Homily for the Week of February 12, 2012

HOMILY: Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2012
First Reading: Leviticus 13:1 2, 44 46
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 32:1 2, 5, 11
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:31 -- 11:1
Gospel: Mark 1:40-45

Imagine having an illness so disfiguring, contagious and deadly that you cannot have any contact with other humans -- except for those suffering from the same disease. Cut off from family and friends, shunned by everyone, you must cry out, "Unclean, unclean!" warning of your disturbing presence. Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be if you had to shout out loud what is wrong with you when someone comes close to you? It would be bad enough for you to call out “bladder infection” or “schizophrenia.”

The first reading and the Gospel talk of a disease that made a person unclean. Leprosy did not exist in the Middle East at the time of Leviticus, the author of our first reading. Leprosy was the name given to any kind of skin disease that caused problems to the skin. “Leprosy” was used generically to describe any illness that was known to spread. Unfortunately, not having a clue about germs, bacteria, and such, Jewish teaching blamed illness on a person’s sinfulness or the sinfulness of the parent or other ancestor. They thought God punishes us by giving us a disease.

Detailed regulations, like those recorded in today's first reading, were drawn up to indicate how a leper should be treated. This apparently harsh treatment was the only way the community knew of protecting itself from contagion. And the priests of that day were the public health officials who diagnosed and set apart the person with leprosy. Once diagnosed the leper had to wear torn clothing, ring a bell and cry out Unclean, so that others would avoid them. They had to live in leper colonies. Everything was done to separate them from society.

Leprosy or what is known as Hansen’s Disease is still a common disease. The World Health Organization states that at the end of December about 300,000 new cases were detected in 2010. Today most persons with leprosy live in India and Brazil.

These grim facts render the encounter described in today's Gospel all the more surprising and meaningful. Notice how Jesus reacts. He is not afraid to be contaminated. Jesus is moved with pity. Though everyone else avoids the man, Jesus does not. You can almost feel that Jesus becomes one with this person. Instead Jesus does the unthinkable after the man says to Jesus: If you wish, you can make me clean. He reaches out and he touches the leper. That was a direct violation of the Law, for Jews were to have no contact with anything unclean.

That touch was enough to heal the man’s sores, but best of all, it also healed the deep down inner hurts that come from being rejected, excluded, isolated from all others. At the words of Jesus the man is cured. His life is changed in an instant. He is restored to his friends and to society. He can lead a normal life again.

Also the unclean man did not infect Jesus or the others; rather, the Lord purifies the leper. They recognized that the physical healing imparted by Jesus, while significant, was also meant to signify: It pointed to the spiritual healing offered and communicated by the Savior.

This story, while set in a world very different from ours, has good news for us. It tells us that Jesus is a friend of the outcast, that he rejects no one who comes to him. Jesus gives hope where there is no hope. Jesus does for us what he did to the leper. He sees beyond our sins, or our selfishness. He loves us for who we are as a person made in God’s image.

Jesus has the power not only to heal, but also to forgive sins. All of us are born lepers, disfigured and wounded by sin. Healed by the waters of baptism, we can choose to return to a leprous, sinful state. Thankfully, in the Sacrament of Confession, we have the best help in getting healed. Like the person with leprosy we too can come to Jesus , through the help of a priest, sit beside him and ask to be made clean.

Besides changing ourselves we are also encouraged by Jesus to bring about change. We are to bring our Christian religious and moral values into the marketplace, not the marketplace into our religious values.

Lepers are still among us. We need to ask ourselves how we treat today's lepers.
Whom have we cast out of our lives recently?
Whom have we named as the untouchables of 2012?
How do we react to those who have removed us from their life?
St. Paul today tells us that we must -- not should -- but must be imitators of Jesus. While our first instinct might be to see the sinfulness others, the irritations of family members, and the faults of co workers, we must look beyond their faults and see them with the eyes of Jesus. If we are willing to come to Jesus as the leper did -- if we tell him we disparately need him -- then we too will experience his healing and forgiveness. All we need to do is to invite him.