SUNDAY
6th
Sunday in Ordinary Time. (Year B/2).
1st
Ps 31:1-2, 5, 11, R/ v 7.
2nd
Gospel
This Gospel challenges us to consider our
attitudes to those who fail to live up to the rules and regulations considered necessary
by family, society and Church. Is our approach legalistic like the Pharisees or
compassionate like Jesus?
1st
The book of
Leviticus is at the centre of the Torah or the Law, which comes from God. In
Hebrew it begins with the words "and he called" and sets out to
teach, regulate and instruct a people called to be holy, how they should live.
"Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy." Lev.19:2.
Physical
deformities or mental illness were looked upon as signs of sin or God's
displeasure, which made people ritually unclean. Leprosy, which included
various forms of infectious skin diseases also, had a social stigma because of
health implications for the community.
Some of these
skin diseases, though infectious, were curable, but the person had to remain
outside the camp or town until visited by the priest and declared cured and
ready for ritual cleansing. While people were in quarantine outside the camp,
they had to give the customary signs of mourning in dress and appearance and
warn those, who might approach them, of their condition.
Gospel
Jesus continues
his mission of teaching and healing. There is an added dimension to his healing
in this situation as the person healed is an outcast from the community and the
Law of Moses, as we have seen in the first reading, is quite specific about
contact with such persons.
Both the leper
and Jesus are in conflict with the Law to an extent but Jesus prudently directs
the leper to follow the proper procedures to gain acceptance to the community.
He is 'stretching the Law' to save a fellow human being but respects the Law at
the same time. He puts compassion before legalism.
In spite of
being told to tell nothing to anyone, the man cannot refrain from telling his
good news everywhere. Mark would infer here that this is how we as Christians,
having been cleansed in Baptism, should spread the good news.
It is ironic
that Jesus having redeemed the outcast, now becomes an outcast and because of
his fame could no longer go openly into any town, but had to stay outside in
places where nobody lived. Success was making it difficult for Jesus to remain
faithful to his vision.
In the past, as
a Church, success may have dimmed our vision, but now we find ourselves
increasingly being considered irrelevant in modern society and put outside the
camp. Let us take this opportunity, as Church, to redefine our mission and
follow in the footsteps of Jesus, reaching out to the outcasts and lepers of
society, even if it means staying outside the camp among the lepers.
Updated
by Br. Dick Burke 5/2/2012.