6/B 2-12 -2012
Before I try to “break open” today’s gospel, I want to say a few things about this week.
I hope you are paying attention to the Obama administration’s Department of Health & Human Services ruling that would force Catholic and other religious entities like schools, hospitals, parishes, & charities to pay for health insurance that would provide sterilization, “morning-after” abortions, & contraception.
Our bishops and others point out that this ruling is a blatant violation of the First Amendment, an attack on religious liberty, and an attack on conscience protections.
The Obama administration has attempted to frame this issue as a “woman’s rights” issue, rather than a constitutional First Amendment religious liberty issue.
Friday’s “compromise” by the President is a hoax, an attempt to dodge the constitutional issue by pretending to shift the cost to insurance companies while still forcing Church institutions to provide the insurance.
Pay attention to the underlying philosophy here – these so-called “benefits” of free sterilization, free morning-after abortions, & free contraception are now being called “preventative health measures” for women… “preventative health,” all aimed at preventing what? pregnancies…births…children… as if pregnancy is a disease, something to be prevented at all costs.
Apparently God designed us all wrong by connecting sexual intercourse with pregnancy… what was God thinking?
Apparently in the mind of the President and his friends, the federal government has to correct this problem and protect women from the “disaster” of an unwanted pregnancy, even if it means throwing out the First Amendment… they are gambling that the majority of Americans either agree with them or don’t care. Think about it.
As we heard last Sunday, It’s halftime in America… we have to start paying attention to the damage being done to our freedoms and our national character.
Do we just “want what we want when we want it?” or do we actually believe in God? believe in the rights and the freedom GOD (not any federal government) has given us?
Indeed, what was God thinking? entrusting God-given rights to us?
Today’s gospel uses a most interesting word: clean…a man afflicted with the disease of leprosy begs Jesus: If you wish, you can make me CLEAN.
Two Sundays ago Saint Mark told us how Jesus commanded an “unclean spirit” to leave a man, and that “unclean spirit” obeyed Jesus.
“Unclean” does not mean dirty or filthy… it means “excluded, outside the Jewish law.”
Before Jesus, physical diseases were considered punishment for spiritual sins… a disease (like leprosy) was considered a visible sign of an invisible, interior sin.
Serious public sins cut off the sinner, excluded him from participating in the synagogue… he was expelled, rejected by the community so that others would not be contaminated by the sin.
This leper begs Jesus to heal him not only from the disease but also from the isolation, exclusion, and rejection he experienced.
This is a great act of faith (I believe you, Jesus, have the power to heal me) AND a great act of humility (I cannot demand this, I can only beg you: IF you wish…)
Jesus heals him but does an extraordinary thing, he touches this man who is diseased.
Notice what happens… now JESUS is the one who cannot enter a town… JESUS is the one who must remain outside in deserted places.
This leper is made “clean,” his disease healed, his isolation & exclusion removed, he can once more resume a normal life, go to the market, go to the synagogue, visit friends.
Jesus has traded places with him, has taken onto himself the burdens of isolation, fear, exclusion, as if HE were now “unclean.”
Jesus, the innocent, sinless Son of God, will carry OUR sins to the cross and die in our place, on our behalf, so that we can be FREE of sin.
Remember, this is chapter one of Saint Mark… Discipleship 101.
Mark is teaching his readers who this Jesus is and what it means to be his disciple, to become “like him,” to forgive others, to take on oneself their burdens, to carry them as if they are one’s own.
Discipleship is not tidy or pretty… it costs…there is a price…one must choose.
Being “like Christ” will sometimes mean becoming “like a leper,” unpopular, avoided by others, rejected, excluded, unwanted, out of step with others.
Being “like Christ,” doing good, standing up for the truth, seeking the Father’s plan for oneself, embracing that plan will sometimes require something like “touching a leper” and paying the price.
Wow.
This is serious.
This is a lot more difficult than just going to church.
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