Dear friends in Christ,
In
today’s Gospel we meditate on the encounter that radically transformed the life
of a leper. He came to Jesus with
humility and submissiveness. He kneels before Jesus and says, “If you
choose, you can make me clean.” He
doesn’t ask to be healed, but rather to be clean. In his world, leprosy
meant more than physical illness. It meant exclusion from the temple, from
family bond, and the community at large. He was ritually unclean, forced to
live outside the towns, shouting “Unclean!” to warn others away. His deepest
wound wasn’t his just his skin infection; it was his isolation.
Mark
doesn’t tell us if he had previously heard about Jesus. But we can suppose that
the new of what Jesus was doing must have reached his ear. He heard the Good
News through others and now wants to see experience by himself what he heard.
His experience is strong demonstration of the importance of experience in the
domain of faith. We can hear beautiful sermons, etc. and be touched on the
spot. However, until one experiences personally the encounter with Jesus, faith
might remain more of “hear-say” than experiential knowledge.
Jesus
responds immediately. He stretches out His hand and touches him. That act alone
would have shocked everyone. According to Jewish law, touching a leper made you
unclean. But here, holiness flows from Jesus outward. Instead of becoming
defiled, He makes the man clean. The Greek verb is katharizō, to
cleanse, purify, restore. Jesus doesn’t just fix a body; He restores a person
to full belonging. With him there is life in full.
Mark
tells us Jesus was “moved with pity”, the Greek word splagchnizomai
means deep, visceral compassion, the kind that stirs the gut. This isn’t just
feeling of sympathy. Jesus sees the man’s suffering and acts from the core of
His being. “I do will it,” He says. “Be made clean.” And it happens at once. The
lepers prayer “If you choose, you can make me clean” is the type of
prayer that touches the heart of God.
Then
Jesus gives him a clear instruction: “See that you tell no one anything, but
go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses
commanded, as a testimony to them.” Jesus sends him back into the religious and
social order to obey, to bear witness through faithful action.
But
the man goes out and begins to proclaim the story freely. His excitement is
understandable, but the result is unintended: “Jesus could no longer openly
enter a town but stayed out in deserted places.” The healer is now driven to
the margins, the very place the leper once occupied.
This
passage invites us to reflect on how we approach God and receive grace. Do we
go to God with humility, self-abandonment or with the mentality of entitlement,
enumerating our supposed righteous actions? Do we accept God’s grace with
gratitude and obedience, or do we rush ahead with our own plans? The man wasn’t
punished; his joy was real. But his actions had consequences. True discipleship
includes listening to what Jesus asks after the miracle.
In
this season of Ordinary Time, when we walk with Jesus in the daily rhythm of
His mission, let us remember: He still reaches out to touch those the world
pushes aside. May we be courageous enough to identify our own leprosy, whatever that separates us from others, isolates us from our community and most especially from God could be tagged "leprosy". Jesus still says, “I do will it, be cleansed.” And He still calls us not only to
receive His mercy but to respond with humility, patience, and faithfulness. Not
just to tell what He has done, but to live it.
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