Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Within the span of one month, twice I have had to self-quarantine for seven days each. And then, to break the quarantine, I have had to get myself tested for COVID-19. Until the test results came, I have had to avoid physical contact with others. If I violate the laws governing my quarantine, I run the risk of endangering another person’s life. Moreover, whether at home in India or here in Dayton, I have had to announce my presence to avoid contact with others. After fourteen days of quarantine, let me say this out loud, “I hate it!” Now, can you imagine being quarantined for the rest of life? Perhaps, the pandemic and its implications for family, social, and religious life gives us a tiny window into the life of a leper in Jesus’ time. The only difference is that for a leper in Jesus’ time, being certified a leper was a death sentence. Even worse, leprosy was considered a punishment for sin. In this sense leprosy imposed and social, economic, and religious isolation that was literally a death sentence. No wonder, then, that were often called the ‘living dead.’
I can imagine lepers in Jesus’ time either entirely giving up or taking desperate steps to overcome their fate. The leper in today’s gospel reading chose the latter. Twice the leper breaks social customs and divine commands to escape his fate. First, he broke the laws of social engagement prescribed for lepers in Leviticus (today’s first reading. He broke the law by approaching Jesus, keeling in front of him, and finally begging him to heal him. These are not things he was legally allowed to do. On the contrary, he was expected to announce his presence crying out “Unclean, unclean!”, avoid social contact with people, and refrain from entering into a conversation with anyone. However, the leper was not the only law breaker. Jesus too was guilty. He broke the purity laws by engaging the leper, and even worse, reaching out and touching him. In fact, Jesus risked the possibility of contamination and in this way pass a death sentence on himself. Divine command is broken yet again when Jesus tells the leper, “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” (Mk 1:44). I chuckled at this point of the story. Jesus wants the man to fulfill what the law prescribed when both of them had just blatantly violated the law. Contrary to Jesus’ command the healed leper went and publicized the whole matter. Mark does not tell us whether he went to the temple to fulfill what Moses prescribed. All we know is that after the healing Jesus could not enter the town openly. Well, that’s what you get for breaking the law!
Of course, we must unravel the story behind the story. At the beginning of his gospel, Mark had introduced Jesus by beginning his ministry with the words, “The kingdom of God is at hand!” In the process, he also introduced Jesus as the one who inaugurates the kingdom of God. Jesus is clearly the Messiah, although, not ready to be introduced to the world yet (the Messianic secret, Mk 1:44). The leper came, knelt down and begged Jesus to heal him. This is Mark’s way of letting the reader know that Jesus indeed was the Messiah. Jesus touched the leper without the fear of contamination because the Healer cannot be infected. Rather, he has come into the world to heal the world. The world will be healed and redeemed because Jesus is moved with pity. In compassion Jesus stretched out his hand toward the ‘living dead’. He will stretch out his hands once again on the cross. On that day, even a Roman centurion would confess, “Truly, this mas was the Son of God!” (Mk 15:39). The compassion of God is the mark of the kingdom of God and the Messiah. Indeed, the kingdom of God is at hand.
Let me draw three practical implications from today’s readings:
1. The Case for Compassion. On that day when the leper was healed, an unprecedented interaction took place between two unlikely people. The story of leper is not just the story of the healing of a single leper. It is a commentary on salvation history. The human race infected with the leprosy of sin, hate, division, violence, injustice, exploitation, poverty, misery stood as desperately in need of healing and redemption as the leper in the Mark’s gospel. But the more important point is that link between the leper (humanity) and the Jesus (God, Messiah) is “pity” (Mk 1:41) or compassion. As one commentator puts it, “Jesus’ compassionate touch bridges the gap between the holy and the unclean.”
