Homily: 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B
Friends,
in these weeks between the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of
Lent this coming week, we have been presented with an image of Christ who is
doing something new. On the third Sunday
in Ordinary Time, we heard Jesus proclaim that the “time of fulfillment” was at
hand, meaning that the third Christian age had now begun, the one in which the
promise that God made to our first parents after their sin would finally be
realized. Then, on the fourth Sunday, we
heard Jesus teaching in the synagogue with his own authority, and how he
demonstrated his authority when he drove the unclean spirit out of the man in
the synagogue. The people were amazed at
this “new teaching with authority” and perhaps began to see in Jesus the one of
whom Moses spoke: “A prophet like me will God raise up for you…” Then last week, the fifth Sunday, we heard
how Jesus entered the home of Simon Peter and healed Simon Peter’s
mother-in-law (and, subsequently, hundreds of others from that town). Although the next morning all came looking
for him, Jesus refused to become a spectacle and chose, instead, to leave that
place to preach in other towns. Truly, he
was a “new kind of prophet” and could not be contained to any one place.
This
week, we read a story of reversal. In
our first reading, we listened to the words of the Book of Leviticus, detailing
what someone with an ailment of the skin must do. Here we see a microcosm, if you will, of the
Fall. In the Garden of Eden, our first
parents sin and so are marked with death.
God, however, is life, and death cannot dwell in the presence of
God. Therefore, Adam and Eve are driven
from the Garden and cannot reenter until they have been cleansed from this
“stain” of death. Leprosy, to the people
of ancient times, was an outward sign that death was touching a person. Anyone marked in such a way could not enter
the temple—the place of encounter with God—to offer worship. Thus, the person also became a threat to
anyone who wasn’t so marked and wanted to enter the temple to worship. Therefore, the leper had to stay separated
and declare himself “unclean”, lest others be "infected" with death,
too. And, just like with Adam and Eve,
who couldn’t cleanse themselves of the sin that caused death to touch them, so
too the leper had no way to cleanse the skin ailment on his own. He simply had to pray that it would clear up
so that he could be restored to the worshiping community. For a first century Jew, this was the way that
the world worked. ///
In
the Gospel, we then hear the story of reversal.
First, the man approaches Jesus (a bold move for one who was supposed to
keep himself at a distance!). He pleads
with Jesus and Jesus does the unthinkable: he touches him! But, instead of the uncleanness coming out of
the leper and going into Jesus, what happens? Cleanness goes out from Jesus and into the
leper: a complete reversal! And how do
we know? Because, as the scripture says,
“the leprosy left the man immediately, and he
was made clean”. After, Jesus tells
the man not to make a big deal out of it—in other words, that he no longer has
to “shout out” about himself—but what does the man do? He immediately goes and tells everyone he
meets. No one went around shouting “I am
clean”, because it wasn’t necessary. But
this man does so voluntarily, reversing his obligation to declare himself “unclean”.
Finally,
while the man can now reenter the town and join the worshiping community, we
see that Jesus cannot! But is he really
excluded? No! Because, instead of everyone staying away
from the ones outside of town, they all come out to him! The presence of Jesus causes each of them to
recognize that they are "unclean", in some way, and that they have
been unable to become "clean" through their own efforts. Thus, they "separate" themselves
from the town (and, thus, the worshiping community) so as to meet Jesus and to
be made clean. And so we see that Jesus
takes our helpless story and he reverses it: proving once again that the “time
of fulfillment” has, indeed, come. ///
If
we stop and pay attention for just a moment, we see that this is us! The fact of the matter is that we're all
oppressed in some way: that is, we all have some kind of leprosy that alienates
us in some way. Take a hard look! We're all messed up in a lot of ways! And none of us is capable on our own of making
ourselves clean. Thus, the good news
that we hear today. Look at what Jesus
did to the leper! He completely reversed
everything that pushed him away. And
how? By his own divine power, of
course. But what actuated that power? It was the man embracing his leprosy and
taking a bold step to overcome it. This
man saw his “oppressed” state, but refused to remain a “victim” and approached
Jesus. And, through Jesus, his
“oppression” was overcome.
This,
therefore, is the message for our day: Don’t act like a victim in the face of
the leprosy of sin that is within you. Rather,
embrace your leprosy and do something to make it better. Recognize that you're a mess, yes. Recognize that you're a mess because life is hard
and full of suffering, yes; but also because you've given in to the victim
mentality and haven't always made good choices.
Now, recognize that there is something that you can do about it and
start to do it. Come to Jesus and submit
yourself to his will, like the leper from the Gospel reading: "If you
will, you can make me clean".
Then
ACT! If there is anything disordered in
your life (of which you are the cause), start to put it in order. Is there some behavior of mine that makes it
difficult for my wife/husband to love me more?
Do something today to change that behavior. Do I make it difficult for my mother/father
to stay calm with me because I refuse to help when asked? Decide today to listen and respond for love
of them. And there are countless other ways
that each of us can begin acting today. We
won't fix everything, of course—there's still suffering that just happens in
the world—but, if we begin today and focus on the things over which we have control,
at least we’ll have mitigated a lot of our self-inflicted suffering, right? That’s not nothing!
And
why all of this? Because there are real
victims out there—that is, those whose suffering is severe and not
self-inflicted—and they need our help. But we help no one when we wallow in our own leprosy,
saying "well, I can't because of this, that, and the other." Well, yes, maybe "this, that, and the
other", but you can do something. Whatever that is, you need to do it. Even if it’s just to shout out about it. ///
Friends,
in Jesus, our long exile has been reversed.
Everything that kept us separate from God is flipped on its head and
redeemed. But if we don't act, we'll
never fully realize it. The first act is
to believe: to believe in the power of Christ to flip it over. And so today, as you approach the Blessed Sacrament,
I invite you to pray: "Jesus, if you will, you can make me clean." Because, I assure you, he does will it. Receive, then, his healing; and go forth
telling everyone how Jesus made you clean; and then put your life back in order
so as to make life's sufferings a little more bearable for you and, thus, for
those around you. Then we will begin to
see more clearly the truth that Jesus proclaimed: that this truly is the time
of fulfillment.
Given in Spanish at Saint Joseph Parish: Rochester, IN –
February 11th, 2024
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