Well, things may have changed in the 40 years or so since I was in India, but while I was there Lepers were quite a common site.  Not a pleasant site.  That disease is extremely disfiguring.  It’s no wonder then that it was most dreaded in Biblical times since it is contagious and strict laws were enforced to try to prevent its spread and that’s what we heard about in the first reading today from Leviticus.  It was only in the 1940’s that a cure for leprosy was found and then developed over the next few decades.  The result was that, for example, here in the United States in Carville, Louisiana there was a Leprosarium.  It only closed in 1998 and there are still some 130 cases, new cases, here in the United States every year.

In this Gospel passage we are told that a Leper approached Jesus.  Right there he was breaking the law.  He was not supposed to go near anyone.  He was supposed to stay way far away from anyone and shout out “unclean, unclean, unclean.”  So he is breaking the law first of all.  The second thing is that Jesus did not drive him away.  And Jesus was breaking the law by not doing so.  It was a matter of public health after all and the law was very strict but Jesus did not just use healing words, he touched the sick.  In this case a Leper.  He reached out and laid his hands on him.  You see, physical danger to himself, the danger of contagion, or breach of the law never stopped Jesus from doing what he believed would be really helpful for people.  That was his criteria for action.  What would be helpful for people?  And that’s the first message that I get from this particular Gospel passage.  The primary law, the law that supersedes everything else, the law that should govern all of our actions and all of our attitudes towards people is the law of love.  The basic law of love that supersedes everything else that is most important in our lives. 

In biblical times Lepers were outcasts.  There was a deep, deep seeded prejudice against them.  The example of Jesus and the law of love call us to set aside to overcome any prejudices that we may have.  How often have you heard someone say, “I’m not a racist.”?  When quite clearly their own words or their own actions show that there is deep down somewhere there is prejudice or racism or whatever.  And I think that every single one of us have to look deep down inside ourselves and examine our conscious in this matter.  There should be no lepers in our society and least of all in our church.  That’s to say there should be no people who are shunned or marginalized or made to feel inferior in any way.  And why?  Because we are all of us God’s children created in the image and likeness of God redeemed by Jesus Christ and loved by God in spite of our sinfulness.  And that’s the second message that I get from today’s Gospel.  For I think that leprosy could be taken as a metaphor for sin.  And just as leprosy was incurable for thousands of years so sin was incurable until Jesus came and by his life, his words, his death, his resurrection, he has healed us.  He has freed us from that disease of sin.  Jesus was always concerned about sinners.  In fact, he was accused of being with sinners, one of the accusations against him. 

He came on earth to restore the balance, to restore right order between God and humanity.  To restore the balance of the right order between one another us human beings.  To bring back those who were in any way alienated from God’s love and now since his contemporaries regard a disease as a sign of alienation from God, a sign that a person was a sinner then Jesus healed physical illnesses to show that he had the power to heal the whole person.  And he said, “Go now and sin no more”.  And just as leprosy disfigured the beauty of the human body sin disfigures the beauty of the human soul, the human person, and Jesus came to restore that beauty.  And so it is to Jesus that we turn for spiritual healing.  It is He who can restore the beauty of our inner being and when He says your sins are forgiven you, we are no longer outsiders.  We are no longer outcasts or marginalized or alienated from the community of faith from God’s family.  We are restored to a harmony with God and with one another in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. 

In that sacrament we approach Jesus.  We have to make that first step, He wants us to and he doesn’t push us away just as the Leper stepped forward to Jesus we step forward to Jesus and he reaches out and touches us at the very depths of our being and he says, “I do will it be made clean.”  And we are once more beautiful in God’s eyes.  And then we with that healed Leper go out and we proclaim the goodness and the mercy and the love of God and we try our very best to reach out to others and to do everything we can to bring healing and joy and peace to a disfigured World.  Amen.

rjs