6th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Be Made Clean)

It’s too seldom that the lectionary readings provide instruction regarding scabs and pustules. But it also crossed my mind that it might be best to have a reading like that on a day of prescribed fasting.

          What we hear though from the Book of Leviticus, but also in the Gospel, are the harsh effects of a community trying to protect itself. For skin conditions like leprosy, there were no known cures, nor more humane ways to contain its spread. Strict isolation was the only known solution. So, aside from suffering the affliction itself, these poor souls were distanced from family and friends. Even more, they were disallowed from the synagogue, the place of worship. Therefore, they felt cut off even from God.

In today’s Gospel, a man came to Jesus. He knelt and begged. It’s interesting to note that he didn’t ask to be healed. He asked to be made clean. It infers his deep desire to once again to join those of his community to worship their God. “I do will it. Be made clean”, says Jesus.

This past Monday, some of us on the office staff went to the Regal Cinema to see episodes 1-3 of the Chosen, season 4. The portrayal of Jesus in this series is very compelling, I believe. And among the scenes where he is particularly captivating are those when he encounters someone in need of healing. It’s powerful to behold how these people, once in great pain, are healed. They’re left dumbstruck, just as are those witnessing it.

          But we find in the course of the Chosen series, that there are those who are experiencing sufferings and ailments, and are left wondering why Jesus doesn’t heal them or bring healing to their situation. It leaves them with a feeling of rejection and hopelessness, and even gives way to resentment.

As we know from the Gospels, there are several occasions in which people asked Jesus to perform miracles or signs, to prove his identity. But he almost always refused. I’ve heard it suggested that while “miracles can be a consolation, they don’t always bear the lasting fruit in people’s lives that we think they will.”.[1]

As we know, Jesus didn’t come to heal every malady or dilemma in his time and place. And he didn’t come to heal every malady or dilemma in ours. So, then why did he come? He came to help us overcome our slavery to sin.

          But I suspect most of us would rather have him fix our problems and alleviate our suffering, more than we want him to remedy our attachment to sin. And as long as we hold on to that expectation, we’ll likely fail to appreciate who Jesus really is, and we too will likely regard him with disappointment.

Jesus knows that it’s not skin diseases or mental illness that separate us from his Father, and that keeps us from establishing his kingdom here and now: it’s sin. So how does sin have a hold on you? Even if you’re okay with it or don’t mind having just a little attachment to sin, can you at least identify how it has a hold on you? That’s what he so greatly desires to free you from. He’s less concerned with the matters that effect on this side of death, as he what lies beyond it. His foremost preoccupation is not for you to be healed, but instead for you to be made clean.

[1] Bergsma, John. The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year B. Emmaus Road Publishing. Kindle Edition.