6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel, a leper comes to Jesus and says: “Lord if you want to, you can heal me.” He was sure that Jesus could heal him, he just wasn’t sure that Jesus wanted to. Perhaps he had seen Jesus heal others – perhaps he had watched from a distance (for he was not allowed to come into the village), as the sick and lame of the village in Capernaum flocked to Simon Peter’s house to have their ailments healed by Jesus. Perhaps he saw the love that Jesus lavished on them, he saw how just one look and touch by Jesus assured these people that they were worthy of love and therefore of being healthy and living a full life. So he knew that Jesus could heal people, he just wasn’t sure if Jesus could love someone like him enough to cure him.

In first century Palestine, leprosy was not like other diseases, in that it virtually guaranteed permanent social ostracization. Lepers were considered unclean and therefore unworthy to be in social contact with “normal, clean” people. The laws were in fact very strict and dictated that lepers could not come within 20 metres of anyone else. Consequently as they moved about, they were obliged to continually shout out the words “I am unclean” in order that others be alerted to their presence and steer clear of them. More than the disease itself, this social isolation and alienation would have been a deeper source of suffering for a leper. This social isolation, coupled with the Jewish belief that sickness was a punishment from God for personal sin would have generated deep feelings of unworthiness in this leper. So he knew Jesus could heal him, he just wasn’t sure if he was lovable enough for Jesus to want to. It is a very poignant scene that we are given to contemplate today: the leper is saying to Jesus: “I’ve seen how you lovingly touch other sick people and restore them to health, but what about me, do you love me enough to do the same for me?” Jesus doesn’t hesitate for a moment: “of course I want to, be made clean.” In this way, Jesus re-integrates him with the rest of society, allowing him to see and touch his family, to be touched and loved again. No matter how loved we all feel, each one of us carries the pain of rejection in one way or another, and whether we like to admit it or not, the question of our worthiness of another’s love haunts us. While the love and affirmation of others is a healing salve to this existential wound, it is ultimately only the touch of Jesus that can bring lasting healing.

We are told at the end of today’s gospel that because of the leper’s proclamation of his healing in the towns and villages in Galilee, Jesus can no longer go openly into any town and must instead stay out in the deserted places. It would seem that Jesus has traded places with the leper. The leper has returned to being able to dwell in the towns and the villages, while Jesus must now stay on the margins of society. We are told that people still came to see Jesus on the outskirts of the towns. Jesus has turned the deserted places into a place where the sick are healed, the blind see and the poor have the good news preached to them. This was where the feeding of the 5000 people took place. It is in such places that Jesus can ensure that all are able to have access to the message that he came to preach. Those who were considered unclean and unable to enter the villages and towns were still able to a part of the new Israel that Jesus was creating.

This is not to say that Jesus stayed away from the towns. We frequently see him in the towns, whether in the town of Jericho, Capernaum or Nazareth. Jesus’ modus operandi included a back and forth between the towns and the deserted places. This should tell us something about the type of Church we need to be. There is a certain brand of Christianity, and indeed even Catholicism that has advocated what has come to be called “the Benedict option.” The “Benedict option” takes its name from St. Benedict’s flight from the world that saw him establishing the monastery at Monte Cassino. In Benedict’s mind the path to holiness was through separation from the world and dedication to prayer and penance in the wilderness. The Benedict option espouses a vision of the Church that fulfils its mission by being an alternative to the world, set apart in holiness and unsullied by the mundane realities of our world. This is not the model of the Church that Jesus and his disciples modeled for us. Jesus clearly wanted to create a community that would be no stranger to the sweat and grime that come with being in the thick of humanity and all its trials. May Christ give us the strength to create communities that are able to stay in the liminal space that straddles the margins of the wilderness and the hustle and bustle of the city.

Questions for reflection:

1. Am I aware of still carrying with me the pain of past rejections? Am I prepared to show Jesus my wounded pride and let him heal it?
2. Where in my life do I still feel ostracized, not completely accepted for who I am? Can I trust that Jesus’ love is all I really need to hold my head high as I go about my daily business?
3. How can we create communities that bridge gap between the desert and the city?