(Hebrews 3:7-14 / Mark 1:40-45)
Going through the readings of today, I was
going to share with you a reflection I had titled “Touching the Untouchables”.
I was going to accentuate the really moving gesture of Jesus touching the
leper. Then I would have presented it as a model for all Christians and indeed
all people of God will. May be we’ll have another opportunity to exploit that;
but for now, in continuing with the subject of yesterday’s reflection, let’s
stay on with the boundless love of God.
If yesterday we saw how His love moved Him to
cure Peter’s mother-in-law, today we witness that love stretched even further. This
time around it was a leper. Now many of us have never encountered a leper. So it
may help our reflection if I describe it a bit to you. It’s an ugly and chronic
disease that disfigures the skin, weakens the muscles and snaps the nerves. In the time of Jesus, it was even more grievous
because leprosy had a social and religious downside: not only was the leper ostracised
from the community but also he was made to feel alienated from God.
When the leper of today’s gospel met Jesus
there was more than one thing at stake. Jesus risked contracting the deadly
disease but even more so, He risked becoming religiously unclean. Yet when the
leper approached Him, He didn’t mind to stretch out His hand to touch the leper
and heal Him. He shared the pain of the man and was even ready to take his
place. And that was indeed the case, for at the end of the story we saw the
restored man leaving his isolation and running into the town to the priest; but
as for Jesus, “it was impossible for Him to enter the town openly {but} He
remained outside in deserted places” (Mark 1:45). They swapped positions, so
much His love for us.
Have a nice day and God loves u.
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