Word to the Wise
Sunday, February 15, 2009 - Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
[Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46; 1 Corinthians 10:31 - 11:1; Mark 1:40-45]Avoid giving offense, whether to the Jews or Greeks or the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in every way, not seeking my own benefit but that of the many, that they may be saved.
I think one might be forgiven if one reacts to the words quoted from St. Paul in the second scripture today with: "Oh yeah? Really, Paul, your track record of success in avoiding offense wasn't all that great!" Any pastor knows that it is impossible to "please everyone in every way..." But, I know from my own experience that the pastoral position pretty much demands that I try! Nevertheless, the old ironic saying comes to mind: "No good deed goes unpunished!" Consider the compassionate scene in today's gospel! Jesus heals a leper. But in doing so, Jesus touches the leper and thereby becomes unclean! The leper is healed, Jesus becomes unclean and pious folk are both scandalized and amazed! Furthermore the whole incident makes it impossible for Jesus to appear in a town lest he be overwhelmed! So much for trying to please everyone! The simple fact of the matter is that the gospel urges us to be aware of the ways in which we react to others. "To love our neighbor as ourself" is from the same book of Leviticus that places the leper outside the camp! How do we include or exclude people in our life? Is fear one of those ways? We may never meet anyone with leprosy of the classic kind but we may find someone's bad case of acne repulsive, or their smell, or their clothing, or their race, or their sexual orientation, or their religion..... Hmmmm! Looked at that way, we may know a lot of "lepers" and it may be difficult to follow the example of Jesus and St. Francis of Assisi and embrace those lepers! Pastors may have as much difficulty as anyone else in this matter. When we do "embrace" we can be sure we will give offense to someone else! Well, at least in doing so, we will be in good company! AMEN
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