The gospel account of the leper healed by Jesus (Mark 1:40-45) presents a picture of what could be ourselves as reborn and reconciled followers of Jesus. In our ongoing meditation on Jesus, we discover that in His power and in his compassion we find our salvation.
Repugnant, daring
Leprosy condemns a person in the ancient world among the living dead. For the Jews, it and other skin diseases as scourge from God render a person unclean and unfit for life in community with others. The strict quarantine imposed to protect others means the leper must be excluded from society, be labeled and look unclean, announcing at the sight of anyone else his or her wretched state. In the account, it was surprisingly bold of the leper to approach Jesus; clearly he was ready to do whatever it takes to get out of his miseries, disregarding taboos.
Jesus Himself was amazingly daring, letting the leper get near Him and entering into an exchange with Him. Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched the leper and healed Him. In His loving mercy, Jesus, too, oft disregarded taboos, actually welcoming and even seeking out the repugnant outcasts and the forsaken like a good shepherd searching for the lost sheep. It was not a sentimental pity Jesus had for the man, but a form of “anger” inasmuch as leprosy was then associated with sin, somehow demon-caused, and so healing often involved exorcism. That is why Jesus is described as “warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once” —as in casting demons away. With the demon authoritatively exorcised out of the man, the leprosy is said also to have “left him immediately.”
Believing, healed, testifying
Apparently aware of the happenings around him, the faith and hope of the leper in Jesus empowered him to break through the wall segregating him from the rest of the living and to connect with the one who can give him new life. His “If you wish, you can make me clean” reveals his startling confidence in Jesus, who responded to the profession of faith with His creative word “I do will it. Be made clean.” The love of Jesus cannot not respond to anyone calling upon Him.
The man healed was told not to tell anyone anything, but to go and report to the authorities for the official verification leading to his readmission into the community. The miraculous healing was like a window of light through which the “secret” of Jesus penetrated the man’s consciousness. He could not possibly have kept his mouth shut in such an overwhelmingly joy-filled development. His very person healed and his presence alone would have shouted the miracle abroad, a testimony to Jesus, an invitation to others to believe in Him. The erstwhile leper made the story, the word about Jesus, public, “proclaiming” it as the early Church would irrepressibly proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.
Alálaong bagá, the former leper is a symbol of the believer, coming into contact with Jesus, purified from the leprosy of sin and reclaimed from death, and restored to a life of communion with God and with others. Reborn, healed and reconciled, the Christian should proclaim in joy the good news of salvation personally experienced. Touched by Jesus, such a person is never the same again; liberated from the forces of evil, the follower of Jesus should become a witness to Him, testifying by one’s life that Jesus is salvation.
Can it be said that in 500 years enough Filipinos have already come into contact with Jesus and, touched by Him, have been freed from repugnant disorders? If we have been healed and reconciled, how come evil appears still very much at home among us? What joy in Jesus have we been proclaiming to the world and to one another by our lives? Are we healed, healing and witnessing?
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Join me in meditating on the Word of God every Sunday, from 5 to 6 a.m. on DWIZ 882, or by audio streaming on www.dwiz882.com.