6th Sun of Year B....(Leviticus 13,1-2,45-46; 1Cor 10, 31-11,1; Mark 1,40-45: )

                                DOCTRINE AND FAITH

                      (Leviticus 13,1-2,45-46; 1Cor 10, 31-11,1; Mark 1,40-45: 6th Sun of Year B)

          

  When we read the first reading and today’s gospel reading together we will easily appreciate how innovative Jesus’ encounter and consequent healing of the leper was. A leper, as can be seen from the first reading, was marginalized and segregated from the religious and civil societies. The people of Israel followed the other nations around them in imposing complete isolation on lepers, constraining them to live far away from the village and town settlements, among themselves. In addition to the inhuman social segregation, the people of Israel added yet another burden on the shoulders of the lepers: religious segregation. Leprosy was thus, interpreted as a sign of divine disapproval and curse. A leper was regarded impure, unclean, a sick person before God, and one who was struck by divine retribution on account of his sins. He was a sick-sinner; sick because he sinned. This was why the leper was under the authority of the priest and in the case of any sign of healing had to present himself to the priest for verification and authentication. This was the situation before the coming of Jesus Christ.
            Jesus allowed the leper to come near him as we read in today’s gospel. Moved by pity, Jesus touched him. Through this, Jesus clearly showed that the law of segregation in the code of Moses’ law was thus abolished. For it was not true that leprosy was a punishment from God, just as it was not true that physical sickness was a sure sign of spiritual impurity and sin, or the idea that whoever was suffering was paying for his sins. This false impression is very much diffused among us Christians of today as we hear people sometimes exclaim: What evil have I done to be so punished by God? This is false notion, that Jesus openly repudiates. Even when one comes in contact with people whose sins are publicly known, those so called public sinners should not be avoided or segregated against. Our attitude and action should follow Jesus example of who was found in sinners company; publicans and prostitutes. In God’s eyes, there are no marginalized, segregated, rejected persons; all are God’s creatures, made in his image and likeness and loved and redeemed by the blood of Christ.
            Even though there are thousands of years between the people of Israel of Old Testament and us in the contemporary times, lepers are still in one way or the other marginalized. They are no more considered as sinners, but they are somehow forgotten and abandoned, neglected and condemned in isolation for years or throughout their lifetime. We are horrified by the stipulations of the law of Moses about lepers, but we should be even be more ashamed and horrified by insensitivity and disinterest of most of us in coming to the aid of those who are still pining under the stigma of leprosy diseases. The society and especially, the government have the onus to provide succor to our brothers and sisters that are in this condition. We should not shy away from our duties. Our consideration for help for the needy should not be limited to the lepers. There are many of our other brothers and sisters who suffer other types of ailments, for which we stigmatize them: people living with HIV/ AIDS; the poor, sick beggars that roam our streets, young people with problem of drugs, homeless people, abandoned aged and sick people, prisoners and ex-prisoners. We have responsibilities towards these people. It looks very easy and convenient to argue away our responsibilities for them, washing our hands clean by implying that they could be responsible for their situations, through careless immoral living or through laziness. Every Christian, especially the ones who have public responsibilities, should, like Jesus, literally touch with his/her hands the situations of our brothers and sisters in order to alleviate their suffering through one way or the other. Often times, a good gesture of compassion, like Jesus showed to the leper can do wonders. Also contemplate also that, were it not for the grace of God, we could be in the circumstances of these our indigent brothers and sisters, situations in which every drop of ONE NAIRA into our begging plate would have sent thrills of joy in our body and heart and hope of surviving hunger for day!

            We appreciate the ardent faith and confidence of the leper in Jesus in today’s gospel reading. He showed it by the gesture, begging on his knees and by his simple and spontaneous prayer, If you want, you can heal me. By this expression, he shows that he has no doubt of Jesus’ power to heal, he believes Jesus could heal him. But still, he left it at Jesus’ discretion: if you want to! Jesus rewarded his faith by his words, I want to, be healed! Immediately, the leprosy vanished. When we really desire to be freed from our physical, moral and spiritual ailments, we should have the type of faith the leper exhibited in saying some prayers like this:  Jesus, I believe that you can cure me, because nothing is impossible to you, it is enough that you want it. I would want it so much, however, do what you consider most useful to me. Such courageous request together with confidence in God’s benevolence is the best way to demonstrate the authenticity and depth of our faith. It is the best disposition of the soul to obtain what it desires. When it does not obtain it, we should consider the situation best for us and regard it as the will of God for us. Let us in this Eucharistic celebration pray that God may remove from us the most deadly forms of leprosy which are sins and the loss of the sense or smell of sin, and may we also have the graces to come to the succor of our needy neighbours in all their disadvantageous positions.  

+John I. Okoye.