February 14, Sixth Sunday in Year B
Leviticus 13: 1-2, 44-46
1Cor 10: 31-11: 1
Mark 1: 40-45
First of all, today, February 14 is St. Valentine’s day. St. Valentine or Valentinus of Rome was a physician and a priest during the Roman Empire. We know him as the patron saint of love and marriage. He was best known for his ministry to persecuted Christians allowing them to marry in secret after Emperor Claudius banned marriages during a wartime to encourage men to focus on war.
But Valentine was also known as a healer and comforter of the sick. One interesting story about Valentine has to do with the healing of his prison jailor’s daughter while he was in custody. He told his jailor Asterius how Jesus leads pagans out of darkness and into the light of truth and salvation. Asterius told him, if he could heal his daughter of her blindness, he would convert. Father Valentine covered the girl’s eyes with his hands and prayed, “Lord Jesus, enlighten your handmaid, because you are God the True Light.” Immediately, the girl regained her sight. True to his words, he and his whole family converted and were baptized. When the Emperor heard it, he executed Asterius and his entire family. St. Valentine was martyred on February 14, 270 at the age of 44.
Wearing masks and social distancing have become the new normal. We mask our face and maintain some distance to protect ourselves and others from infection. The consequence is that the other is perceived as a risk to our health. This practice is not causing us much misery because it is general. Imagine the pain and misery of those who have to isolate themselves and mask up because they have an infectious disease. Leprosy is a very infectious disease. Lepers were practically separated from the community and declared unclean. He or she cannot see his or her family again, be part of the society or even worship God in the temple. The leper had to shout “unclean, unclean” when anyone approached and he himself could never come near to anyone.
In the Gospel today, a leper comes to Jesus pleading to be healed. In doing this, the man is defiling the prescriptions laid down in the law. “As long as the disease lasts, he must be unclean; and therefore he must live apart; he must live outside the camp.” He teaches us to defy anything that is preventing us from coming to Jesus.The man says to Jesus, “if you want to, you can cure me.” He believes that Jesus has the power to heal him. Moved with compassion for him, Jesus stretched out His hands and touched him.
Notice that Jesus touched the man. There was no need for Jesus to touch the man. He could have healed him by the power of His word alone. Recall that in the Gospel last Sunday, Jesus healed the mother in-law of St. Peter by taking her by the hand. Jesus reaches out to take the hand of the other – taking he woman by the hand and today, touching a leper. These gestures of Jesus tell us something very important about Him – His identification with those who suffer, His compassion and hospitality – healing the sick and welcoming the outcast.
Jesus replies, of course, I want to, be cured. The man is not only healed of his leprosy, he is now able to live again with friends and family once the priest has confirmed his healing. His healing is a coming home. Remember Mark presents us the image of Jesus as the one who has come to set us free from the devil. He sets us free from every evil. In Mark’s worldview we are living in an enemy occupied territory. The Greek word that translates devil is diabolos. From diabolos, we have diabolic. Diabolos is a composite of two Greek words – “dia” which means a division into two or more parts; and “bolos” which comes from the Greek word “ballein” which means “to throw.” So, the idea of the diabolos is that he is the one who tears us apart, who causes asunder. We seek to be whole but the diabolos seeks to tear our world apart. William James the American psychologist and philosopher characterized our modern age with a German word, “zerrissenheit” which means “torn-apartness.” That is a good description of the chaos the diabolos has brought into our world. When Jesus heals this man, He makes his whole life whole again. Jesus brings wholeness to our world fragmented and torn apart by sin.
Remember what happened in Second Book of Kings when Naaman went to the king of Israel with a letter to be healed of leprosy. When the king of Israel read the letter in 2Kings 5:7 he rent his clothes and said, “am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy. Notice the basic assumption here – only God can cure a leprosy. It is that serious. It is that terrible. When the leper came to Jesus, he has this implied faith, that Jesus is not just the king of Israel, He is the divine son of God. He has divine power. It is in response to this faith as well as His compassion for the leper that healed him. And the people understood that if He could heal a leper, there is nothing that He cannot do.
As terrible as leprosy is, it is only a physical sickness. It can only kill the body. Sin is worse than leprosy because it destroys the soul in hell, in eternal damnation. And only Jesus can save us from sin. If we believe and sincerely ask Him like the leper did, He always wants to and you will hear His words, “be cured.”
Happy Sunday
Fr Chidi Onwuka msscc