Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

 

February 14, 2021

                                                                    

Readings:

First Reading: Leviticus 13: 1-2, 44-46

Psalm 32 “I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you will fill me with the joy of salvation.”

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 10: 31-11: 1

Gospel reading according to Mark 1: 40-45

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Homily:

Leaving Capernaum, they landed on a shore of another town, which the Evangelist Mark did not tell where they arrived.  Upon embarking, they hurriedly met a man with leprosy.  When you hear or see a man (or woman) with leprosy, you know he (or she) is stench, with foul odor, with lots of sores in his (or her) body, decapitated limbs, a living dead.  As William Barclay said, “The fate of the leper was truly hard” (William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible, 1985, p. 43).  He continued, “There were many lepers in Palestine in the time of Jesus.   From the description in Leviticus 13 it is quite clear that in New Testament times the term leprosy (the Hebrew word is tsaraath) was also used to cover other skin diseases.  It seems to have been used to include psoriasis, a disease which covers the body with white scales.  Very naturally, with medical knowledge in an extremely primitive state, diagnosis did not distinguish between the different kinds of skin disease and included both the deadly and incurable and the non–fatal and comparatively harmless under the one inclusive title.  Any such disease rendered the sufferer unclean.   He was banished from the fellowship of men; he must dwell alone outside the camp; he must go with rent clothes, bared head, a covering upon his upper lip, and as he went he must give warning of his polluted presence with the cry, ‵Unclean, unclean′!”  (William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible, 1985, p. 44-45).  Again he said, “We see the same thing in the Middle Ages, which merely applied the Mosaic Law.  The priest, wearing his stole and carrying a crucifix, led the leper into the church, and read the burial service over him.  The leper had not only to bear the physical pain of his disease; he had to bear the mental anguish and the heartbreak of being completely banished from [his family and relatives], from human society and totally shunned [from the synagogue and Temple]” (William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible, 1985, p. 45).   “A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said, If you wish, you can make me clean.” (Mark 1: 40).  Maybe this leprous man heard about Jesus healing different sicknesses and possessions by demons, and he learned that Jesus and companions were roaming around the towns and villages along the Sea of Galilee.  So he came out where he was hiding early in the morning and waited for their arrival.  He positioned himself alone in front of the shorelines to be the first client of Jesus to receive his healing.  So, when Jesus and his disciples arrived, the leper did not think twice to consider those “don’ts” regarding the law of leprosy, still he came closer to Jesus, knelt down and begged, “If you wish, you can make me clean.”  Jesus did not react nor rejected the leper approaching.  He did not keep distance away from the leper, he did not show a bad reaction by covering his nose, nor avoided the leper.  What is or are our reactions when we see or hear that there is leper in our community?  Do we accept him (or her) as a human person and not a living dead na pandidirihan at iiwasan and cover our nose due to stench and foul odor? Do we drive him away for we are afraid to be contaminated by him (her)?  Although now-a-days Hansen Disease or Leprosy is curable. Before his conversion, St. Francis of Assisi was avoiding and did not like to see a leper.  But during his conversion, one day he met a leper while riding on a horse.  He stopped, dismounted from his horse and came to the leprous man.  Before he gave him alms he kissed him on his wounded and bloody lips (maybe with pus).  When he left the leper he felt the bitter for the sweet and when he looked back he did not see or find the leper (Thomas of Celano, The Remembrance of the Desire of a Soul, Book I, Ch. 5, No. 9; Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, Vol. II, p. 249).   

Instead to avoiding and driving away, he had mercy and compassion over the leper.  He had pity with the leprous.  “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” (Mark 1: 41-42).  What Jesus did was unusual and unlawful and taboo in the eyes of the Jews and all the authorities in the Temple.  But in that incident, the Pharisees and the scribes, etc. were silent or absent in that scene. There were no violent reactions from the authorities we heard from the Evangelist Mark (maybe because it was still early morning and they were still sleeping).  What Jesus did, he stretched out his hand, touched the leper and said, “I do will it.  Be made clean.”  He reached out the leper and touched him without “pandidiri, pangingilabot, pagsusuka” and other adverse reactions.  The same manner to what he did to the mother-in-law of Simon Peter.  In just mere touch the leprosy left him, as well as the fever left her, immediately.  Now he was clean; but not yet, he must undergo the ritual of cleansing and receiving the certificate from the priest that officially telling he is totally cleansed and may come back to his family and join in the fellowship of his society and participate in the activities in the synagogue and offering of sacrifices to the Temple.

Jesus, in his humility and simplicity, did not want to publicize what he did to the new and cleansed man from leprosy, he warned him.  He told him not to tell anyone what he did to him, but instead show himself to the priest and offer the required sacrifices.  “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” (Mark 1: 43-44).  William Barclay, our consultant, said that, “If ever a leper was cured . . . he had to undergo a complicated ceremony of restoration which is described in Leviticus 14.  He was examined by the priest“(William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible, 1985, p. 45).  He continued.  “Two birds were taken and one was killed over running water.  In addition there was taken cedar, scarlet and hyssop.  These things and the living bird were dipped in the blood of the dead bird and then the live bird was allowed to go free.  The man washed himself and his clothes and shaved himself.  Seven days then elapsed and he was re-examined.  He had then to shave his hair, his head, his eye brows” (William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible, 1985, p. 45).  He added, “Certain sacrifices were made – two male lambs without blemish and one ewe lamb; three tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil and one log of oil.  The amounts were less for the poor.  The restored sufferer was touched on the tip of the right ear, right thumb and the right great toe with blood and oil.  He was given final examination and, if clear of the disease, he was allowed to go with a certificate that he was clean” (William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible, 1985, p. 45).  We can understand the reaction of the new and cleansed man with leprosy.  With such a complicated list of requirements, it will be difficult for the new headed leper to do all such things because of his condition.

Because he was liberated and freed from the grip of leprosy, and full of joy for the healing he received from Jesus, he forgot what he was told.  “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 1: 45).  Instead of showing himself to the priest in the Temple and do the elaborate ceremony and ritual of purification, he went out and announced to the whole town where he came from what Jesus did to him.  Maybe the unnamed man who was cured by Jesus from leprosy was so excited that he may now see and live again with his family and maybe did not want to undergo such elaborate ceremony, and maybe he was poor that he cannot afford to procure all the required supplements and animals, but the easiest way to show that he was already healed from leprosy is to announce and publicize what Jesus did to him.  And because of this, Jesus became like a leper for us. Like a leper, it became impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly, and he remained outside in deserted places.   Nevertheless, still the poor, the sick, the lepers, all sinners were looking for him, People kept coming to him from everywhere seeking also his healing and curing of their sicknesses and leprosy.