February 13, 2009
Sunday Scripture
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
BY FATHER DONALD DILGER
After choosing his disciples, Jesus spent the Sabbath at the synagogue of Capernaum and at the house of Simon (Peter) and Andrew, which was adjacent to the synagogue. In the synagogue he had cast out a demon. In the house of Simon and Andrew he cured Simon’s mother-in-law of a fever. After the Sabbath was over he cured many others of diseases and evil spirits. Then he took a break for prayer in solitude, but not for long. Simon Peter and others invaded his retreat to bring him back to Capernaum. Jesus explained that he had to move on to other towns. He set off on a preaching and healing tour of Galilee.
During this tour, Jesus was approached by a leper. This was not necessarily Hansen’s disease, although it could have been, but other skin diseases were often thought of as leprosy. The Torah even speaks of leprosy of houses and clothes, Leviticus 13-14. The leper was usually an outcast. He lived alone with little or no social life, often outside the town or city. Jesus was now somewhere in the wilderness when the leper approached him. The Torah of Moses prescribed in Leviticus 13:45-46 how the leper was to dress and conduct himself in the presence of others. He must wear torn clothes, let the hair of his head hang loose, cover his upper lip, and shout, “Unclean! Unclean! He shall live alone in a house outside the camp (town?).”
Jesus’ reputation for healing preceded him. The leper says, “If you will it, you can make me clean (cure my leprosy).” It is the simple faith and hope of a man who was normally beyond restoration to a normal life in society. Mark writes, “Jesus was moved with compassion.” The Greek verb used is better translated “moved to the depths of his soul.” Jesus stretched out his hand and touched the leper, a man who had been deprived of all human touch. Jesus says, “I do will it. Be made clean!” And the man was cured of his leprosy. Jesus observes the Torah prescription, as he does elsewhere, of sending the cured leper to a priest for examination and for the ritual which was prescribed for the restoration of the man to the community. The elaborate, expensive ritual is found in Leviticus 14.
Now the sequel. The translation of Mark’s Greek now reads, “Jesus warned him sternly, and dismissed him at once.” A better translation of Mark’s unusual description of Jesus’ reaction to the former leper, “He snorted at him, and sent him away immediately.” This is not a pretty picture of Jesus. When Matthew and Luke some years later copy this story from the Gospel of Mark, they drop Mark’s peculiar expression and abrupt dismissal of the man, but retain Jesus command to the leper to present himself to a priest for the usual ritual.
Jesus had imposed silence on the cured leper, but the man seemed too grateful to observe this command. The silencing of the man, like the silencing of the evil spirits earlier in this chapter, is probably connected with Mark’s theological view that Jesus’ power, and therefore his identity as Son of God, should not be publicized until he was identified as Son of God in his weakest moment, at his death on the cross. His power flowed from his death and resurrection. The story of the leper’s cleansing became so widespread that Jesus could no longer enter a town openly, but stayed outside the town. Streets were narrow, and if the town was walled, the situation was even more confining. People now came to Jesus outside the towns and cities to hear him and to be healed. Any Catholic Christian who understands the power of Jesus’ word and the power of his healing touch in the Eucharist would not easily excuse himself or herself from the Sunday liturgy.
This reading is only a small part of the two chapters of the Torah that are concerned entirely with leprosy or other skin disease of the human body. These two chapters also contain laws for the treatment of “leprosy” of houses and clothes, probably some kind of mold that attacked dwellings and clothing worn too long or improperly stored. Part of this reading was cited in the above commentary on the gospel.
This reading does not begin to give the sense of what Paul writes to his unruly new community of Christians at Corinth. In this part of the letter Paul formulated guidelines on the matter of eating meat sacrificed to a pagan god, not a current problem for us. After meat was dedicated in the temple of a god, the meat not eaten in temple festivities was taken to the butcher shops for sale. Can such meat be eaten? The first rule: “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.” Second rule: If invited to dinner at a home, do not ask about the origin of the meat, but eat what is set before you. Third rule: If someone says the meat has been dedicated to some idol, do not eat if it scandalizes others at the dinner. If no scandal is involved, eat with thanks and give glory to God. Final rule: give no offense to anyone, “not seeking your own benefit but that of many . . . Be imitators of me,” Paul writes. Who but Paul of Tarsus would dare to make that final statement?