched the leper, Jesus incurred ritual impurity. For the religious leaders of the time, with this act Jesus became impure but Jesus was willing to undergo this impurity for the sake of the leper. Jesus loved the leper and was willing to undergo all that ritual impurity meant if it was the means of bringing the leper to truly human life. It is normal that if we become involved with the messiness of human life, some of the mess will touch us also.
Disciples of Jesus looking at this healing can come away with a few messages. The first is that to help others come to truly human life we must love as Jesus loved. St. John tells us that Jesus before his death gave his disciples a new commandment; “love as I have loved you” and Jesus was willing to undergo the cross of ritual impurity for someone he did not really know. The second lesson is that to live truly human lives we must be integrated in some way into community. Being made in the image of God who is community (the Trinity is a community of love) puts into all hearts the desire to be part of a community of love. Disciples of Jesus are called to form such communities and to bring others into community with them. The third lesson which we learn is that disciples of Jesus must be dedicated to restoring the dignity of others whenever and wherever that dignity is compromised.
Let us therefore remember and thank God for people who have done this work. The example of their lives tells us that it can be done. Mother Teresa ad Mons Romero and Fr. Gerry Pantin are prime examples of such persons. May all of us in our own way become like them.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God we thank you for this Gospel message and for the inspiration which it gives to us. Help us Father to hear the cries of those who suffer. Help us to risk the cross of the messiness of human life; help us to love as Jesus loved when we meet those who have lost their dignity and do not live life in abundance. We ask this through the intercession of Mary, our mother and Jesus your Son. Amen
