6th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle
B
February
11, 2018
Hospital Isolation
Last
winter, I visited a man named Jim at Upper Chesapeake Hospital.
Jim was
seriously sick with a bacterial pneumonia.
There was a “Do Not Enter – Report
to the Nurses’ Station” sign on his door.
I was
required to put on a hospital gown, a mask and gloves before entering his room. Jim’s wife and I approached his bedside and I
leaned over and spoke to him for a minute or two, even though he was barely
responsive.
Then, I
led us in prayer and in the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. As I left, I took off the hospital gown, the mask
and gloves and was instructed to wash my hands thoroughly.
I have
to admit that I felt some anxiety about contracting the bacteria that had
attacked Jim’s lungs. I also wondered
how Jim was feeling emotionally, since he was so alone and so isolated.
Lepers
That
experience gives us some appreciation of the situation of lepers.
In
Jesus’ day, they labeled as leprosy many skin diseases, whether they were real
leprosy or simply something like psoriasis. Lepers were excluded, cut off and
alienated from society.
Today’s
first reading tells us that lepers had to shave their heads and wear torn
clothes so that they could be easily identified and avoided. They had to live alone, outside the town and
declare themselves “Unclean!” if
anyone approached them.
They
had to be feeling physically bad, at least to some extent. But probably worse than that was the pain of
isolation, of being unwanted and cut off from others.
Jesus’ Response: To Feel and to Heal
This is the
context for today’s gospel.
A leper dares to
approach Jesus. With humility and trust,
he says, “If you will it, you can make me
clean.”
And how does Jesus
respond? He feels and heals the pain of
this man.
Jesus reaches out
and touches him. His compassion – his
feeling the pain of this man is so strong that he ignores the risk to himself
and touches the man.
Jesus says, “I do will it. Be made clean.” And then Jesus tells the man to follow the
rules of the day for being declared clean because he wants the man to be
re-included and restored to the community.
And this is
something that Jesus consistently does.
He consistently feels and heals the pain of those on the outside, the excluded
of his day.
We see him doing
this with the poor, with women, with sinners and on it goes. He feels and heals the pain of those on the
outside and draws them back into the community.
Our Response: To Feel and Heal
Jesus’ example calls us to do the same.
For example, there are homeless persons in Baltimore City
and probably in every county of Maryland. Often we do not physically see them
and the danger is that they can lie outside of our vision and concern.
They easily become lepers – unwanted, outside and
alienated. Jesus’ example calls us to draw
these people back into the community by reaching out and providing – to feel
and to heal.
In terms of our Church, sometimes those who are divorced
feel very excluded and unwanted.
Sometimes our approach makes these persons feel like lepers.
We need to feel the pain that many of these people have
suffered, often quite innocently. Jesus’
example again calls us to reach out and make sure these people feel welcome in
our community – to feel and to heal.
I also think of those who are grieving. Sometimes we tend to step away from the
widowed or anyone who is grieving.
Maybe we distance these persons because we are afraid we
will not know what to say or afraid to deal with our own feelings. Again, Jesus’ example calls us to listen, to
be with and to include – to feel and to heal.
Conclusion
So, a very powerful
gospel with a very challenging example and lesson for us today.
