ANECDOTE
The years 2010 and 2011 are among the important moments in the chronicle of my vocational journey and testimony. They were years in which I had a concrete and direct experience of persons who were dangling between life and death, even though the weight of death was more. As part of my formation in the religious life, I, together with some of my confreres used to have weekly (saturday) visits to the then cancer patients ward in one of the hospitals in the western part of Nigeria. In fact the episode of this leper who knew the raw taste of isolation reminds me of how those beautiful creatures were isolated in what was called “the hospital extension”. Apart from this isolation, there was virtually no adequate medical care coupled with a poor environment and living condition (we often take water along because they had no portable water). And unfortunately, most of those cases of cancer were in their stage 4 generally considered as the terminal stage. I could remember vividly how I usually lose appetite after every visit because it was heartbreaking to see people who had lost the hope of living and were accustomed to the ticking of the clock of death. One day, the sight of one of them whom cancer had eaten off part of her face forced out an involuntary tears from my eyes. I could remember the terrible odour that filled the whole room. O my God! I had saliva in my mouth but I couldn’t throw it out. I was conditioned to swallow it because I said to myself: “how will this woman feel if she sees me go out to throw away saliva?” O what a poor creature! She knew that her ‘condition was smelling’, but all she needed at this time was one who could empathize with her and not one who should remind her about her condition. I and my companions stayed with her, gave her our company, chatted with her and prayed with her. And guess what? That was the last time we ever saw that beautiful creature because on our next visit the following Saturday we were told that she died two days after our last visit.
The story of this woman is not far from the story of the leper in the Gospel today. I could imagine how she struggled through those moments only in the company of one of her relatives who was taking care of her. She might have thought of her numerous friends, “fans” and the supposed well wishers who were nowhere to be found at that critical moment of her life (that is why I always say to those who are so intoxicated with friends and fans to first make friend with Jesus. He is the only One that can always be there for us). Though she did not survive, but like the leper today, she met Jesus before her death. She met Jesus in the faces of the strangers who kept her company, chatted with her and prayed with her. She met Jesus who told her, “I will; be clean.” She was certainly made clean to meet her creator not as a cancer patient but as a beloved daughter.
INTRODUCTION
All three readings today teach us that we are called to become pure and holy. But we don’t become pure and holy by some ritual observances. It is only God in Jesus who can make us pure and restore us to wholeness if only we are ready to come out of our hideout and beg Him for mercy and healing.
FIRST READING: Leviticus 13:1-2.44-46
In the Hebrew Scriptures, the Book of Leviticus is known by its first word, VayikraorWayyiqra(ויקרא), meaning “and he called”. The word Vayikrameans that God called Moses and His chosen people to holiness and purity. That is why the first reading teaches the theme of freedom from bodily and ritual impurity as a sign of internal holiness. (Fr. Anthony Kadavil).
The term leprosy in its ancient usage could mean any kind of skin disease that produces scales including non-contagious types (Nb 12:10). The hebrew word for skin diseases is tzara’at.
The ancient Rabbis argued that tzara’at refers not to a bodily disease but to a physical manifestation of a spiritual malaise. They argued that the inward cause tzara’at was sin, particularly anti-social sins, such as lying for selfish ends, sexual immorality, false oaths, pride, and especially slander. This can be seen in the case of Miriam who criticised Moses and was struck with a virulent skin disease by Yahweh (Nb 12:1-10). She was eventually shut out of the camp for seven days (v.15).
Generally, it is only persons with contagious skin diseases that were banished from the society after being examined by the priest (Nb. 13:15-17) while the non-contagious ones like the case of Naaman (2 Kgs 5) never deprived him from having contact with others in the society.
The preceding verses of the book of Leviticus we read today give a succinct description of the diagnostic process of leprosy and any other skin conditions (Lv. 13:2-28, 38-39); and of the hair (v 29-37); and of the scalp (v 40-44); the isolation of the untreated as presented today (v 45-46) and the ritual cleansing and reinstallation of the “well again” (14:1-32).
The prescriptions concerning the ritual for the healed leaper is divided into separate ceremonies: The first day (14:2-8), the seventh day (14:9), and the eighth day (14:10-32).
