Leprosy. Now a treatable disease, it was once a sentence of shame, isolation, and gradual death. Because it is contagious, lepers were required to remain far from others, and they could not participate in worship or any other communal activity. This horrible disease damaged the skin, nerves, lungs, and eyes, leading to deformed limbs and faces, poor eyesight and weakness.
When the leper sees Jesus in today’s Gospel, he breaks all the rules. When Jesus sees the leper, he breaks the rules too.
The leper breaks the rule of remaining far away from people when he dares to come near to Jesus and falls before him in desperation. But he demands nothing. He does not say, “Cure me!” He shows his faith and understanding that Jesus is the Lord of all by saying, “IF YOU WISH, you can make me clean.” (emphasis added) It is all on the heart of Jesus, and the leper acknowledges this and waits for the answer.
And Jesus breaks the rule of avoiding lepers by touching him – touching the leper! – relieving him of his social isolation. And he says the words he desires to say to each of us: “I DO WILL IT. Be made clean.” (emphasis added) And immediately, by the Lord’s will, the leper IS clean. In one moment, with one gesture and word, Jesus frees the man of his physical pain, his sentence of death, his exile, his isolation from human interaction, and his anxieties. In one moment, Jesus gives freedom.
This is what Jesus wants for all of us! He wants us to be like the great crowds who assembled to listen to his words, hoping to be cured of their ailments, particularly the ailments of sin, fear, doubt, resistance. He wants to heal us of our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual wounds, so that we can walk toward Heaven in freedom and interior peace.
We must run toward Jesus, the One who saves. We must acknowledge the fact that we cannot fix ourselves, and place all our trust in his loving will to free us. We must pray as the leper did: Lord, if you will it, you can make me clean. And then we must allow him to lead us to wholeness – whether that is immediately or gradually. Only the Lord knows the best way to heal our wounds; only his grace can heal our hidden wounds, working far deeper than our understanding can go.
Let us trust that today, in subtle ways, the Heart of Jesus is saying to each of us: “Be made clean.”
Daily Reading
Friday after Epiphany
Reading I 1 John 5:5-13 Beloved: Who indeed is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is the one…
Saint of the Day
Saint Gregory of Nyssa
Saint Gregory of Nyssa, influential theologian and bishop, was a fervent defender of Christian orthodoxy and a pivotal figure in early Christian mysticism.
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