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Gospel: 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.
Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
He said to him, “See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them.”
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.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Perhaps the most feared disease in the ancient world was leprosy.
Slowly, it crept into your body, disfiguring your limbs, covering them in scabs, boils, and pus, making your skin look like ice cream melting on a hot summer day.
Leprosy was considered a public health risk, because no one knew how it was contracted or how it could be cured. It was a miserable death sentence for anyone who, mysteriously, contracted it.
Such was the case for the man in today’s Gospel.
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Once diagnosed, lepers were cast out from society. They were forced to tear their clothing and wear a bell around their neck warning anyone nearby: stay away. Upon entering a village, they’d even have to shout, “Unclean! Unclean!”
Anyone who made contact with them became ritually impure.
Put yourself in that leper’s shoes.
Imagine walking around in public shouting, “Unclean! Unclean!” Or replace that word with a deep-seeded insecurity or sin – “Anxious!” … “Addicted!” … “Alone!” … “Selfish!” … “Jealous!”
As if your weaknesses or sins define you.
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The deepest pain associated with leprosy wasn’t physical; it was the sense of isolation that set in – not only from your family and friends, but also from God.
Lepers were banned from the temple area, meaning from a Jewish perspective, they had no way of making contact with their Creator. They were utterly alone.
It’s easy to understand why the leper in today’s Gospel was stirred with such hope when he heard that Jesus was nearing.
Imagine the courage welling up within his poor soul as he barreled through the crowds like a bowling ball racing through pins, the bell around his neck clanging loudly from side to side.
His chance had come. Eagerly, he throws himself at the feet of Jesus, a sign of reverence and pure desperation. “If you will it,” he says, “you can make me clean.”
You can not only heal my body; even more, you can also bring me back to God.
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The Gospel tells us that Jesus was moved with deep compassion; literally, his innards were stirred. So, he not only heals the leper – it’s his voice that initiates the healing; he also kneels down and touches him.
Jesus touches the scabbed face of the man and says, “I do will it. Be made clean.”
Stunned, this leper stands up and shouts not, “Unclean! Unclean!” But, “Redeemed!”
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Ironically, by touching this man, Jesus becomes ritually impure, in a sense making him the leper. Now he is the one who can neither enter the surrounding villages nor the temple. He is the one seemingly separated from God.
What he does for this man foreshadows what Jesus will also do at the Cross, where he takes all of our impurities upon himself, dying on our behalf.
By touching this leper, Jesus also reveals there is nothing we can place before him – no wound, no mistake, no regret – that he will not touch, bless, forgive, and heal. Whenever we approach him seeking his mercy, his innards are moved with compassion.
This is the reason why he came to live among us: to defeat sin, restoring our access to God.
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Like leprosy, sin has deceptive beginnings, mysteriously taking root within us. Its slow progress and destructive power deform God’s sacred image in which we were made.
On Wednesday, we will celebrate Ash Wednesday, a reminder that – like this leper – at times we all need to be purified. Although it may not be something physical, we can all carry within ourselves things which sour our relationship with the Lord.
In his first public sermon – the Beatitudes – Jesus reminds us, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” … “Blessed are those who know their need for God.”
What do we need to place before the Lord this Lent?
It may be a particular burden. Or a simply the holy desire to draw closer to him.
And what changes will we make in order to allow such growth to happen?
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“Whatever you do,” Paul reminds us today, “do for the glory of God.”
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Image credits: (1) St. Ignatius Church (2) Osprey Observer (3) St. James Catholic Church
