Word to the Wise
Thursday, January 14, 2010 - Thursday in the First Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Samuel 4:1-11 and Mark 1:40-45]A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said, "If you wish, you can make me clean." Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched thee leper, and said to him, "I do will it. Be made clean." The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
The Gospel of Mark continues to introduce us to the power of Jesus. This power responds to the needs of others, whether they are believers or not, but it is not something we can demand or take for granted. The attitude of the leper is clear, "If you wish (will)....." This power is not subject to human rules about who may or may not be touched. Jesus touches the leper, an action that would make Jesus unclean! (Even we might avoid him or insist that he spray his hands first with the ubiquitous antiseptic spray nowadays!). The one thing that Jesus does not seem to be able to "control" is his notoriety! No matter how much he orders folks to keep quiet, they spread the word. (One must admit that the sudden disappearance of "leprosy" in a person would cause comment even if that person didn't say anything, but the story has its own purpose!) Jesus' response is not a matter of arbitrariness, as if he would cure one leper and ignore another just to show who's in charge. However, we do need to remember the relative scale of the relationship here. Jesus is Lord and we are not! That can make us uncomfortable if we are of a mind that God is something like the plumber or pest control service! It is early in story yet and we will have to walk along with the other disciples to learn just who Jesus is and what our relationship to him can be. AMEN
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