The first day ritual cleansing is performed by the priest outside the camp or city. Requirements for this ritual include two live birds that are clean, some cedar woods, scarlet material and hyssop, all dipped into the blood of one of the birds slaughtered over a fresh running water. The priest then sprinkles the sick seven times. After declaring the person clean, he will then set the remaining bird free to fly away into the countryside. The purified person will then wash himself as a sign of being cleansed. He regains his camp and remains there for seven days. At the expiration of the seventh day, he will shave off again all the hairs; head, beard and eyebrow. And after washing his clothing and his body, he will become clean. On the eight day, he is expected to bring to the sanctuary, a jar of oil, and a lamb and for various ritual offerings. And being placed at the entrance to the Tent by the priest, a sacrifice of his gifts is offered to Yahweh as reparation. The concept of reparation here gives us the understanding of how virulent skin diseases were perceived. They were often seen as a consequence of one’s sin. Thus, anyone who is excluded from the rest of the society was as bad as death itself. This is because he was considered rejected by the society as well as God. He was expected to wear torn clothing and unkempt hair; cover his upper lips and cry aloud, “Unclean, unclean”. As long as the disease lasts, the person will remain unclean and must live alone outside the camp, (v. 45-46). The torn cloth symbolizes a life that has lost its meaning, its wholeness and unity. A woman’s hair is generally regarded as a crown of beauty. Thus when the passage speaks of unkempt hair, it simply refers to disarrayed beauty, a lost beauty. It symbolically means that the inherent beauty of the person with leprosy is lost in the hand of sin. The covering of the face shows that the condition of the leper is a thing of shame and pity.
This page of the book of Leviticus and its interpretation lingered through the time of Jesus as the evangelist Mark describes it in the today’s Gospel.
SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 10:31-11 Saint Paul worked hard to teach the young Christian community of Corinth to find the truths that would separate and protect them from the diverse religious beliefs and pagan rituals practiced by their still-pagan neighbors. There were, for instance, pagan temples in Corinth in which animals were sacrificed to the gods, after which a large portion of the meat which had been offered was sold in the market. Corinthian Christians were sometimes invited out to dinner by their pagan friends who might offer them the choice meat that had previously been used in pagan sacrifices. Both Jewish and Gentile Christians had scruples about the eating of such meat because that would be a participation in the sacrifice honoring pagan gods, a declaration indeed that those gods were real and that worshipping them had value for the Christians. Paul’s general answer was that since “the earth and all that is in it is the property of the Lord” a Christian could lawfully eat any meat placed before him, and he need not be concerned as to its origin. But if the use of this lawful freedom should scandalize a weaker brother who would think that his fellow Christian was intending to honor the pagan gods, then the Christian should deny himself this freedom. Paul calls each of us to follow our own conscience carefully, without condemning others or trying to change their behavior. “I try to please all in any way I can by seeking not my own advantage.” We, too, must follow Paul’s and Jesus’ example, responding with sensitivity toward others who are different from us, rather than by passing judgment on them or by excluding them from our neighborhood, Church, or local communities. The glory of God is served when God’s people serve one another and live in loving unity. (Fr. Anthony Kadavil).
GOSPEL: Mark 1:40-45
In the Old Testament (just as we see in the first reading), leprosy is depicted as punishment for disobedience of God’s commands (Nb12:12–15; 2 Kgs 5:27; 15:5).
Considered “unclean”—unfit to worship or live with the rest of the people, lepers were like the living dead (Nb.12:12). And the general legal and ritual requirements imposed on them (such as in the first reading)—rent garments, shaven head, covered beard—are signs of death, penance, and mourning (Lev. 10:6; Ezk. 24:17).
Today’s Gospel reading recaptures this culture of leprosy as described in the Mosaic Law. Mark says that the leper ran to meet Jesus. It simply suggests that he was living in a conditioned isolation. His prompt request to Jesus necessitated Jesus’ prompt response to him.
According to some Fathers of the Church, one reason Jesus promptly responded to the leper’s cry in today’s Gospel story, ignoring the Mosaic Law prohibiting touching a leper and thus becoming ritually unclean, is that Jesus identified himself with the man’s condition. Jesus dramatically identified himself with the sufferer in the total rejection and isolation waiting for him. The irony here is that Jesus risked becoming “unclean” Himself in order to make the leper clean. Just as he stretched out his hand to the leper and touched him and made him whole, Jesus stretched out his hands on the cross to make fallen humanity whole again. He touched the leper thus bridging the gap between what is clean and what is unclean, identifying himself with all lepers, with all who are ritually or socially unclean and isolated and with all of us sinners who are spiritually unclean and have no way to change our condition except through His sacrifice and mercy. In today’s Gospel, Jesus chose to become “unclean” in the eyes of the law so that He might restore the poor and lost child of Abraham to wholeness. I can imagine exegetically how this poor man felt when Jesus placed his hands over him. It was certainly the best experience of affection he could ever imagine; a sensational touch full of love. Who could imagine the last time he had such a human contact? I am sure that the least he had long expected was just to have a distant show of affection but no one gave it to him. But here he is having more than what he bargained for. Jesus did not only allow him to come close to Him, He equally touched him. What a gesture of love we have in God!
The leper teaches us today that It takes courage to meet Jesus. There are many people out there who are longing to come out of the shell of sin and return to God, but they lack the faith courage because the society had already given them a label as “first class sinners”. Listen friends, the message today is heartwarming. The people around us may judge us, condemn us, relegate us and call us all sorts of names. They might be right because there is something in us that needs to change. However, we shouldn’t worry so much about what people say. We should rather worry about how to effect change in our lives. The man in the Gospel today was known as a leper (in the society) but he was not proud of the name. Hence, Mark tells us that by seeing Jesus, he already saw someone who had a different name for him that is, “my beloved “.
