Jesus the healer ~ CookingFood.Org

HONEY FROM THE ROCK”

Daily Reflections

Sunday, 11^thFebruary 2018,

6^th Week in the Ordinary Time

First Reading: Leviticus 13:1-2,44-46

The Law regarding leprosy is given to Moses and Aaron.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 32:1-2,5,11

A prayer of contrition and confession for sin.

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:31—11:1

Paul urges the Corinthians to imitate him as he imitates Christ.

Gospel Reading: Mark 1:40-45

Jesus cures a person with leprosy, who reports his cure to everyone.

In Biblical days, the diseases which passed for “leprosy” were scourges which inspired fear because the ancients appreciated just how serious the worst cases could be while they seemed powerless to alleviate the problem. In the Book of Leviticus it was not merely the terror of a slow and miserable existence which evoked horror, but also that such corruption rendered the individual ritually unclean, i.e., religiously unworthy. The leper was therefore prohibited from participation in the Jewish religious rites as described and developed from the days of Moses down through the centuries which followed. Leviticus, the third of the Five Books of Moses, was put into its essentially final written form about the 5 Century BC. In it the task fell to the temple priests to evaluate the seriousness of each particular case of leprosy. Indeed, it could be anything from the mildest visible form dry skin to what we know today as Hansen’s Disease. If the case was active, the ancients presumed that it was infectious, and thus, dangerous to the community. Ostracism was a fairly common prescription for anything which might be a threat to the health of the community of people or their animals. A social stigma of “punished by God” accompanied the ostracism. This idea likely evolved from the simplistic ancient attitude that all sickness was from Evil and that such a state merited punishment from God. So, not only was a leper considered ritually unclean and separated from the community of God’s People, the leper was also a serious sinner however unknown or secret the imputed sin might have been. We can only imagine what it must have been like to have been forcibly and publically ostracized (effectively “excommunicated”) from one’s entire society of family, friends, neighbors, culture, city, and religious community! “He shall dwell apart ...” What loneliness! What isolation! What lack of touch, consolation, encouragement, support, . . . What practical hopelessness! Such was the penalty for carrying a disease which one had not been responsible for contracting!

As in all cultures, ways evolved for assuming or presuming what society considered an appropriate behavior. In Jesus’ day, lepers were obligated to maintain their distance from all non-lepers in society. They were permitted neither to enter a town nor to approach closer than earshot to healthy individuals out in the countryside. They could beg at a distance, but never touch a healthy person nor the items a healthy person might use. That a leper approached Jesus in Mark’s Gospel narrative was itself a serious breach of social convention. And that Jesus touched the leper in order to make him healthy and whole was another astonishment. Both leper and Jesus deliberately broke the Law of Moses in order to accomplish a good result. In the Gospel narrative, both behaviors would have astonished the audience, even risking scandal. Thus, might we conclude (and rightly, I believe) that Jesus proposed that some radically “new” behaviors might be necessary for the sake of the Gospel message, even if (and especially because!) they might shock the self-righteous among us into changing our societal and religious world!! By the logic of Jesus’ day, anyone who touched a leper risked contracting the disease, and thus, would likely be expected to be ostracized from society. In the Gospel narrative, having healed the leper, Jesus told him how to make his healing public (to the temple priests), and he himself became even more intensely sought after than he had been. While he had deliberately abrogated the prohibition against touching a ritually unclean leper, the crowds appreciated only the healing. And, they sought a like healing. That Jesus had touched the unclean man was lost except to those who gave further consideration. For us today however, admittedly we have remarkably few socially condemned public behaviors for which we would lose our place in society. But, we also ought to consider when, where, and which are the various unjust or silly or superstitious societal customs we might deliberately risk changing. Remember, “Culture incarnates the Gospel, while the Gospel critiques the culture.”

Jesus’ Gospel behavior critiqued the Jewish ritual culture of his day, and changed it as an example to others and to us. Such an example of bold and loving change is very important in our Church culture.

The very short passage from 1 Corinthians is so completely out of context that it has lost its original meaning. Paul had expounded at great length in chapters 8 and 10 to answer and resolve the issues around whether Christians could eat meat which had been sacrificed to pagan divinities at the pagan butcher shops or in pagan temples. Indeed, in Greece (where Corinth was situated), pagan culture dominated. Paul’s conclusion was that whether or not there had been any offering to any pagan idol or divinity, it made no difference. From his perspective, pagan gods and goddesses were nothing more than imaginary. However, since some former pagans among the Christians were still squeamish, and even superstitious about the practice, he counseled that other Christians be sensitive to the “weak” ones and avoid eating meat when necessary. Hence, today’s opening lines “Whether you eat or drink ... Avoid giving offense ...” These were assertions about being sensitive and constructively helpful to others within the Christian Gospel fellowship. Indeed, there is no excuse for ill mannered or insensitive behavior. Paul was proposing that his fellow Christians imitate his own kindness and graciousness. This was as profound an example to the Corinthians as is Jesus’ example in the Gospel narrative about touching a leper.

So, between welcoming lepers (and those whom modern society treats as the ancients treated lepers: e.g., AIDS victims, the poor, illegal immigrants, street people, drug addicts, et al.) and promoting graciousness and good manners, we have the example of both Jesus and Paul. How much clearer could Gospel behavior be made for those of us who think of ourselves as considerate believers??!!