Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle B

MARK 1:40-45
WHEN I WAS GROWING UP IN MONTANA, WE HAD AN ABUNDANCE OF DIOCESAN PRIESTS, AND WE HAD A CATHOLIC COLLEGE THAT WAS THE BISHOP'S PRIDE AND JOY. HE HAD SENT SEVERAL OF THE DIOCESAN PRIESTS OFF TO GET ADVANCED DEGREES IN EVERYTHING FROM BIOLOGY TO LIBRARY SCIENCE, AND THEY MADE UP THE BULK OF THE FACULTY OF THE COLLEGE. I REMEMBER HOW THEY LIVED IN A BUILDING WHERE EACH HAD HIS SET OF ROOMS AND IN THE BASEMENT THERE WAS A CHAPEL WITH SIXTEEN ALTARS, SO THAT THEY COULD ALL SAY THEIR MORNING MASSES IN LATIN AND GET ON WITH THEIR TEACHING WORK.
AS YOU MIGHT IMAGINE, MOST OF THESE PRIESTS DID NOT DO MUCH PASTORAL WORK. SOME OF THEM SPENT THEIR ENTIRE CAREERS AS PROFESSORS.
THERE WAS ONE PRIEST, THOUGH, THAT HAD THE HEART OF A PASTOR. FATHER RYAN WAS A PROFESSOR OF HISTORY DURING THE DAY, BUT ONCE OR TWICE A WEEK, HE WOULD PUT ON AN OLD GREEN SWEATER AND GO DOWN TO THE SOUTH END OF TOWN WHERE THERE WERE A LOT OF CHEAP BARS AND HOMELESS PEOPLE (WE USED TO CALL THEM BUMS IN THOSE DAYS). HE WOULD FIND SOMEONE WHO WAS REALLY DOWN AND OUT, AND INVITE THAT PERSON INTO ONE OF THE BARS, AND TRY TO GET A MEAL INTO HIM. HE WOULD TALK WITH THE PERSON, NOT TRYING TO CONVERT HIM OR PREACH TO HIM, BUT EXPRESSING A GENUINE INTEREST IN THE MAN AND HIS STORY. HE WOULD USUALLY SLIP THE MAN A FEW DOLLARS AND DISAPPEAR INTO THE NIGHT, BACK TO THE COLLEGE. A FEW PEOPLE KNEW ABOUT HIS HOBBY AND GAVE HIM A FEW DOLLARS TO REPLACE THOSE HE GAVE AWAY. ONE WAS A BAR OWNER WHO WAS MY FATHER'S BOYHOOD FRIEND. THAT'S HOW I KNEW. BUT EVERYONE CAME TO KNOW ABOUT THIS AT HIS FUNERAL EULOGY, WHEN IN ADDITION TO THE CLERGY AND LAITY, RELATIVES AND FORMER STUDENTS, SEVERAL UNKEMPT, DIRTY, AND ROUGH LOOKING MEN IN THE BACK OF THE CHURCH LISTENED AS HIS STORY WAS FINALLY MADE PUBLIC.
IN THE GOSPEL STORY TODAY, WE SEE TWO MIRACLES. ONE IS OBVIOUS, THE HEALING OF THE LEPER. THE SECOND IS LESS OBVIOUS – THE ACTION OF JESUS WHICH BRINGS THE LEPER BACK INTO THE COMMUNITY. IN OUR FIRST READING, WE HEARD JUST A LITTLE OF THE LEPROSY LAWS OF THE JEWS. THERE WERE MANY OTHERS, INCLUDING THE LAW THAT ALLOWED YOU TO DRIVE A LEPER OUT OF YOUR TOWN IF HE CAME IN, AS THIS MAN HAD DONE. THERE WERE LAWS ABOUT WHAT YOU HAD TO DO IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY TOUCHED, OR WERE TOUCHED, BY A LEPER. AT THE VERY LEAST, YOU BECAME RITUALLY UNCLEAN, AND COULD NOT GO INTO THE TEMPLE AND OFFER SACRIFICE UNTIL YOU HAD BECOME CLEAN AGAIN, USUALLY AFTER A SUFFICIENT PASSAGE OF TIME AND A SACRIFICE. THERE WAS NO WELFARE, AND LEPERS COULD NOT WORK, AND IT WAS EVEN HARD FOR THEM TO BE BEGGARS SINCE THEY COULD NOT GO INTO TOWNS. THEY TRULY LIVED LIKE ANIMALS, MANY OF THEM LIVING OFF OF INSECTS AND LEAVES, AND OCCASIONALLY A FAMILY MEMBER MIGHT HAVE LEFT SOMETHING FOR THEM – BUT THEY COULD NOT COME CLOSE ENOUGH TO TOUCH. THERE WAS A REASON THEY WERE CALLED “UNTOUCHABLES” AND THE LEPERS, BEING DEEPLY CONDITIONED BY THE SOCIETY THEY GREW UP IN, DIDN'T DARE TOUCH EACH OTHER, EITHER.
