SIXTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
(Leviticus 13:1-2.44-46; I Corinthians 10:31-11:1: Mark
1:40-45)
The Book of Leviticus is all about holiness. The Israelites
feel a particular call from God to be holy. Leviticus can be described as a
manual for fulfilling that vocation. Particularly important to being holy is
purity. Uncleanness is associated with illness, bad morals, and impiety.
Therefore, the Jews in Jesus' time keep themselves from leprosy, the disease
that deteriorates the skin.
The poor lepers have to isolate themselves from other
people, even though they may have done nothing wrong! This outrage is mandated
because the good of the community takes priority over the psychological good of
the patient. The pandemic behind us now, we have an idea of how lepers feel. In
many cases, being isolated is not just being alone, bored, and frustrated
because you cannot fulfill your responsibilities. Isolation often includes feeling
pain and fearing that maybe you're never going to recover. In the case of
leprosy, confinement is not limited to four days or a week. Rather, it is the
prospect that you will spend years separated from your loved ones.
In fact, it wasn't just lepers who suffered from isolation
in the Bible. Women also have to separate themselves after giving birth, just
as those who work with dead animals do. True, these can be purified with water
ablutions, but this is also a nuisance.
In the gospel Jesus shows compassion to the leper. When he
presents himself to Jesus and expresses faith in him, Jesus is not afraid to
touch him. More than that, he heals him of his disease. Jesus has come to
defeat evil in all its forms. He is not going to allow this man to continue
suffering either disease or isolation.
Jesus wants to do the same with us. He wants to alleviate
our illnesses, whether physical or spiritual, by putting us in contact with himself.
Jesus’ body remains on earth in the form of the community of faith, the church. That is all of us. That is why we have Lent before
us now. It is the great season of
communal penance. We are to pray for, make sacrifices for, and help one another.
What disease do we have? Is it eating compulsively? We now have forty
days that invite us to stop taking seconds, sweets, and snacks. Are we inclined
to wander when we pray? Here is a time reserved for coming to church during the
week to ask God’s mercy in the Stations of the Cross or at mass. Do we feel
guilty about always seeking our own good and not helping the needy? Now we have
a stretch of seven weeks reserved to care for the less fortunate. With these
acts of love we purify ourselves from our sins while we ease the burdens of people
in need.
Lent is difficult for us because sin has warped our
thinking. Sin makes us think that our vices are not so bad or, at least, they
are necessary for us to survive. It is a lie, and now we have forty days to
show that with the help of grace we can overcome bad habits. Penance is
necessary if we are to fulfill our vocation. As the Israelites in the desert, we
are called to be holy, cleansed of sin, and charitable towards others. We are
called to be disciples of Jesus who shows compassion to the leper.
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