Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr B. Feb 4, 2024.
Readings
1st: Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46
2nd: II Corinthians 10:31-11:1
Gospel: Mark 1:40-45
Theme: Mercy I Need, Not Sacrifice, Life First Not Law
My dear people of God, today is Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr B. Our reflections would focus on the Theme. Before and during the time of Jesus' public ministry, there was no disease regarded with more terror and pity than leprosy among the Jews. People who showed early symptons of the disease were immediately quarantined for years, sometimes decades. This was by law, as spelled out in our First Reading of today, "He (a leper) is unclean; he shall dwell alone in a habitation outside the camp". Escapees were returned in handcuffs. Bells were hanged on their necks in order to warn others of their nearing presence. They wore very torn and shabby clothes, kept long and flowing hair, covered the unkempt beard (if a man) and repeatedly cried, "unclean, unclean". Even when it was medically proven that a patient was fully cured, he/she was still detained for a minimum of seven years, just to be sure. Whether cured or not, victims were denied most civil and human rights: marriage, dating, mingling with others, voting etc. Infected women who got pregnant were strictly not allowed to keep their babies or even touch them after delivery, of course, for apparent reasons. All outgoing mails were thoroughly steamed to sterilize them of possible infection. Surprisingly, all these inhuman prescriptions were articles of religion as elaborated in our First Reading of today. The leper simply did not belong at all in society. He/she had no hope of ever receiving love, no hope of being accepted as a person, no hope of ever enjoying ordinary human companionship. The desperation of the leper in today's Gospel paints a very vivid picture of the time. Borrowing the words of our Psalmist of today he (the leper) seems to cry aloud to Jesus, "You are a hiding place for me, you surround me with cries of deliverance". With Jesus, he hopes to be counted blessed among those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is remmitted.
History is tragically full of terrible things done to people by those who do not know the compassion, empathy and reaching out that Jesus shows in today's Gospel. We have said it, time and again, that eyes that look are radically different from eyes that see. In the looking eyes of the people, the man is unclean and must stay far apart. In the seeing eyes of Jesus, the man is simply a human soul in desperate need of mercy and love. What Jesus does in answer to the desperate appeal of the leper presents one of the most revealing picture of Himself. Behind the leper in question is the Religious Law, which plays a very crucial role in the story. Rather than able to liberate the leper, the law only protects the community by segregating and secluding the infected and afflicted individual. By implication, the leper is asking Jesus to do for him what the whole law cannot do. Fortunately on the leper's part, Jesus knows, from bitter experience, what it means to be "an outsider". He (Jesus) is born poor, remains one of the poor, lives with the poor and feels with the poor. So, although the law strictly forbits a leper coming near other people, Jesus stretches out His hand and touches him. It is important to remember that this leper is currently feared, despised and openly avoided by both medical and religious authorities. He is popularly suspected to have committed a very terrible sin which accounts for his sickness. In the minds of the onlookers, the leper has trespassed his legal rights in even speaking to Jesus. In the mind of Jesus however, Mercy I want, not sacrifice, life first, not law. Against the popular opinion, Jesus is there for the desperate leper, as He is always there for all other outcasts. He is moved to perform a miracle (of healing) out of sympathy, with physical contact as part of the procedure. Jesus touches the unclean, one who should be despised and avoided.
St. Paul in our Second Reading of today encourages you and I to iminate him as he himself iminates Christ in all things, including genuinely identifying practically with people who are segregated and discriminated for different reasons. We still have lepers of different forms close by, people who, for different reasons, are defined by their particular condition and not treated as human beings. What is more worrying is that some people are openly treated as modern day lepers just because they belong to a particular family, tribe, religion, political party or profession. Besides these labelled lepers, are the many diseased: people with AIDS, people with mental disorders, physical deformation, people plagued with acute poverty and who live in abject misery and under sub-standard human conditions etc. We openly despise and shy away from them. We try, with all our might and strength, to create their "place" for them even at family meetings and other public gatherings because we think they are not fit to belong and should stay afar with their particular "leprosy". There are some activity groups and associations even in the church who have been labelled, segregated and discriminated as "leprous". As we empathise with the physical lepers in Jesus' time, may grace aid us to humbly recognise our own areas of leprosy before God. We pray for all the segregated and discriminated in our families, communities, public offices and particularly in the church that they may, by providence, find their hiding place in Christ and be counted blessed among those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is (permanently) remitted. May the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Please continue to pray the Holy Rosary daily. God richly bless you and your family.
Rev. Fr. Thomas L. Debuo - Catholic Diocese of Damongo, Ghana. (0244511306/0243711926