Jesus, the man of unbelievable compassion

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. Gerard Majella Parish

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

In the time of Jesus, no disease was more dreaded and avoided than leprosy. Leprosy was considered repulsive and unclean. The fate of anyone with leprosy was very hard and disastrous. Even though it is not a disease that is easily passed on to others, the person who contracted it was excluded from his family, friends, and from his familiar environment. The person was considered unclean, unworthy and incapable of God’s holiness. As far as the Jewish people were concerned, leprosy was a punishment for sin. And the leper must be treated as an outcaste. A Leper was a very lonely person because he was forbidden from relating with others, not even the members of his family. He must live alone outside the camp; he must go on rented clothes and bared head. As he went about, he must give warning to those coming from the opposite direction and those coming behind him of his polluted presence with a cry, “Unclean, unclean!” A leper was a man already dead, though still alive. He did not only bear the physical pain of his disease, he also bore the mental anguish and the heartbreak of being completely banished and excluded from human society. The disease was painful; but being shunned and rejected by all was even more painful. 

In today’s gospel, one of such men met Jesus. He approached Jesus, knelt down and begged him: “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Looking at him, the Lord was moved with profound compassion, and out of compassion he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said: “I will do it. Be made clean.” Jesus was deeply moved with pity by, one, the number of years this man had suffered the physical pain of leprosy; two, the number of years he had been shunned and abandoned by all, that is, the lonely life he had lived. He had carried his pain all alone with no support from anyone. Three, coming to terms of how badly a child of God had been treated by all, he was moved with pity for him. After all, the leper too is a child of God. His disease had not stripped him of his dignity which is rooted in the image of God 

But do you know that the leper broke the law by coming close to Jesus? But he did not care about the law. In Jesus, he saw what he had not seen in any other man or woman. He knew that in his situation, it was only Jesus that would care. Jesus to him was compassion personified. Do you know that Jesus too broke the law by touching a leper? Jesus too did not care about keeping the law of segregation and separation. He refused to drive away a man who had broken the law. The leper had no right to come close to Jesus. He had no right to speak to him at all. But Jesus attended to his desperate request with an understanding compassion. What is the law compared to the life of a child of God. Any law that forbids us from reaching out and taking care of the least of our brothers and sisters should be broken. Any law that forbids love and charity in any way, form and shape to the most vulnerable in our society should be broken. Any law that hinders us from being humane especially to the weak among us should be broken without any after thought. Jesus broke such a law when he touched a leper, healed him, restored him to his human family, and also restored his human dignity, pride and self-worth. He showed him compassion that no one else was ready to show him. As far as Jesus was concerned, the man was not unclean. When he looked at him, he did not see uncleanness, rather, he saw a child of God in desperate need and he responded to him with desperate compassion. 

Having cleansed him, Jesus sent him to fulfill the prescribed ritual: “See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” Jesus obeyed the law only when it is necessary to do so. He did not recklessly break human law. With the leper healed, he sent him out with a don’t and a do. Don’t tell anyone. Go and show yourself to the priest and to offer the needed sacrifice. But as soon as the man left the sight of Jesus, he could not hold his excitement and joy. He could not hold to himself the mighty work that had been done for him. He just could not resist telling anyone about Jesus and what he did for him. And do you blame him? I don’t! He spread the word. His shout was no more, “I am unclean, I am unclean.” For the first time in a long time, he was able to scream, “I am clean, I am clean.” Who cleansed you? Jesus of Nazareth! For the first time in a long time, the former leper would sit among people, chat with them, eat with them, and make his residence among them. Who did it? Jesus of Nazareth! It’s possible he shouted, “I have seen a man who cured me and restored me; I have seen a man who allowed me to come close to him; I have seen a man who reached out and touched an unclean man with leprosy; I have seen a man who broke the law to make me clean. His name is Jesus of Nazareth.” 

Sisters and brothers, we are not lepers. We don’t have leprosy. But what leprosy does on the outside is what sin does in the inside. What leprosy does physically is what sin does spiritually. Leprosy isolates a man or woman from the human society. Sin isolates a person from God. Leprosy kills! Sin also kills. The leper needed Jesus to be healed, we also need Jesus to heal us. The leper needed Jesus for restoration, we also need Jesus for restoration. The leper went to Jesus with a prayer request, “If you want to, you can make me clean.” We too need to go to Jesus and ask him to make us clean and whole. Jesus sent the leper to the priest who will officiate the celebration of his restoration to the human family. We too must go to our priest who on behalf of Jesus officiates the sacramental celebration of our pardon by Jesus. 

Today’s gospel says one thing louder and clearer: that Jesus is the man of unbelievable compassion. In him compassion, wisdom and power meet!

Praise the Lord!