Deacon Tim’s Homily: 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time B— St. Mary’s of Hannah

Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46, Psalm 32, 1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1, Mark 1:40-45

Lets take another look at the end of today’s first reading from Leviticus. In the Old Testament law delivered by Moses, someone with leprosy had to “dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp.” When I hear something like that, I think about one thing: camping. I’ve always loved camping. When I was growing up, our family went on a lot of camping trips.

On a trip to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky when I was about 12 or 13, I remember having some fun one day hanging around with another boy my age from a nearby campsite. This was a welcome break from my siblings, and we had a lot of fun together. The next day we met up again. That’s when I noticed a nasty, oozing rash on his arm. I asked, and he told me that it was from poison ivy. I had some notion that if I hung around with him much longer,
I’d probably end up catching it from him. So in the kind, compassionate way of 13 year old boys, I promptly abandoned him and went back to play with my stupid brothers. Simply put, I shunned him. Thinking only of myself, I forced him to dwell apart, making his abode outside my camp.

Of course I didn’t think of it at the time, but in hindsight I can only imagine that he must have felt hurt and lonely after my rejection, and through no fault of his own. So too, the leper in today’s gospel story. Considered to be impure by his fellow Jews, he was forced to make his abode outside the camp, to live in isolation. And in this past year, we’ve seen plenty of isolation and quarantine. Who among us doesn’t get a little nervous and keep a distance whenever we hear someone cough or sneeze?

Whether its coronavirus or a nasty rash, we’d rather not risk catching a contagious disease. But actually, the ancient Jews weren’t really that concerned about catching leprosy from their neighbor. (Which incidentally isn’t the same leprosy we now call Hansen’s disease.) What really concerned them was ritual impurity. Anyone that was unclean, whether in body or soul, was considered unfit to come before the Lord. It wasn’t the skin condition that was contagious. It was the ritual impurity of it all. They believed the entire community had to be unstained
to approach God in communal worship.

Nowadays, we know that God does not reject anyone that comes before Him just because of a bodily disorder beyond their control. That’s not enough to separate us from communion with God.

So how are we to understand these passages about leprosy? Today, we need to focus not on physical problems,
but rather on spiritual uncleanliness: mortal sin.

This whole episode about leprosy symbolizes our separation from the Church, and from God Himself, when we isolate ourselves by sinning. But once we realize what we’ve done, we don’t have to remain in our isolation. There’s a remedy – a way to reconnect to the Church and to right relationship with God. It’s the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

When we sin, we need to humble ourselves like the leper and say to Jesus “If you wish, you can make me clean.” And Jesus will stretch out his hand, touch us, and say to us “I do will it. Be made clean.”

It was the job of the Hebrew priests from the tribe of Levi to verify that a leper was physically cured, and to restore that person to the community through a purification ritual dictated by Moses. In keeping with the ancient law, Jesus said to the leper in today’s Gospel “…go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed.”

Christ did the healing, but the priest still had the job of purifying the healed leper and bringing him back into the fold. Our priests today are instrumental in reuniting penitent sinners to the Church and restoring their spiritual health through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. They represent the healing touch of Christ, and they prescribe for us a penance so we can repair the damage caused by our sin. Our sinfulness, not our physical maladies, is what really separates us from God and from each other.

But – Jesus heals us and restores us to the church. He makes us pure and holy again by his healing touch and power, not ours or the priest’s. He does will us to be made clean, If only we come to him in repentance.

During the upcoming Lenten season, I urge you to avail yourself of the healing touch of Christ in the Sacrament of Confession. Then with a clean heart, go back into the community like the healed leper and tell everyone what God has done for you.