Full membership in God’s community. Our Gospel for Jan 17, 2013
January 17, 2013 by bible sharing online
The Cleansing of a Leper.
Mark 1:40-45
A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched the leper, and said to him, “I do will it.
Be made clean.” The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean. Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
Then he said to him,
“See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.”
The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.
He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere.
Nilinis ni Jesus ang Lalaking Ketongin
Marcos 1:40-45
40At isang ketongin ang lumapit kay Jesus na namamanhik at naninikluhod sa kaniya. Sinabi niya kay Jesus: Kung ibig mo, malilinis mo ako!
41Nahabag si Jesus. Iniunat niya ang kaniyang kamay at hinipo ang ketongin at sinabi: Ibig ko. Luminis ka.42Nang masabi ito ni Jesus, biglang nawala ang ketong at luminis siya.
43Agad siyang pinaalis ni Jesus na may mahigpit na bilin. 44Sinabi ni Jesus: Huwag na huwag mong sasabihin kaninuman ang nangyaring ito, sa halip, pumunta ka at magpakita sa saserdote. Maghain ka para sa iyong pagkalinis ayon sa iniutos ni Moises, bilang patotoo sa kanila. 45Ngunit nang lumabas ang tao ay ipinamalita at ikinalat sa marami ang nangyari sa kaniya. Dahil dito, hindi na hayagang makapasok ng lungsod si Jesus. Naroon na lamang siya sa mga ilang na pook sa labas ng bayan. Gayunman, pinuntahan pa rin siya ng mga tao buhat sa iba’t ibang dako.
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Jesus’ healing and cleansing touch Leprosy which we refer to as Hansen’s disease today (after the Norwegian scientist Gerhard Hansen who discovered the biomedical cause of the disease in 1868) is not the Biblical leprosy that is discussed in Leviticus 13-14 nor the disease of the leper that Jesus cures in today’s Gospel. The Hebrew term for it – zeraat – contains the idea of being struck or afflicted with an eruptive skin disease. The Greek rendering lepra signifies an ailment characterized by the appearance of rough, scaly patches of the skin.
The concern of the ancient peoples was not so much the contagion of the “Biblical” leprosy as the impurity or uncleanness that it brought. Lepers would not “infect” the community; they would “pollute” it, rendering the people unfit to approach God. After all, the “holiness” required of the people encompassed not just moral uprightness, but, to a large degree, bodily wholeness and integrity. Leprous skins would pollute the person and render others unclean. And so, a leper was ordered to “live alone; his dwellings shall be outside the camp” (Lv 13:46).
To be a leper in Jesus’ time is to be among the “living dead.” The ailment corrupts both body and spirit. In the gregarious and group-centered culture of the Mediterranean peoples, to live separated from the community is like to be a fish out of water. People could die of seclusion before they died of leprosy itself.
What is important in the Gospel incident is the fact that Jesus touches the leper. By so doing, He challenges His culture’s judgment. He does not become polluted; rather He heals the leper, restoring the person to full membership in God’s community and to solidarity with other men and women.
God bless you!
SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2010