Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lv 13: 1-2, 44-46; 1 Cor 10:31-11: 1, Mk 1: 40-45
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Leprosy is a terrible disease, though it is almost unknown in the western world. But it is still concerning us for it is a symbol of sin. We are all tainted with the leprosy of sin. Leprosy is the clear theme of the first Reading and the Gospel. In Biblical times lepers were treated as untouchable. Leprosy was the ultimate uncleanness. It made the victim an outcast not only socially, but also in the religious sphere.
Jesus broke through all the religious and social taboos and reached out a loving and healing hand to the leper. In this way we see how a Christian community should deal with sinners and people society rejects. Besides, a Christian is one who has been ‘cleansed’ by Christ in baptism and who ought to spread the ‘good news’.
This story comes from the Chicken Soup of the Soul. It was a bitter cold evening in northern Virginia many years ago. An old man stood by a shallow river waiting for someone to come along who could give him a ride across the river. There was no footpath. As he waited, half frozen, along came several riders galloping towards him. He let the first one go by without an effort to get his attention. Then another passed by, then another. Finally, as the last one approached, the old man caught the rider’s eye and said, “Sir, would you mind giving an old man a ride to the other side? There’s no passage way by foot.” Reining his horse, the rider replied, “Sure. please aboard.” Seeing the old man was too cold and stiff to climb up on the horse, the horseman dismounted and helped the old man up. The rider took the old man not just across the river, but to the old man’s home, which was just a few miles away. As they neared his tiny cottage, the rider’s curiosity caused him to inquire, “Sir, I noticed that you let several other riders pass by without making an effort to secure a ride. Why did you let all the others pass you by and wait for me to ask me to take you across? What if I had refused and just left you standing there?” As the old man lowered himself down from the horse, he looked the rider in the eye and replied, “I have been around these here parts for some time. I reckon I know people pretty well. I looked into the eyes of the other riders and immediately saw they had no concern for my situation.
It would have been useless to even ask them for a ride. When I looked into your eye, kindness and compassion were there. I knew you would be willing to help me.” The rider replied, “Thank you for your kind words. I hope I’m never too busy that I fail to respond to the needs of others with kindness and compassion.”
Jesus accepted the leper just as he was. Acceptance is the answer to rejection. It is one of the loveliest things that can happen to us. When people accept us, they give us a feeling that we are worthwhile.
Each of us longs to be accepted for what we are. It is the love, compassion and acceptance of others that makes us the unique persons that we are. When we are accepted only for the work we do, then we are not unique, for others can do the same work perhaps even better than we can. But when we are accepted for who we are, then we become unique and irreplaceable, and are able to realize our full potential.
This is how Christ accepted the leper, and how he accepts us. And how in our turn we may learn to accept others, and to reach out to those who are suffering the pain of rejection. In our turn we could rekindle hope, bring back the zest for living, in someone else, and thus mirror dimly the infinite compassion of God.
Peace and all good!
Fr. Valery Burusu
Parochial Administrator