Homily for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B 2021
Leviticus 13:1-2,45-46; 1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1; Mark 1:40-45
Introduction
As we have just heard in both our first
reading and the gospel, lepers in Israel had a difficult life. Last October I had a small peek into their
experience.
A few of my community members and I got
sick with COVID-19. It was therefore
decided that for the sake of the rest of the community, we who tested positive
would quarantine in our rooms for about two weeks. We were well taken care of, with people
bringing food and other supplies to our doors.
But some of the food-servers were so scared of us, that they would drop the
food at the door, knock once or twice and then run away. I had a similar experience when I went to the
doctor’s office. There I was ushered
into a special room, away from all the other patients and staff, and seen only
by the doctor.
And when it came departing, I went out
through a special door away from the others.
While I know why all these things had to be done, perhaps for the first
time, I understood in a personal way, what being a leper was like.
Scripture and Theology
It is perhaps for the same reasons that in the
book of Leviticus, the Law of Moses prescribed the ostracizing of lepers. As we heard in the reading, after the priest had
confirmed a diagnosis of leprosy, it was decided: “The one who bears the sore of leprosy . . .. shall declare himself
unclean, . . . He shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp.”
Given the limited medical knowledge and
medical resources of the time, this was the only way they could protect society
from a contagious disease, whether this was any kind of skin disease or what we
know as Hansen's disease. This is the
debilitating disease that St. Damien of Molokai would catch himself as he cared
for those who had leprosy.
And so, like we did for Ebola patients a
few years ago, or we have done for COVID-19 patients, the Law of Moses required
keeping lepers outside the community, putting them in quarantine. In fact, the word “quarantine” itself comes
from the Italian phrase “quarantina
giorni” which means 40 days. In the
Middle Ages, ships coming from countries with the plague were to remain in port
for 40 days before they were allowed to dock and the sailors come on land.
But the exclusion of the lepers in Israel went
beyond the physical and social separation of the contagious from the rest of
society. It was also a psychological and
spiritual separation. Like all
illnesses, leprosy was considered to be a result of sin, a punishment for sin. Lepers were therefore excluded from worship
and indeed from all activities of society.
You might say that this emotional and spiritual exclusion was even worse
than the physical exclusion.
Given this dire condition, it should not
surprise us that this leper sought Jesus out and cried out "If you wish, you can make me clean." The man could not bear the physical, social,
psychological and spiritual isolation any more.
He had faith that Jesus was someone special, someone who could heal
him. And in healing the leper therefore,
Jesus is not simply healing the man physically; he is also restoring this man to
society. That is why he tells the man: “go, show yourself to the priest and offer
for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them." For the priest was responsible for diagnosing
and excluding unclean people from society and for confirming healing and
readmitting them.
Christian Life
An obvious lesson for us to draw from these
readings is to reflect on how we treat today’s lepers. For while we might be better at treating those
afflicted with the actual disease of leprosy, we do have a whole host of our
own lepers that we ostracize today: people with AIDS and Ebola, drug addicts
and alcoholics, the homeless and pan-handlers, refugees and immigrants, Jews
and Muslims, Protestants and Mormons and many others. Like the people in the Bible treated those
with leprosy, some in our society also operate out of an “us” vs “them”
attitude. And yet Jesus clearly teaches us that Christians must find ways to
invite all God’s children into his Kingdom, even as they protect themselves.
But the lesson that I would like to focus
on instead is the fact that each of us here, is a leper in some way, especially
because we are sinners. You and I, like
the leper really need to go to Jesus and cry out: “If you wish, you can make me clean." For just like it was for the people of Israel
leprosy is also for us a metaphor for our sinfulness, our human brokenness that
needs healing.
Sometimes, like the lepers, we are excluded
from the Church, from society. This can
be due to our own sins that exclude us for example from receiving Holy
Communion. Or we can be excluded through
no fault of our own, because of our social, economic, and religious or other circumstances. But at other times we exclude ourselves, like
when we cling to our past sins. Even
when we have been forgiven, we don’t believe that Jesus could ever forgive us
for our grievous sins. We impose a
quarantine on ourselves.
Whether we are excluded by others or by ourselves,
Jesus is lifting the quarantine, through his Word, through his sacraments, but particularly
through the sacrament of confession. All
he asks is that like the leper, we go show ourselves to the priest and we
perform the offering for our cleansing.
We show ourselves to the priest and we
perform the cleansing ritual when we go to confession. Unfortunately, many Catholics today feel that
this sacrament of confession is scary, uncomfortable and some even think it unnecessary. As for being scary and uncomfortable, I would
agree. I feel the same way when I go to
confession. But again, who ever said
being a Catholic was easy? About being
unnecessary, I don’t agree. From the
very beginning, God always uses other people to bring us back to him. Think of Noah, Moses, Aaron, the prophets,
the kings and of course the priests as we have just heard. Think of John the Baptist, the Blessed Mother,
the Apostles, all of whom God used to bring us salvation.
The sacrament of confession like the ritual
performed by that leper is an occasion for God to forgive us through the
Church. This ritual has four elements.
First, Contrition: We are sorry for
our sins; we arrive at this sorrow by examining consciences. There are many tools to help us do this, for
example by checking our observance of the Ten Commandments or by examining the
health of our relationship with God, with each other and with ourselves. And when we are sorry, for our sins, God will
forgive us.
Second, Confession: We need to name
our sins and let them go. We tell them
to the priest so that he can give us advice on how to avoid them in the
future. That is why we have confession
to the priest.
Third, Penance: We accept the
penance the priest imposes on us, which can be a prayer, an act of charity, an
act of reparation, so that we can in an external way, show the sorrow inside
us, repair any harm our sins have done, and firmly resolve with the help of
God, to avoid the near occasion of sin.
Four Absolution: At the end of the
ritual, the priest confirms that we have been forgiven. Tells us who forgives us saying: “God, the Father of mercies, through the
death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the
Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins.” And then tell us how: “through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace,
and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, +
and of the Holy Spirit.” The priest confirms what God has done for us.
Conclusion
After he was healed the leper began to
share what God had done for him to anyone who cared to listen. May we do likewise. As the Responsorial Psalm response said: “I
turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of
salvation.” Let us share that joy of
salvation with others.
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