CLEANSING THE UNCLEAN

SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON FEBRUARY 14, 2006

Mark 1:40 “If you will, you can make me clean.”

When the leper says ‘if you will’ he is using the old English formula which means ‘if you want to.’ So when Jesus said “I will” he meant “I want to”.

The other day I was walking down Washington Street near the freeway. It was a typical warm, sunny day in San Diego. I looked down to the gully. Amongst the bushes and trees was a little campsite, and in that campsite 5 people had made their home. 5 street people. They had set up a shelter under the tree, and the garbage bags containing their possessions stood around, plus all the things they collect: cans and bottles. This was their territory. My first reaction was of surprise and admiration for their cleverness. This was soon followed by disgust, followed by sympathy, followed by annoyance that in this prosperous country such a situation exists. And I’m sure all of us have been through those emotions when we encounter street people.

That little camp on Washington street haunted me for a few days because I had in mind today’s gospel. The homeless and street people of our day are the lepers of Jesus’ time. What we are encountering in both cases are society’s outcasts. I am sure there are people in this congregation who at some time were made to feel outcasts. Every generation has its defining description of who is outcast.

Let us consider the leper of 2000 years ago. In Leviticus 13 the Jewish laws concerning lepers are set out. They were to live outside the camp - no contact with the city. They had to wear disheveled clothing, they were to announce their presence by crying out “unclean”, and a strange irony, they had to look like they were mad. If you’ve ever had an altercation with a street person, or even just been approached by them in the street, this all sounds uncomfortably familiar: disheveled clothing, looking like they are mad, living outside the camp.

Today’s gospel, then, is easy for us in the 21^st century to picture. This outcast man comes to Jesus. He had probably heard that Jesus was healer - even worked a miracle or two. This is his chance. As Jesus comes by he says “if you want to you can make me clean”. A cry from the heart. A cry to pull at the heart strings.

How many times have you and I encountered this situation - a pull at the heart strings. “Could you spare any change please?” Or the sign that says, “no work, need food.” Or that time honored slogan “brother can you spare a dime?” All of us have had our heart strings pulled at some stage. How could the Son of God with his healing touch refuse this person? I want to, he says, be clean.

And in an extraordinary gesture he touched him. The one thing you did not do was to touch the leper. He touched him - and the man was cured of that awful plague.

That thing which makes him apart from his people.

We would expect no less from Jesus. Because not only is it a part of his mission as Son of God to heal - but also he is teaching us about what the church’s mission is, and what our attitude should be.

Not only do we have this set before us in today’s gospel, we see again the sacramental principle. Through both touching and speaking Jesus imparts divine grace, and restores this man to the fullness of life and love.

This was no mere healing. This man was restored back to what he had lost: life and love. This is what happens in each of the 7 sacraments. Just this week I visited a parishioner in hospital. I anointed her with the holy oil, touched her in blessing, said those reassuring words in the prayer book and gave her the most wonderful sacrament of healing and restoration, Holy Communion.

It is here at God’s altar that we are touched by the Lord Jesus in his sacrament. And not just for our healing, but so that we may touch others in his name.

In the New Testament each healing, each miracle, each action of Jesus is chosen from among the hundreds he did to teach us deeper meanings.

A closer look at today’s story reveals something deeper. In fact leprosy is code for sin. Leprosy was more than a disease - it made a person not only an outcast, but everything was taken away: home, employment, income, the community - even the family you belong to was all taken away. And most significantly, the opportunity to worship. Because you could never go to the temple and praise God.

So leprosy is sin in all its detail. Everything about the leper is about sin. Initially we thought that the leper represented the other people. But in fact he represents all of us.

The touch of Jesus and His words restored that leper. It is the image of confession and absolution. Particularly the sacrament of reconciliation.

But there is more to the story yet. Jesus charges the healed man: “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded.”

The book of Leviticus stated what was to happen when the leper was cleansed. They have to go to the priest, who would certify that the person had been cured, and they would get a certificate. The leper needed that certificate from the priest so he could return to his community and be welcomed back.

So Jesus is saying: “Don’t hang around. Go to the priest, Follow the tradition.”

How often do we delay in returning thanks to God?

How often do we take the things of God for granted?

Jesus is concerned about outcasts.

And he is also quite firm that we have obligations to God, and that we must fulfill them. And there are traditions that we ignore at our peril.

To conclude, I return to the theme of being unclean.

During the week at one of our Daily Masses the gospel was from Mark 7:23. Jesus was having a discussion about what food should be eaten by Jews. He said: “It is from within, from the heart, that evil intentions emerge: Fornication, theft, adultery, envy, slander, pride, folly – all these things”, said Jesus, “come from within and make a man unclean.”

Jesus was concerned about cleansing the leper.

But he is more concerned about the cleansing from sin of every person.

This concern was his mission - and it lead to the cross.