Of course I want to, be healed

 'LORD, THAT I MAY SEE.'

A SHORT COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF THE DAY

Gospel

Mark 1:40-45

The Leprosy left the man at once, and he was cured

1.      A leper came to Jesus

2.      and pleaded on his knees: ‘If you want to’ he said ‘you can cure me.’

3.      Feeling sorry for him,

4.      Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him.

5.      ‘Of course I want to!’ he said. ‘Be cured!’

6.      And the leprosy left him at once and he was cured.

7.      Jesus immediately sent him away

8.      and sternly ordered him, ‘Mind you say nothing to anyone, but go

9.      and show yourself to the priest,

10. and make the offering for your healing prescribed by Moses as evidence of your recovery.’

11. The man went away,

12. but then started talking about it freely and telling the story everywhere,

13. so that Jesus could no longer go openly into any town,

14. but had to stay outside in places where nobody lived.

15. Even so, people from all around would come to him.

 

Jesus healed a man of leprosy. This was something unheard of. Leprosy was a living death – no contact with family, friends, neighbours. No contact with anyone except fellow lepers. Degraded and insulted, despised by men and also by God (so everyone thought), he was in every way an outcast. A living corpse.

But no, that was not true. Jesus, Emmanuel – God with us – felt the pain and suffering of this man. He wasn’t simply ‘feeling sorry for him’ as this translation weakly puts it, but he was moved to his very guts, wrenched with anguish at the sight. His heart bled for him. This is the meaning of the original Greek. ‘Of course I want to’ – there is no question about it.

Then Jesus did something no one else would ever do. He became one with the leper, joined him in his isolation and despair. He reached out and touched him. According to the Law he now was under the curse of leprosy and must live alone until it could be proved he was not a leper.

And so Jesus – still Emmanuel -   treats us, sinners. He reaches out to us. He became not just a sinner. He became sin for our sake. Those who like the leper approach Jesus are blessed with an encounter they will spread throughout the world. Anyone who has really met Jesus, even in faith, will proclaim it to everyone they meet.

You and I are the leper.