Homily: sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year B 2012

This past summer I had the opportunity to work as a chaplain intern at Johns Hopkins Hospital (Bayview Medical Center) for about three months.  It was a wonderful and memorable experience.  I can specifically recall one patient who was suffering from a very serious illness.  When I began to visit her on a regular basis she was in incredible pain and all possibilities for her recovery had just about disappeared.


The most memorable thing about my visits to her was the amount of pain and emotional anguish that she was suffering.  She used to cry and beg God for relief and healing.  She would say over and over again, "Why, why is God punishing me like this?  I've lived a good life.  I don't want to die!  Why is God punishing me?"


To be honest, this bothered me.  I was not angry at her but I was so hurt that someone would feel as if God was making them suffer or that God used pain and suffering to punish people.  The more that I thought and prayed about this experience the more that I realized that many Christians seem to think that God does this.


I was very young at the time but I can remember when many preachers and other Christians spoke of the newly discovered epidemic of HIV and AIDS, in the early 1980's, as a way for God to punish the wickedness of certain people.  Just recently the tragic tsunami in Japan was referred to as "divine punishment" by some.  It seems that there is not a single natural disaster, tragedy, or calamity where someone doesn't claim that God is passing out punishment.


I think if we look at the first reading from Leviticus (13:1-2, 44-46) we can see this same idea being the central theme.  Notice that the person who is found to have the symptoms of leprosy was immediately sent to the priest.  They were not sent to look for some type of medical care.  It was the role of the priest to determine what is "clean" and "unclean."  


In our world today these words are very much associated with things like dirt, bacteria, germs, and dust.  But at the time of Leviticus being "clean" meant that someone was righteous or holy.  It meant that someone was able to worship God and was "right" before God.  The idea of being "unclean" had almost nothing to do with being dirty but rather with being "unholy."


Someone with leprosy went to the priest because it was thought that that disease was a curse by God.  If someone was a leper then the ancient Hebrews often thought that they were being cursed by God.  So it was the job of the priest to confirm this and declare them "clean" or "unclean" "cursed" or "un-cursed."


There are two other points in the reading that are worth noting.
First, the leper had to wear torn clothes, keep his head uncovered, cover his beard,  and yell out, "unclean, unclean."  At that time wearing torn clothes, not covering your head, and covering your beard was a sign of mourning the death of someone.  For the leper they were mourning their own death!


The last verse of the reading is also spiritually significant.  The leper had to dwell apart from the camp.  This was not to avoid spreading the infection but rather it was a sign that the leper was set apart from God since God's presence dwelt in the midst of camp.  To be apart from the camp was to be apart from God. It was another sign that the leper was cursed and punished by God.

I think it is worth asking ourselves if we look at pain, suffering, natural disasters, tragedy, or sickness as God's punishment.  Do you?  I do think that there are many people in our world still today who do.  But... did Jesus look at it this way?


Consider the Gospel reading. (Mark 1:40-45)  A man with leprosy approaches Jesus and says, "If you wish you can make me clean."


The man is basically saying to Jesus, "If you want to you can end my punishment.  If you desire you can lift my curse.  If it is your will, Jesus, you can make me holy again."


The leper is asking Jesus for something spiritual because he believes that Jesus possesses the power of God.  The leprous man wants to know if Jesus is going to curse him too or if Jesus will show him mercy.  For this poor man the encounter with Jesus is much more about mercy than physical health.


When we ask ourselves the question, "Does Jesus consider pain and suffering to be a punishment from God?" all we need to do is look at his reaction to the man.

Jesus was "moved with pity."  I don't think the word pity is the best word for what the is really going on.  Jesus was "angry with compassion."  He was compassionate toward the man with leprosy but he was upset, I believe, at the idea that this man was suffering because of God's curse or punishment.


I don't think Jesus ever considered human suffering as God's punishment or God's curse.  He possessed the power of God and he knew the love of the Father.  The very idea that the Father would punish or curse his beloved children was upsetting to Jesus and he became "compassionately angry."


Jesus said, "I DO WILL IT be made clean."  In other words he said, "I do want you to be holy!  I do want you to be free from your pain.  You are not cursed by God."


Consider, and be honest with yourself, are there people who you are tempted to see as being punished by God?  Are there people that you wish God would punish?  Do you feel that misfortune or pain in this life is somehow a message from God?  Because if you do I think we need to consider and "take to heart" the challenge of St. Paul in the second reading. (1 Cor. 10:31-11:1)  At the end of the passage Paul tells us, "Imitate me, as I imitate Christ."


The challenge here is to imitate Christ!  I don't think it is good enough just to understand and agree with the idea that God does not punish or curse us in this life.  Rather I think the challenge is to consider those who we look at as evil, immoral, unholy, bad, impure, and disliked by God.  The challenge, for us, is to "reach out" to those people just a Jesus reached out to the man with leprosy.


If you want to imitate Christ it is not enough just to agree with what He said.  You have to do what he did.  If you want to imitate Christ you even have to embrace those who are thought to be "unclean" in our world today.