Let’s recall the past few weeks’ gospel readings from Mark. Right after his baptism in the Jordan and his temptation in the desert, Jesus begins his active ministry: First he called his closest disciples, he cured a demoniac in the synagogue, entered the house of Peter’s family and cured his mother-in-law. The focus of these stories presented ‘right off the bat’ in Mark is that Jesus seeks out the suffering and marginalized and he heals, he cures, and he defeats evil. It is written to provide clear evidence that as Mark writes in the first verse of chapter 1: “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God”.
It is a quick narrative to establish that Jesus is the Messiah, and not to lead us into some esoteric, modernist discussion as to whether the observers and writers of the time believed the particular affliction cured was a demon or a mental illness (both of which are real possibilities). Regarding this point, St. Augustine said it best – and I have this posted in my cubicle at work: “Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.” There is and will always be more in creation which we do not know, than which we do know. To get wrapped up around the minor facts of the story is to lose the greater truth presented in the Gospel. It’s a temptation to distraction.
Today we find Jesus walking some distance from a city or town, since lepers were barred from the community, Our first reading from Leviticus says: "They shall dwell apart, making their abode outside the camp". This was the law. So we can logically presume the encounter between Jesus and the leper happened in the countryside, a far-away place where lepers were forced to live and would not encounter the so-called ‘clean’ people.
According to Leviticus, any suspicious skin ailment ("a scab, or pustule or blotch") could be labeled generically as ‘leprosy.’ Though archeologists just a couple of years ago have unearthed the first remains in the Middle East that actually had leprosy (Hanson’s Disease), which dates to the time of Christ. In biblical times comparatively little was known about illnesses and their cures to our day. But it is an error to regard the Hebrews as ignorant people. Over a thousand years before Jesus they observed that certain foods and preparations could make you sick. That it was good to wash before eating, and how certain contagious disease could spread among people. As a precaution against infecting the community, people displaying certain symptoms were cast out, quarantined for the good of the common good. In actual practice it was far likely more painful for the sick person to be separated from family and friends than to have whatever illness afflicted them.
Today, many of those in our community who are sick, the elderly - especially residents in nursing homes, or the severely disabled, often feel the same kind of pain of isolation from the community, from family, work, and yes, sadly even from our church community. Visits, phone calls, ‘get-well – thinking of you’ cards all have great value for those who are confined. Besides bringing comfort and communicating concern for the person, they provide a critical link to the outside world. We have trained ministers who take communion to those at home, hospitals, nursing homes and jail. They take the Blessed Sacrament to those cut off from the community, but their very presence is a sacramental sign, a source of healing to those isolated "outside the village." I sometimes reminded the inmates in the Hillsborough County Jail, when I have the pleasure of being with them, that the host which was consecrated at our mass is a solid link to us who share in communion with them. And for you EM’s who bring communion to the sick in our hospitals and to the homes of shut-ins in the name of all of us, you are truly being Jesus to those in the countryside… Jesus smiles when you perform this ministry!
Chapter 1 of Mark’s Gospel closes today with the healing of the leper. At this point Mark has already established Jesus’ "credentials." He is the "Son of God," who REALLY heals, REALLY drives out evil spirits, preaches and teaches with true authority, in synagogues and in homes – but also outside the cities and villages, on the roads and in the places at the margins where outcasts live... Jesus establishes himself to be the promised Messiah trough the actions prophesied by the ancient prophets. For this he will certainly get the attention of the Jewish religious authorities, which we will see as we progress through the gospel.
In our story today, Jesus’ first response to the leper is that he was "moved with pity." The English translation doesn’t adequately portray the depth and intensity of Jesus’ feelings. The Greek verb Mark uses ("splanchnizomai") describes more of a gut, or instinctual response, which moves a person to do something for someone in dire need. Jesus doesn’t just feel bad or have pity for people (oh I’ll pray for you and move on), no, he reacts instinctively and he does something. In addition, he doesn’t just address individual needs of the suffering, but he also condemns the practices in society that are the root causes of people’s misery.
We must continue Jesus’ work and moved with the same pity, take down the walls that separate people according to religious, social, economic, racial, ethnic, and gender differences. The leper’s real pain was the misery of being counted as unworthy of the full life of the community. But his encounter with God as the redeemer, Jesus of Nazareth, changed everything for him….
My friends, as the Church Jesus instituted, we are the Body of Christ and we are called to encounter the lepers of our time and bring them comfort. By curing the exiled leper, Jesus tells us where we Catholic Christians should be found – outside the gated communities of exclusivity – beyond our traditional, comfortable boundaries. Because out there is where we will find the most needy who seek to be healed and saved.
The man’s life was changed not by any devotional practice or Law, but by his faith in Jesus’ compassion, and through his touch and his words – Jesus meets the man right where he was – in his separation - and he is present for him.
I was at an organizational meeting of a group in another parish recently and the discussion turned to the latest interview of Pope Francis… How he is so fresh and different by speaking up for the outcasts and challenging the social and canonical norms of our times… Really, he is not saying or doing anything that is not in the Gospel. Imagine that, a Pope who sounds and acts a lot like Jesus… How radical! Locally we have had many group discussions where we speak of mission and vision statements – corporate concepts – about liturgies, services, education… How about this for a mission statement: “To live and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in communion with the Universal Church.” - How radical that would be! Not really, its’ all in the Gospel.
Mark Chapter 1 comes to a close today and, because of his contact with the leper, Jesus himself is now ritually unclean. Think about it - Jesus has symbolically traded places with the leper who is now restored as an “insider," while Jesus has become an "outsider." And so there he will be with people like us when sin cuts us off from others; when our more pious neighbors may consider some of us less worthy to share in their lives. When we get too old, or too sick, or make a dreadful mistake in our life or we sully ourselves by giving in to temptations to addiction, or when we give scandal… There is Jesus, the outsider, who is looking for those who don’t feel welcome and see no hope of ever fitting in again – which is a kind of death which he came to conquer. That’s where he is though – in the uncomfortable wilderness of our quarantined places – Ministering to the filthy outcast, healing, cleansing, forgiving, and crying with the hurting.
Jesus confronts the people’s notions of God and their religion by touching and curing the leper. He breaks the barrier the community puts up between good and bad, clean and unclean. And he seeks the lowest person in an existence of virtual death and raises him to dignity so as to recognize his essential goodness and his humanity - This is the deeper message and the true miracle in the story.
In the Gospel Jesus is in the process founding a new community, which includes those he called to be his followers; but also in that community are the outcasts, sinners, widows, orphans, the poor and the impure. We call that community the Church. There is no exclusion in his community, contrary to the prevailing religious atmosphere of Jesus’ time and, it can be said, of our own as well. God’s kindness has broken through our worldly logic and we who dare to call ourselves Christian must be like him and radically change our ways of judging others.
We must also cast of the chains of cynicism and pride – so we can courageously see the true message and do as we will be called to do at the conclusion of this Mass – To ‘go forth and announce the Gospel of the Lord ‘– in the far off places, to those who are in need of a real miracle – That is, you and me as HIS CHURCH, being Jesus for them.