A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, ‘If you choose, you can make me clean.’ Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’ Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, saying to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’ But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.
Chapters 13 and 14 of Leviticus provide specific directions for unclean diseases. Lepers were considered “unclean” and condemned by law to live solitary lives outside the community. The “unclean” were restricted from the ritual and social life of the community. They believed that leprosy was a punishment for sin. Sadly, many still believe some disease and horrific weather events are punishment for sin, ie. AIDs and the hurricane in New Orleans.
The Gospel story from Mark tells of the healing of a leper. The leper comes to Jesus in trust and faith. He says, “If only you will, you can cleanse me.” Jesus is moved with pity for the leper. In healing the man, Jesus reaches out and touches him. Someone who no one could or would touch because they would become unclean, Jesus touches. Jesus then tells the leper to do what must be done in order that the former leper will be recognized by the community as clean.
Jesus also tells him not to tell anybody, but the leper cannot contain his joy. There is not one word of reprimand spoken to or about the man’s disregard of the injunction to silence. This does not mean the man was right in doing what he did. But it points to the fact that the messianic identity of Jesus could not be hidden.
Mark is trying to show that Jesus did not come primarily as a wonderworker, but as a proclaimer of the Kingdom of God. For Mark, it is only in his crucifixion that the secret of his identity is fully disclosed. But even before his crucifixion, when people reached out in faith they found his healing love.
The following from C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity, quoted in A Year with C.S. Lewis:Daily Readings from His Classic Works, edited by Particia S. Klein, we read:
FOR NO OTHER PURPOSE
This is the whole of Christianity. There is nothing else. It is so easy to get muddled about that. It is easy to think that the Church has a lot of different objects --- education, building, missions, holding services. Just as it is easy to think the State has a lot of different objects --- military, political, economic, and what not. But in a way things are much simpler than that. The State exists simply to promote and to protect the ordinary happiness of human beings in this life. A husband and wife chatting over a fire, a couple of friends having a game of darts in a pub, a man reading a book in his own room or digging in his own garden --- that is what the State is there for. And unless they are helping to increase and prolong and protect such moments, all the laws, parliaments, armies, courts, police, economics, etc., are simply a waste of time. In the same way the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other purpose.
What do you think?
The Rev. Sandi Mizirl
College Missioner for the Episcopal Diocese of Texas
Texas A&M University
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