Moved with pity, Jesus said to him, "I do choose. Be made clean!"
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The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
“If someone has on his skin a scab or pustule or blotch
which appears to be the sore of leprosy,
he shall be brought to Aaron, the priest,
or to one of the priests among his descendants.
If the man is leprous and unclean,
the priest shall declare him unclean
by reason of the sore on his head.
“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.”
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R. I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation.
Blessed is he whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered.
Blessed the man to whom the LORD imputes not guilt in whose spirit there is no guile.
R. I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you, my guilt I covered not.
I said, “I confess my faults to the LORD,”
and you took away the guilt of my sin.
R. I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation.
Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you just; exult, all you upright of heart.
R. I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation.
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Brothers and sisters,
Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.
Avoid giving offense, whether to the Jews or Greeks or the church of God,
just as I try to please everyone in every way, not seeking my own benefit but that of the many, that they may be saved.
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
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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.
Homily for the Sixth Sunday of the Year – 14 February 2021
Not so long ago we were in the grip of the Covid pandemic. For many the wounds of this terrible time are still raw. So many lost loved ones. There was isolation, fear and anxiety. Remember how in the early days, when we didn’t yet know how the Coronavirus was spread, how fearful we all were.
I remember right at that time, in the first months of the pandemic, being asked to go and anoint a man and his wife who both had Covid. They were being treated at home by their daughter who was a nursing sister. It was a bit frightening, but this nursing sister dressed me up in what felt like a space suit. We had been advised to keep physical touch to a minimum, but when I went into the room, the man immediately held out his hand to me and I took it. It was a wonderful celebration of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick and reception of Holy Communion. The man prayed beautifully and was deeply appreciative of being able to receive the sacraments.
The experience of lepers and the precautions that had to be taken to prevent the spread of the disease is a stark reminder of that Covid pandemic, and the emphasis on isolation and exclusion that went with it, to prevent spreading of the virus.
The first reading from the Book of Leviticus in the Old Testament gives us an insight into the strict measures that were put in place to contain the disease in Old Testament times, and right into the time of Jesus. Because skin diseases were so infectious, those with these kinds of sicknesses were cast out from society – they were to have no contact with the rest of the community.
In the absence of medicine and medical personnel in ancient Israel, the priests served as safeguards of public health and hygiene. Once a priest had declared that someone was indeed leprous, that person had to notify every one of their condition by masking their upper lip and shouting out continually that they were unclean, and by wearing torn clothes without their heads covered. And they had to isolate themselves. It would be hard to overstate the misery and dejection that those with leprosy must have experienced. Apart from the obvious physical pain, they were the living dead, alone and forgotten; people were horrified at them and terrified of them.
Leprosy is a terrible-looking disease with sores throughout the body and blockages in the circulatory system resulting in parts of the body deteriorating. The nerve endings are damaged, and the extremities become numb. What usually follows is that because of the lack of sensation, fingers and toes get wounded without pain, and this leads to wounds that won’t heal and often leads to amputations. In fact, leprosy, or Hansen’s Disease, as it is come to be called, has continued to plague human beings right through history. Effective treatment first appeared in the late 1940s, and even with this there are new cases of leprosy every year, right across the world.
The details in Leviticus of how lepers were treated sets the scene for us to hear of Jesus’s cure of the leper in the Gospel. St Mark tells the beautiful story of the encounter of the leper with Jesus. Jesus was different. For one thing, this leper knew that here was someone that he could dare approach. Think of the remarkable courage it would have taken for this leper to come to Jesus, because it was against the law for him as a leper, to approach anyone.
And it is significant that Jesus touched him. No-one in that time would have had the courage to touch a leper. The Gospel says that Jesus was moved with pity and stretched out his hand to touch him. And then there are the beautiful words of Jesus: “I will, be clean”, or as in some translations, “Of course I want to, be healed”.
It does not take much imagination to enter into the drama of the encounter between Jesus and the leper. We could listen to the story and pray over this Gospel event a thousand times and not get tired of it. In this Gospel we encounter the compassion and pity of Jesus, and we long to put ourselves in the place of the leper, so that we may kneel before Jesus and ask for healing and forgiveness.
Leprosy has long been understood in the Scriptures as symbolic of sinfulness - a metaphor for sin. We in our sinful condition, because we feel so unworthy, might tend to stay away from God. In the face of God, and at the thought of God, we might feel the urge to call out, “Unclean, unclean.” Yet the example of the leper in this Gospel teaches us to have the confidence to go to Jesus and ask for healing and forgiveness. There needs to be a boldness, a courage, in approaching Jesus. We need to get beyond our feelings of unworthiness and shame. There is no barrier from Jesus’ side. He waits to receive us with mercy.
Personal encounters between Jesus and individuals in the Gospel stories can be a great inspiration for us. In these encounters something of the nature of Jesus is revealed, and also, we can insert ourselves into these encounters and be the one whom Jesus is touching, healing or forgiving. Our prayerful encounters with Jesus must be intentional. In this story of the healing of the leper, we can place ourselves into the healing hands of Jesus. We can be the one kneeling before him, begging him. And we can hear his beautiful words spoken to us: “I do will it, be made clean”. We can experience first-hand, the pity and compassion of Jesus.
Many of us may have felt at some time or are feeling just like this leper who approached Jesus for healing. Perhaps we have been sick ourselves, and of course there are some among us who continue to struggle with illness, known or unknown to others. We are conscious of the housebound, the elderly in retirement centres, and those for whom each day is a challenge. All of us, whether we are in emotional, psychological or spiritual pain, can approach Jesus, and ask for healing, for comfort and wholeness. And, all of us can hear Jesus say, “Of course I want to, be healed.
As well as receiving healing of Jesus, as his disciples, we need to continue his ministry of reaching out to the sick and the metaphorical lepers of our time – those who are on the margins. You may know that the much-loved St Francis of Assisi, who we so often associate with a love for animals and the created world, had a special relationship with those who were suffering from leprosy.
Right at the end of his life he describes in his testament how an encounter with a leper many years before was a profound step in his conversion. In meeting the leper, whom he embraced and kissed, he later realised that he had seen Jesus. It didn’t end there. His ministry to lepers expanded. From then on Francis would go down to the colony of lepers below Assisi, outside the city walls, to minister to them. And those who eventually followed him as his brothers continued this ministry to the lepers, feeding them, and washing and bandaging their wounds.
St Paul in the second reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians tells us to give glory to God in whatever we do. Our motivation for doing just that comes from experiencing what the leper experienced in the Gospel passage today. St Francis, himself had experienced the tender compassion of Jesus and this catapulted him into service of fellow lepers, physical and spiritual.
The confidence of St Paul is somewhat overwhelming. He is able to call us to imitate him as he imitates Christ. Perhaps, St Francis would be bold enough to say the same thing to us. Let’s imitate St Paul and St Francis as they imitated Christ. Having been healed ourselves, let’s minister to others.