By Fr Francis Gonsalves, SJ –
6th Sunday of the Year – Cycle B – February 14, 2021
Readings: Lev 13:1-2, 44-46; 1 Cor 10:31 – 11:1; Mk 1:21-28
“He [a leper] shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp” (Lev 13:46)
Prologue: Lepers were the most despised of people in Jesus’ time. Lepers lived ‘outside the camp’: far from the holy temple, outside the city limits, believed to be ‘untouchables’ by God and God’s chosen, pure people. Yet, Jesus reaches ‘outside the camp’ to touch and heal a leper, thereby symbolically breaking down walls between pure and impure, holy and unholy, saint and sinner.
Three Scriptural Signposts:
- The first reading from chapter 13 of the Book of Leviticus provides a good background to understand today’s gospel. The last line of the passage strikingly conveys the pathetic plight of a leper: “as long he has the disease; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp” (13:46). Lepers are ultimate outsiders. No one—not even God, supposedly—could help a leper in biblical times. The “leprous disease” (v.2) referred to is not only what is today diagnosed as Hansen’s disease, but also to other skin infections. The whole 13th chapter of Leviticus stipulates how such so-called ‘lepers’ should be treated. More than medical, physiological and hygienic concerns, lepers were to be ostracized because they lacked the bodily integrity necessary for the worship of Yahweh. Thus, only after examination and certification by priests could lepers ‘re-enter’ the ‘camp’: the worshipping community. Till such time, they were to be segregated from society and shout, “Unclean! Unclean!” (v.45). Thus, a leper faced many layers of helplessness and brokenness: (a) internal, personal and physical—since he was bound to “wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head be disheveled” (v.45); (b) social and communitarian—since he could neither go near to touch anyone, nor could anyone touch him; for if anyone did, s/he would become defiled, too; and (c) ritual and spiritual—since a leper was not permitted to approach anything considered ritually ‘clean’ and ‘holy’. Therefore, the leper was also considered cursed by God. In the Palestine of Jesus’ time, the ‘holy ones’ saw laws as extremely clear, as were the penalties for transgressing the smallest of the laws. God’s Law was immutable, sacred.
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Enter Jesus, and he seems to throw overboard many laws. The encounter between Jesus and the leper shows how laws are broken from both sides. According to Law, the leper is not supposed to be anywhere near Jesus, a holy, Jewish itinerant preacher. However, going beyond manmade laws, his inner disposition emboldens him to approach Jesus whom he probably had heard or seen working miracles. Moreover, he must’ve realized that Jesus is one who cares about those whom nobody cares about. So, without cries of the law-mandated: “Unclean! Unclean” he approaches Jesus, “begging him, and kneeling he said to him, ‘If you choose, you can make me clean’.” (v.40). The ball is in Jesus’ court; the choice is his. It’s time now for Jesus to put things in perspective—to put the human before the law, and love and compassion before all else. The leper has taken one step; Jesus takes three. First, he is moved with compassion. Second, he “stretched out his hand and touched him”. Third, Jesus said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” (v.41). Jesus breaks the law. Since he touches a leper, on the one hand, he will be deemed ‘unclean’ and unworthy to enter the temple and worship therein, but, on the other hand, he symbolically goes ‘outside the camp’ to bring those outside, in.
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More than the physical curing of the leper and giving a glimpse of Jesus’ healing powers, this miracle more forcefully reveals God’s heart reaching ‘outside the camp’. Jesus’ power extends beyond mere physical cures and breaks down the cruel confines of manmade laws to heal the ostracized ‘outsiders’ and make them whole ‘insiders’.
But Jesus is careful not to hastily throw out the baby with the bathwater. By saying, “Go and show yourself to the priest,” he instructs the leper to do what was required for socio-religious restoration and reconciliation. Leviticus chapter 14 has detailed do’s and don’ts which lepers were required to observe for full reinsertion into the community. Therefore, since it was a priest who had ‘legally’ certified the leper as ‘unclean’ it was now a priest who would have to declare him ‘clean’ once again. Note, however, that from Mk 2:1 to 3:6, Jesus enters into confrontation with the scribes and Pharisees for being overly legalistic about that very same Law. Moreover, as he journeys towards Jerusalem, he will encounter, touch, heal, and convert many more of those ‘outside the camp’ into ‘insiders’ of God’s heart and home. These grateful ‘insiders’ will become enthusiastic evangelists. Despite telling the healed leper not to publicize the healing, “he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word” (v.45). Mark makes a catechetical point here, namely, those who are cured and cleansed by Christ cannot but proclaim the good news of their healing and deliverance.
Linking the Psalm and 2nd Reading to the Theme of God saving those outside the camp:
“You are a hiding place for me; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance” (Ps 32:7) — expresses the joy of forgiveness. This psalm is chosen today since leprosy was regarded as the consequence of one’s sin. So, just as the leper reports to the priest, so must the sinner confess his sins to, and receive forgiveness from, Yahweh (stanza 2). This results in joy and exultation (stanza 3). In the second reading, Paul discusses the question of whether it is lawful or not for the Christians of Corinth to eat food that is sacrificed to idols. For some believers in Corinth, this was not a matter of concern; but for others, it was a cause of scandal. Finding a golden mean and putting first things first, Paul advises them to: “do everything for the glory of God.”
Here, too, more than slavishly following do’s and don’ts believers—and church leaders, in particular—ought to do what Christ would do. Paul does precisely that and can boldly say, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ”. If only you and me could say that, truthfully!
Three Christians who went, and go, ‘outside the camp’ like Christ to touch and heal lepers St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226): “[I began] doing penance in this way: for when I was in sin, it seemed too bitter to me to see lepers. And the Lord himself led me among them and I showed mercy to them. And when I left them, what had seemed bitter to me was turned in to sweetness of soul and body. And afterwards I delay a little and left the world” (From the ‘Testament of St Francis’, 1-2).
St. Damien of Molokai (1840-1889): From a letter to his brother “…I make myself a leper with the lepers to gain all to Jesus Christ.”
Pope Francis: Homily on this gospel passage in 2018 — “The most disturbing fact is that Jesus touches the leper, because this was absolutely forbidden by the Law of Moses.
Touching a leper meant you were infected, interiorly as well, spiritually: in other words, you become impure. But here the impurity does not flow from the leper to Jesus to transmit the disease, but from Jesus to the leper to purify him. In this act of healing, we are admire Jesus’ compassion, and His audacity: He is not worried about the disease or the law. He is moved only by the desire to free that man from the curse that oppresses him.”
Fr. Francis Gonsalves, SJ is the Executive Secretary, CCBI Comm. of Theology & Doctrine and President, Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune and former Principal of Vidyajyoti College, Delhi. He is also the Executive Secretary of the CCBI Commission for Theology and Doctrine. He has authored many books and articles and is a columnist with The Asian Age and The Deccan Chronicle national dailies.