Word to the Wise
Sunday, February 15, 2015 - 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time - B
[Lev 13:1-2, 44-46; 1 Cor 10:31-11:1; Mark 1:40-45]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." The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean. [Mark]
To understand fully the significance of the request by the leper and Jesus' response, we need to look at the first scripture today from Leviticus. The consequence of being declared a leper was severe: The one who bears the sore of leprosy shall keep his garments rent and his head bare, and shall muffle his beard; he shall cry out, 'Unclean, unclean!' As long as the sore is on him he shall declare himself unclean, since he is in fact unclean. He shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp.
Leprosy could be just about any noticeable dermatological problem. It was not what we know as Hansen's disease, which anthropologists and scripture scholars point out was actually not common in Jesus' time and before in that area. What Jesus does for the leper is more than a cure. It is nothing less than restoration of the person of the leper to "clean" status and therefore back to his family and clan and community. What we should also note is the evangelist's words about Jesus: "moved with pity."
Pope Francis has given considerable public witness to the challenge to be moved with pity for the sick and the outcast. They are so often "swept under the rug" in human society. Since they often lack the resources to "be made clean," they are forever banished to "live outside the camp." Many of them have mental illness which was at the root of their original banishment. This could happen to any of us. If we can feel as Jesus did, is there something we can do locally or beyond? Look around and see. The request is usually there and sometimes right under our very noses: "If you wish, you can make me clean." AMEN
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