6th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle B
Lv 13:1-2, 44-46, Psalm 32:1-2,5,11, 1 Cor 10:31-11:1, Gospel Mark:1:40-45
Introduction
Leprosy is a sign of impurity – unclean - an unworthiness to be in the presence of God. Yet, we find ourselves here none the less.
How are Sin and Leprosy alike?
Leprosy separates us from God. It makes us unable to worship God because we have rejected God.
Leprosy is an image of our soul when it is disfigured. Listen to this language from Leviticus: “If someone has on his skin a scab or pustule or blotch which appears to be the sore of leprosy”.
How do Lepers live?
We separate ourselves from the community – so that we can protect the community. Lepers are contagious, they reject God’s love and they seek to be by themselves. They live messy lives (their clothes are rent), and they muffle their beards!
I have always wondered what a muffled beard is like. Perhaps it is this.
[[MUFFLE THE BEARD]]
If we hang out with Lepers our chances of becoming one is improved because Leprosy is contagious. Think about Sin, if we hang out with Sinners, how much more likely is it that we will begin to rationalize and justify our sinfulness.
Whenever I fall into Sin, I feel like a leper. When I realize that I have banished myself from God, I am down, sad, isolated. I do not feel pure, loved, blessed, but rather alone, isolated, unworthy.
This unworthiness is itself a trap of the enemy because he wants to trap us in our sin, keep us isolated and outside the camp – away from God’s love.
St. Augustine – A decadent Sinner
St. Augustine of Hippo is a good witness to the leprosy of Sin. Augustine struggled to know that he was loved, and the lack of love led him into deep sin. On one occasion he stole pears from a farmer, so that he could gain the admiration of his friends. He said that when he ate the pears, that they were not even that good and eventually, he ended up throwing the pears to the pigs.
This action from his life is deep in meaning. We seek after those things that are sinful, not for what they are but for what we think they will get us – love, affection, admiration.
In Sin we substitute a lesser good for a greater good
What we fail to realize is that we most need this affection from God. When we act to obtain this love, and fail then we discover how worthless our pursuit has been. Think about the reality of trading the love of God for Pig food! Yet this is what St. Augustine did.
Concubine = shacking up = incomplete love
The other way that St. Augustine was wounded in his ability to love was through marriage and intimacy. For 14 years he lived with a concubine – he was “shacked up” as we might say. How many of us have entered into this relationship and accepted it as normal, ok and good enough. Yet in the Lord’s eyes it is incomplete – lacking in the fullness of God’s love. Our habit of sin separates us from God yet again. It is a kind of leprosy that we suffer from.
Again and again St. Augustine fell into the trap of lust, seeking the affection of God through twisted or distorted relationships, friendships.
Christ – he helps us to form a complete relationship.
This is why the Gospel today is good news!
God is reaching out to us in our desolation. We are isolated, alone and infirm, and yet if we but cry out to God, he will hear and answer us.
A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said, "If you wish, you can make me clean."
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, "I do will it. Be made clean."
Show yourself to the priest
In the Sacrament of Confession Christ heals us and leads us back into relationship with him. He sets out the path by which this leprosy can be healed.
He said to him, "See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them."
Confession is just that – showing the injured, wounded and corrupted parts of ourselves to Christ – who enters into those wounds, purifies them and then washes us clean. He renews us and gives us yet another opportunity to grow in intimacy
Lent is just around the corner…
To “show yourself to the priest” is symbolic of confession. Go and speak about the sins that are trapping you and making you sick.
Without recognizing our Leprosy we are trapped – when we do we are saved.
St. Augustine said “There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future” – without the ability to recognize conversion and the need to be saved. Who was willing to declare themselves unclean and then work seriously on being healed.
Fight the Habit of Sin
Sometimes it is the habit of sin that prevents us from conversion. That is why these readings today are so apropos, as they stand at the gateway to Lent and invite us to conversion. Lent is coming – in 4 more days. Now is the time for us to recognize our need for transformation - to choose to spend this coming Lent working to break down and destroy habits of sinfulness in our lives.
I do will it – be made clean!
Showing yourself to the priest is an invitation to encounter the healing love of God. Jesus responds to this leper’s Sin with the exclamation – “I do will it! Be made clean!”
God’s love for us, his desire to save us is so great that he is willing to be made a leper so we can enter into the community of God.
Do Everything for the Glory of God
Lent is just around the corner. Now is the time to be thinking about conversion, about how to live our lives this lent so that this time is a time of grace and conversion for us, and not a superficial “Giving up something” for a few weeks. Let us adopt a new perspective for this Lent and listen to St. Paul
Brothers and sisters, Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.
St. Paul calls us to conversion – to offer everything to God because everything has purpose.
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ
St. Paul goes on to encourage us to imitate him when he says.
This Lent - Be Repentant Lepers and Reformed Sinners
I want to challenge us to take up a new way of living this Lent – to be repentant lepers and reformed sinners. Find a Saint that fascinates you, and learn more about them – seek to imitate them.
I challenge you to choose a Saint to study, to begin to imitate. Saints are less intimidating that Christ and they help us to put our lives and our call into perspective. They encourage us to holiness and purity of heart.
St. Augustine said “There is no saint without a past, there is no sinner without a future.”
In the Gospel Jesus encourages us – “The Future is bright! Go and Sin no more.”
