A leper came to Jesus

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.”
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” (Mark 1:40,41)

Reflection 

When I was in second grade, sister would announce to us, “OK students, tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, now I won’t give you any homework so you can work on your Valentines, and in class tomorrow I will give you a chance to pass out your cards to the whole class.”

So, we’d go home that night and work on our Valentines.

Now I came from a huge family.  So, my mom would go out and by several boxes of valentines and we would spend the whole evening around the dining room table signing our names on the back of about 30 or so Valentines, how ever many we had in our class. 

Then came the time when we would have to address the envelopes.  Sister gave us a list of all the names, and when you are in 2^nd grade, you gave Valentines to everyone, it didn’t matter whether it was to a boy a girl, someone you didn’t really like, whatever, we gave them out to everyone. 

The next day we would carry in this big lunch bag filled with cards.  Around the classroom were all these pocket envelopes taped up all around the four walls.  Then she would give us permission to go around and deliver all the Valentines to each person in the room.

And of course the best part was at the end when you’d take them home and dump them all out on the living room floor and just marvel at how much attention you had received from the entire class.

But that was second grade.
By the time I was thirteen, just starting high school.  The rules all changed.

I found that I didn’t give so many Valentine’s anymore.  Certainly not to boys, and definitely NOT to my teachers.  I did give Valentines to some girls.  But as every teenage boy knows, you don’t give any Valentines to the girls you wanted to avoid.  And sadly, we were also too afraid to give them to the girls we didn’t want to avoid.  For fear of rejection.

Those were the rules.

If your experience is anything like mine, you will agree that the free and spontaneous expressions of love we had as children, somehow became inhibited by the rules that were there to protect us from looking silly.  As adults, we have held on to a lot of those fears, resulting in the paradox of becoming isolated from those to whom we are the closest.

That’s the same situation that the people of Palestine in the time of Jesus.  The Jewish people were very concerned with hundreds and hundreds of extra rules that had been added on to the original Ten Commandments.  Some dictated their clothing, their hairstyles, what kinds of activities people could do or not do on the Sabbath, and whether someone was religiously pure or not.

For example, the Jews had very strict rules about the various skin diseases called leprosy.  Leprosy was not only painful and horrible to look at, it was fatal, and had the power to wipe out the entire community unless it was controlled.  So, the rules said a leper was to live apart from the community and even shout out “Unclean, unclean” to ward off anyone who might approach. 

The people were convinced that the community would ultimately achieve health and life through isolation and separation.

Those were the rules.

But one person, a man with leprosy, wanted badly to be freed from his disease and from the rules that kept him isolated.  He wanted to live in a community like my second grade class where love would flow freely and people would show their joy in public.

Where did he go for health and life?  He came to Jesus.

By doing what was clearly against the rules, approaching another person, the leper shows us the strength of his faith and his hope. 

By doing what no one else dared to do, touch a diseased person, Jesus confirms the leper’s faith and his hope by returning his desire with a love that heals him and moves him to action. 

It is important to keep in mind that the leper is always free to approach Jesus or not.
God does not force us to love him or have faith in him.  But he does will it.

So, HOW can we do what the man with leprosy did?  We draw near to Jesus in the Eucharist and ask for healing.  For us, faith in Jesus Christ helps us to confront our adolescent fears, and our adult fears, and approach people …

- offering someone spontaneous generosity of our time
            - using a kind word when we might normally use sarcasm
            - for a moment, trying to understand the opinions of someone we really detest
            - extending words of gratitude for small favors
            - or remaining silent when we’d really rather gossip

When we come to Jesus, we find that we can overcome the rules that keep us isolated for so many years.

Whenever anyone risks believing that the power of love is greater than our fears, the larger community is healed, made whole, made sacramental and holy.  The healed leper went off to proclaim his conversion and people kept coming to Jesus from all sides.

As Catholics, even in days of Covid and distancing, we believe that touch is life giving and holy.  We can still wear a mask and offer a healing touch.  Touching people with the HEART, we do not spread disease but grace.

Each of the seven sacraments of our church contains some dimension of human physical touch, whether by anointing, a kiss, or even a simple handshake.

On this first Valentine's Day of Covid, we are pleased to do what the leper did:  come to Jesus.  We once again approach Jesus at this table, in this sacrament of thanksgiving, with faith that he wills to touch our hearts and to cure everyone of us of the pandemic of sin.