Another thing we can learn from the episode is that it is not for nothing that Jesus chose to cross that path today. Our God does not hide away from us. He always places Himself where we can easily locate Him because He is never comfortable to see us with the wound of sin. Mark says that the leper ran to Jesus. Yes that is a way of expressing the the effort that is expected of man in response to the salvation that God offers. As St. Augustine of Hippo will rightly put it: “The God who created us without us cannot save us without us.” God needs us to save us. The effort of the leper shows that no one encounters God in the hiding. God can only be met through a spiritual journey. The turning point of the whole message of Mark is the divine touch the leper received from Jesus. This is because the image Jesus saw in the sick man was not that of an outcast, rather he saw one who was in need and precious to his heart. He could not resist his pitiable condition. This made him to declare to his hearing, ‘I am willing’. It was a language that must have generated further relief for the sick fellow. From touching him, Jesus expressed his willingness, and finally pronounced the healing formula: ‘Be healed.’ At once the skin disease left him.
LIFE MESSAGES
1) We need to trust in the mercy of a forgiving God who assures us that our sins are forgiven and that we are clean.
We are forgiven, and our souls are cleansed, from the spiritual leprosy of sin when we repent of our sins. This is because God is a God of love Who waits patiently for us. No matter how many sins we have committed or how badly we have behaved, we know God forgives us. The only condition required of us is that we ask for forgiveness with a repentant heart. We need only kneel before him and ask him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean” We are sure to hear his words of absolution, “Very well– your sins are forgiven, and you are clean” echoed in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
2) We need to tear down the walls that separate us from others and build bridges of loving relationship.
Jesus calls every one of us to demolish the walls that separate us from each other and to welcome the outcasts and the untouchables of society. These include homosexuals, AIDS victims, alcoholics, the imprisoned, drug-addicts, and marginalized groups such as the divorced, the unmarried, single mothers, migrant workers, and the mentally ill. God’s loving hand must reach out to them through us. Jesus wants us to touch their lives. Let us pass beyond the narrow circles of our friends and peers and try to relate to those who may be outside the bounds of propriety. Let us re-examine the barriers we have created and approach God with a heart that is ready to welcome the outcasts in our society. Remember the old African-American children’s song reminding us that there is room for everyone in God’s Kingdom: “All God’s creatures got a place in the choir, some sing low and some sing higher. Some sing out loud on a telephone wire and some just clap their hands or paws or anything they’ve got now.” (Fr. Anthony Kadavil).
3) The Gospel scene in a sacramental quality
Jesus stretches out His hand—as God, by His outstretched arm, performed mighty deeds to save the Israelites (see Exodus 14:6; Acts 4:30). His ritual sign is accompanied by a divine word (“Be made clean”). And, like God’s word in creation (“Let there be”), Jesus’ word “does” what He commands (see Psalm 33:9).
The same thing happens when we show ourselves to the priest in the sacrament of penance. On our knees like the leper, we confess our sins to the Lord, as we sing in today’s Psalm. And through the outstretched arm and divine word spoken by His priest, the Lord takes away the guilt of our sin.(Scott Hahn).
4) We need to feel the healing touch of Jesus
Many of us are sick of both self contracted sickness and the sickness imposed on us. Mark tells us today that whatever we are suffering from does not really matter for our God. What He requires from us is to come out of our hiding places. He needs us to break away from the glue of incredulity and be optimistic that He is a life changing God. His response to the leper is, “I will; be healed!” That is the language that every ugly situation in our lives should hear. Jesus’ hands are outstretched waiting for who to touch. Friends and family members may not be willing to associate with you simply because your life is no longer as it used to be. But listen to Jesus who says today, “I will.” I will simply means, “I accept you. I don’t care about the type of story that is associated with you. You mean everything for me. You may be a “leper” in the eyes of the world, but for me you are a beloved. How can I say I won’t? It is for your sake that I came. I have loved you so much to reject you at this point. I cannot possibly pass you by. I cannot resist your condition anymore. You have suffered so much bondage. It is now time for you to be free like the rest of the world. You cannot continue to hide. Therefore I say to you, “I will; be healed!”
PRAYER
Let us pray with the words of Psalms 32:1-2.5; 88:1-18; Isaiah 38:1-22 in solidarity with those who are suffering from different health and spiritual conditions, asking Jesus whose hubby is to heal and to untie his people from their pains to look today at our direction as we kneel in supplication with the words: “Lord, if You will, You can make them clean”.
I wish to say to all the authors and readers in this wonderful platform, I love you all. And like virus, let’s infect lives with true love. It is an antidote to healing our world from hatred and division.
PAX VOBIS!
