(Mark 1)
Fifty years or so ago, a journalist named John Howard Griffin made a shocking social experiment. He had his skin dyed black and toured the South to see how people would treat him. He had trouble finding a public restroom that he could use. In general, wherever before he would have had easy access, now he was treated with suspicion. We could say that the insider became an outsider. Eventually, Griffin published the account of his travails in the book Black Like Me which helped soften white resistance to the American civil rights movement.
In the gospel today Jesus experiences something similar. When he cures the leper, his fame spread so pervasively that he could no longer enter any town without being overwhelmed by sick people. He is the insider who becomes an outsider. Ironically, the leper who by law had to remain outside populated areas can now enter towns freely. Thus, the outsider becomes an insider.
Often people who do church work feel swamped by requests. They may not only read at Mass but also teach a religious education class and perhaps deliver groceries for the St. Vincent de Paul Society. They may feel like they are becoming outsiders to their families. Of course, some prudence is called for in accepting requests to do church work or any other activity. But when we do it for the Lord, the gospel today reassures us that we are also doing with the Lord.
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