Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (3)

Title and Theme

Caring for the Outcasts

Outline and Body

One of the features of our society is that it is the “I’m OK society”

I set the standards of what is right and wrong

If I do not think I am OK then I need to improve my self image

Those who do not think I am OK are “haters” or “phobic”

Those whom society, or our reference group, thinks are not OK are outcasts

They are blamed for their condition, whether disease, homelessness, or the like

They are avoided

They are suspected of other evils, etc.

In Ancient Israel the leper was the clearly “not-OK”, the taboo, the outcast

There was reason in this in that it skin diseases can be catching

But the basic idea was that this was a form of visible death

All dead bodies and those touching them were taboo

But those dying of acute diseases could be cared for at home

Those dying slowly of leprosy were forced into isolation - and notice that it is the priest who makes the decision

They were isolated from the Temple and the community and therefore from God as well as from people

There are few examples of healing (e.g. Na’aman, the double outcast, Gentile and leper) or of their being heroes (the lepers outside of Samaria)

Jesus meets a leper who trusts him

He comes close enough to kneel or prostrate himself

Jesus not only wills his healing, but reaches out and touches him

Instead of Jesus’ becoming taboo, the man becomes well

Now, perhaps seeking a lower profile, Jesus sends the man to the priests so that his health could be officially validated and he could be officially readmitted to the community

For the man, however, life is all about Jesus

Paul follows Jesus’ strategy

It is often the outcast or the marginalized who knows they are most in need

To reach them one must become like them, e.g. live among them, so Paul says

I try to please all men in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved

That does not surprise us, for we know the stories of many saints down the ages

Yet what is important is that Paul connects this strategy to Jesus: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ”

Jesus did not have a lot of converts among the Pharisees and higher priestly families

Nicodemus and the Disciple known to the High Priest are rare exceptions

His followers were largely Galilean and largely peasant or outcast

Likewise Paul did not have a lot of upper class converts

But that means both spent time with outcasts, with lower classes, with those who were not “in” - think of Paul’s working as a leather worker/ tentmaker

We need to remember this, Sisters

You teach children and youth - not super valued in society (as the old are also not valued)

Others have reached out to prisoners, mentally ill, sick, plague victims, and the like

When we do this, we are acting like Paul and Jesus, for we have a God who became one of us, outcast humanity (due to sin) and healed and brought the “leper” - literal or metaphorical - home to his community

Readings

Old Testament

The Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition Chapter 13

1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 2 “When a man has on the skin of his body a swelling or an eruption or a spot, and it turns into a leprous disease on the skin of his body, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests,

The Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition Chapter 13

44 he is a leprous man, he is unclean; the priest must pronounce him unclean; his disease is on his head.

45 “The leper who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ 46 He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean; he shall dwell alone in a habitation outside the camp.

Epistle

The Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition Chapter 10

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 32 Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, 33 just as I try to please all men in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.

Chapter 11

1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Gospel

The Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition Chapter 1

40 And a leper came to him beseeching him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” 41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I will; be clean.” 42 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. 43 And he sternly charged him, and sent him away at once, 44 and said to him, “See that you say nothing to any one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to the people.” 45 But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.

Notes