Homily for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

THE LEPER WAS NOT THE UNCLEAN

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. Gerard Majella Parish, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Sunday, February 15, 2015

At the time of Jesus, no disease was more dreaded and avoided than leprosy. It was considered repulsive and unclean. The fate of a leper was hard and disastrous. 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 and blessings. 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 therefore, a very lonely person. He had to live alone outside the camp; keep his garments rent, and his head bare. As he went about, he had to warn those coming from the opposite direction and those coming behind him of his polluted presence with a cry, “Unclean, unclean!” 

In today’s Gospel, one of such men approached Jesus and said: “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Looking at him, Jesus was moved with profound compassion and said: “I do will it. Be made clean.” Jesus was moved with pity for the following reasons: one, the number of years this man had suffered the physical pain of leprosy; and two, the number of years he had been shunned and abandoned by all. He had carried his pain all alone with no support from anyone. Coming to terms with how badly a child of God had been treated by all, Jesus was moved with pity for him. After all, the leper too was a child of God. His disease did not strip him of his dignity which was rooted in the image of God.

This leper broke the law of exclusion when he approached Jesus. But what did he hear about Jesus that prompted him to have the audacity to approach him? He heard that this Man, Jesus, was a friend of sinners. He heard that he raised the dead. He heard that Jesus opened the eyes of a blind man. He heard that Jesus made the cripple walk. He heard that he caused the deaf to hear. The leper heard that Jesus caused the mute to speak. He heard that he caused the paralyzed to walk. And because he heard the report of what Jesus had done and what he was doing, faith and courage were aroused in him. With that, he approached Jesus and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Looking at him, Jesus was filled with pity for him: You bet! “I do will it. Be made clean,” He said to him.

Jesus too broke the law by touching the leper. He did not care about keeping a law of segregation. 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 violated. Any law that hinders us from being humane, especially to the weak among us, should be disregarded without any afterthought. 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 a child of God in desperate need. The unclean was not the leper. The unclean were all those who shunned, ignored, showed no compassion, and treated him with disdain and as an outcaste. Anyone who looked the other way upon seeing the leprous man was the unclean. Those who don’t communicate with a brother or sister, but separate themselves from them are the unclean. If you fail to see the person but only see the disability, then you are the unclean. If you fail to see the person but only see the skin color, you are unclean. If you don’t stand up for the right of all persons, then you are the unclean. If you cannot hear your brother’s or sister’s cry for justice, then you are the unclean. Our overall attitude towards others, especially the poor and the vulnerable may be our biggest uncleanness. The unclean were all those who rejected the leper and all those who believed that God had rejected him. The unclean were his parents, brothers, sisters, neighbors, friends, priests, religious and political men and women, the entire society who abandoned him to languish in his misery. The unclean today are all those who neglect, ignore, shun and avoid the poor, the vulnerable and the other. 

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. But 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 declare proudly, “I am clean, I am clean.” Who cleansed you? Jesus of Nazareth! Who healed you? Jesus of Nazareth! Who forgave your sins? Jesus of Nazareth! Who restored 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!

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 and from the people of God. Leprosy kills! Sin also kills. Sin fascinates, but then assassinates! 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 priests who on behalf of Jesus officiates the sacramental celebration of our pardon by Jesus.