Mark’s composition of the story of the healing of the leper has implications for the Church entrusted with the mission of proclaiming the kingdom of God. The Church’s mission is the mission of Jesus – to be the compassionate touch that bridges the gap between the holy and the unclean. And that is the mission of all of us who are ‘in’ the Church. So often we condemn people to the peripheries of our lives, our families, our church, and our society. Once we name and identify people as lepers, we deny them communion, fellowship, healing, and restoration. Let compassion be the name of the game! Like Jesus, let us play by the rules of compassion. When we encounter lepers, ostracized and relegated to the peripheries, may our hearts be “moved with pity” (Mk 1: 41).
2. Trading Places. The strangest observation Mark makes in today’s gospel is Jesus’ demand for secrecy. This is a common theme in Mark. Scripture scholars tell us that the ‘messianic secrecy’ was meant to protect Jesus’ Messianic identity till the appropriate time and the appropriate manner. Jesus’s messiahship would be revealed not from some human seat of power, but from the cross. Jesus was also concerned that the Messiah-wary Romans could put a premature end to his ministry. But Jesus’ demand for secrecy is hardly met with compliance. The more he asked those he healed to curb their enthusiasm, the more widely the leper publicized it. The result is ironical, or more appropriately, paradoxical. Mark tells us that “It was impossible for Jesus to enter the town openly. He remained outside in deserted places” (Mk 1:45). Do we get it? “Deserted places!” (Mk 1:45) – that is where the leper used to be. The leper is now ‘inside’ the community, but Jesus finds himself ‘outside,’ in deserted places. Jesus traded places with the leper.
Once again, the story of the healing of the leper has radical implications for the mission of the Church. The Church must understand that salvation history is a paradox. Salvation history began when the first man and woman sinned. God expelled them from the garden of Eden, only to begin the work of restoring them back to divine life. For this, God goes ‘outside’, where human beings were, to restore them to divine community. No wonder, then, that Jesus who brought the leper ‘in’ was himself put to death ‘outside.’ The church is entrusted with the mission of proclaiming the kingdom of God. The question is, where does the church operate from – the ‘inside’ or ‘outside’? The question is, how far will the church go? Is she willing to go ‘outside’ so that those on the outside can come ‘inside’? The question is, will the church accompany people by reaching out and touching them, or will she merely lay down laws that relegates some to the inside and others to the outside?
3. Mission as Restoration. Mark gives yet another important detail in the story of the healing of the leper. Jesus, who usually questions the oppressive traditions of Judaism, asks the leper to show himself to the priest and offer what Moses prescribed for his cleansing. For some reason, Jesus wanted the leper to fulfil the Jewish purity laws. Why does Jesus make this demand of the leper? Because this healing was more than a personal event. If the leper did not go the temple, he would have to make his own case to the rest of society. By sending him to the priest in the temple, Jesus restored the leper to both to his religious community and to the rest of society. The story of the leper is the story of restoration rather than personal healing.
This has huge implications for us today. Who are the people who feel isolated, left out, ignored, ostracized in society today? Who are the people we treat like lepers? Racism is leprosy. Gender inequality is leprosy. Xenophobia is leprosy. Homophobia is leprosy. Sometimes the leper is the baby in the womb, sometimes it is an abused child, sometimes it is the homeless, sometimes it is the immigrant, sometimes it the person on death row, sometimes it is those with mental illnesses, sometimes those battling addictions, and sometimes it is an enemy. In fact, alienation, inequality, ostracization, periferization, condemnation – that is the leprosy. Mark’s Jesus shows us that the way forward in the kingdom of God is not further alienation or even a personal healing, but rather, total restoration. If the kingdom of God is indeed at hand, and if we are the people who belong to the kingdom, then our real mission is the restoration of human and divine dignity for every human person!
Of late, the very Eucharist we celebrate today has become a moral and political tool in the hands of unscrupulous clergy and their followers. Some have used the sacrament to punish and alienate people they treat as lepers. The healing of the leper provides a totally different paradigm not only for the Church, but for every one of us. Mark’s Jesus taught his disciples and is teaching us today to play the game of life with the rules of compassion.
- Fr. Satish Joseph