Word to the Wise
Sunday, February 12, 2012 - 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....
My father once recounted a story from his youth about hitchhiking a ride to New Orleans from our town in North Louisiana. A gentleman wearing a military uniform gave him a ride. My dad saw that the insignia was that of a military chaplain and asked where the chaplain was assigned. The man responded that he was assigned to what was then the only official leprosarium in the country, at Carville, LA. My dad said, "I moved as far away from him as I could!" Leprosy could inspire considerable fear despite the fact that it is very difficult to "catch." In the case of today's gospel scripture, we need to understand that the "leprosy" of the Old Testament is rarely what is known today as "Hansen's Disease," of the kind we associate with St. Damian and Molokai in Hawaii! In the Bible, even a building could have "leprosy."
The significance of Jesus' actions in today's gospel is found in the fact that he touched the leper. This could automatically make Jesus "unclean" and ineligible for certain religious duties! There is a considerable list of "conditions" in the Old Testament(many of them physical handicaps!) that could render a person "unclean." This status of being "unclean" meant social isolation till certain procedures were followed. A state of "uncleaness" could be acquired in many different ways, and not just from illness. In the case of handicaps, this might be a permanent thing! The concern that underlies all this has to do with coming before God in a state of "purity" or "wholeness" or "integrity." Jesus' position on this was that the purity and wholeness and integrity were interior rather than exterior. Hence, he touched the leper and healed him. This healing had the dual effect of "curing" but also restoring the leper to his community. In a collective society like the Middle East, this could save a person's life!
In our own time, we speak of "social lepers" that are created by attitudes and prejudices. It might be helpful today to spend a few moments considering whether or not we have "social lepers" that we avoid or isolate or shun. In the light of Jesus' teaching and explicit behavior, how can we justify our attitude and behavior toward those "social lepers?" Do we not have the power to "restore" them? AMEN