Word to the Wise
Thursday, January 16, 2020 - Thursday in the 1st Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Sam 4:1-11 and Mark 1:40-45]A leper came to him [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 the leper, and said to him, "I do will it. Be made clean."...."See that you tell no one anything..." The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere. [Mark]
Usually, when we read a story we start at the "beginning" and go through the "end." The key to understand the Gospel According to Mark is to start at the end and read back to the beginning! The intention of the evangelist is that everything Jesus did prior to his death and resurrection can only be understood in the light of his death and resurrection. That is why the disciples and everyone else in the story seem to misunderstand the significance of his ministry. In today's gospel passage, Jesus is being viewed as simply a wonder-worker and healer. The curing of a man with leprosy is almost like bringing him back from the dead because lepers were more or less considered "living dead" as far as the rest of society was concerned. Jesus shows that he has power over life and death. It matters not to Jesus that he became unclean because he touched the leper. It mattered only to those who opposed him and the story of that opposition leads to Jesus' death and resurrection.
It is difficult for us to read the Gospel According to Mark as the original audience would have because they did not have the other gospels to fill in where Mark leaves things unsaid. Matthew and Luke borrow extensively from Mark. Mark's story of Jesus is short and blunt with a kind of "in your face" quality. Jesus is someone new. His death and resurrection point us to everything else he did. We are challenged to take it or leave it. Perhaps we can be thankful the other gospels were written so that we have a bigger picture than the original audience, but this should not lead us away from the startling and challenging person of Jesus Christ, unvarnished and unsoftened. AMEN