CAN YOU IMAGINE? BEING DEPRIVED OF TOUCHING OTHER HUMAN BEINGS IS A BIG DEPRIVATION INDEED. BABIES WHO AREN'T TOUCHED CAN WITHER AWAY AND DIE. CHILDREN WHO AREN'T TOUCHED DEVELOP SERIOUS PERSONALITY DISORDERS. MARRIED PEOPLE WHO ARE MAD AT EACH OTHER SAY “DON'T TOUCH ME!” BECAUSE TOUCHING AND BEING TOUCHED IS PART OF THE JOY OF MARRIAGE.
WHEN THE LEPER APPROACHES JESUS, HE SAYS, HESITANTLY, HOPING, “LORD, IF YOU WISH, YOU CAN HEAL ME.” THE LEPER HAS BEEN LIVING A DEATH, WORSE THAN REAL DEATH, PERHAPS; AND HE NO LONGER CARED WHAT HAPPENED; IF HE WERE TO BE STONED AND DRIVEN OUT OF TOWN FOR APPROACHING JESUS, SO BE IT. AND IF JESUS REFUSED TO HEAL HIM, WELL, HE HAD TRIED. BUT JESUS TOUCHED HIM! AND IN THAT SIMPLE MOVEMENT, THE LEPER BECAME PART OF THE COMMUNITY AGAIN, THE LEPER RE-ENTERED THE HUMAN RACE. JESUS VIOLATED THE LAWS OF LEVITICUS, TOOK ON THE UNCLEANNESS OF THE MAN, AND ENTERED HIS WORLD. SO JESUS WORKED TWO MIRACLES THAT DAY; HE CURED THE LEPROSY, WHICH HE COULD HAVE DONE WITH A WORD, FROM AFAR; BUT HE ALSO TOUCHED THE MAN, RESCUING HIM FROM THE LIVING DEATH OF HIS ISOLATION.
FATHER RYAN UNDERSTOOD WHAT JESUS TAUGHT US THAT DAY. CURING A DISEASE OF THE BODY OR THE MIND IS A WONDERFUL THING, I KNOW, HAVING CURED A FEW AND HAVING HAD ONE OR TWO OF MY OWN CURED. BUT ALL OF US CAN WORK THE MIRACLE JESUS WORKED, THE MIRACLE THAT FATHER RYAN WORKED OVER AND OVER AGAIN IN THOSE EVENINGS AT THE SOUTH END OF HELENA, MONTANA.
IF YOU READ THE GOSPELS, YOU HAVE TO AGREE THAT JESUS WENT OUT OF HIS WAY FOR THE PEOPLE ON THE MARGINS. BEGGARS, LEPERS, BLIND, LAME, PROSTITUTES, TAX COLLECTORS, EVEN A WOMAN WITH A BLEEDING DISORDER, AND THERE WAS NO ONE IN JEWISH SOCIETY THAT COULD BE LOWER THAN THAT). AND SO OFTEN, HE WOULD BEGIN HIS INTERACTION WITH THEM BY TOUCHING THEM. AND YOU KNOW, THE GOSPELS ONLY HINT AT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED. I IMAGINE JESUS STOPPING AND SPOKE TO THESE PEOPLE, JUST SMALL TALK, JUST SHOWING THEM THAT HE WAS INTERESTED IN WHO THEY REALLY WERE, WHAT THEY THOUGHT. AND THE GOSPEL WRITERS COULDN'T RECORD EVERYTHING, SO WE DON'T HEAR ABOUT THOSE KIND OF MOMENTS. BUT JESUS IS THE KIND OF GUY WHO WOULD GO INTO A BAR, AND SIT DOWN NEXT TO THE DIRTIEST, LONELIEST DRUNK THERE, AND TALK TO HIM.
JESUS LIVES IN YOU AND I. EVERY ONE OF US WILL MEET A LEPER THIS WEEK WHO NEEDS TO BE TOUCHED, WHO NEEDS TO BE INVITED BACK INTO THE HUMAN COMMUNITY. WE WILL FEEL JESUS TRYING TO USE OUR HANDS TO TOUCH THAT PERSON, OUR WORDS TO SHOW THAT PERSON HE OR SHE IS NOT ALONE, AND OUR EARS TO LISTEN TO THAT PERSON'S STORY. WILL WE RESIST AND GO ON OUR WAY, OR WILL WE ALLOW JESUS TO ACT IN US AND PERFORM ANOTHER MIRACLE?