Hi everyone and welcome back to our podcast.
As always, we're going to take a look at the Gospel reading from
today's mass and we're going to look at some key features of the
text. What's going on on the literal
level? How would the original readers
of understood this? What kind of things would they
have thought about. So let's start with the passage
Which is Mark chapter 1 picking up where we left off yesterday.
So we're now at verses 40 to 45. A leper came to Jesus and
pleaded on his knees if you want to.
He said, you can cure me. Feeling sorry for him.
Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him.
Of course, I want to he said be cured and the leprosy left him
at once and he was cured. Jesus immediately sent him away
and sternly ordered him mind, you say nothing to anyone but go
and show yourself to the priest and make the offering for your
healing prescribed by Moses as evidence of your recovery.
The man went away, but then started talking about it freely
and telling this story everywhere so that Jesus could
no longer openly go into any town, but had to stay outside in
places when nobody lived even so people from all around would
come to him. So In this passage Jesus heals a
leper and this story is reasonably familiar to most of
us. It's our short healing story.
So first, let's start with a bit of a discussion about leprosy.
So, in that culture leprosy, didn't just refer to one
particular disease, it actually referred to a group of
conditions skin conditions that were all caused by bacteria.
What they had in common was that these group of diseases, cause
skin disfigurement loss of Limbs in serious cases and maybe even
blindness. So it was not pretty.
In that Society to have leprosy was basically a death sentence
because there was no cure. So people with Leprosy were
outcasts, they were putting compounds away from the general
population so that they didn't infect anyone else.
And that's actually they're following their the Jewish law
in Leviticus 13 which tells the Jews, how to deal with lepers.
So leprosy was a serious issue and that was the way they dealt
with it in that Society is they put the lepers on the outskirts
of society in groups. I couldn't affect anyone else.
So the lepers were considered to be unclean physically but also
ritually, which meant that they couldn't participate in worship
or public life though. We're not consider to be clean.
So this leper comes to Jesus. Presumably, this is still
happening in Capernaum, maybe or a certainly in the Galilee area
pleaded on his knees. So he's desperate.
He's coming to Jesus with a petition.
He's on his knees. So the murders man is probably
heard a lot about Jesus already. D and knows that Jesus can heal
him and he says to Jesus, if you want to you can cure me.
So, that's an interesting thing to say, the man believes that
Jesus can heal him but he's not demanding at his saying if you
want to, you can heal me. Now when he says you can cure me
the actual original translation, there is just you can make me
clean. So probably the man's main
concern. Here is not physical curing
more. So he wants to be made clean
again. From a community perspective,
your wants to be able to participate in ritual worship
again. He's been particularly bold
because normally lepers are not supposed to approach people from
the general population. He's desperate though and he
also has great faith, that Jesus can heal him verse 41.
Jesus. It says he felt sorry for him.
Or another translation says, he's moved with pity for the
man. So Jesus has compassion on the
man he stretched out his hand and touched him.
Now, think about this, for most people, that will be a massive
risk to touch a leper, is a good chance that you're going to be
infected as well. But in fact, the opposite
happens here Jesus power goes into The man into the leper.
And Jesus says, I of course, I want to heal you be cured.
So I think we can say here that Jesus never refuses healing for
anyone who sincerely asks in faith.
So he says, of course, I want to hear you.
So that verse 42, the leprosy leaves the man at once, and
probably the crowds would have seen it as well.
They would have seen a visible change in the man.
And Mark, here wants his readers to understand as the original
readers would have read this. They probably realizing that
Jesus can remove defilement from anyone who approaches him in
faith. That's the overall lesson we
learn about the Messiah here, is that he will make anyone clean,
who approaches him in faith. I think that's a legitimate
thing we can take away from the text and what the original
readers would have taken away too.
Because remember the gospel ride is one of the things I want to
do is they want to invite people who haven't yet, made a decision
to follow Jesus, to choose to follow Jesus.
Verse 43, Jesus immediately, sent him away and sternly
ordered him. Say nothing to anyone.
And we've seen this over the last couple of days when Jesus
performs a healing at this early stage in his ministry.
He tells the people he heals. Please don't tell anyone about
this. He wants to be careful that were
doesn't spread too quickly. He's got a timeline of when he
needs to do things and when he needs to die and he doesn't want
the timeline to be jeopardized. He knows that if People.
Here he is the Messiah to early, they'll probably have false
ideas of the Messiah. They want to make him a
political leader, and things will get out of hand too
quickly, so Jesus wants the message to spread not too
quickly. And so and this is sometimes
called by Scholars, the Messianic secret.
Jesus wants to keep his identity secret, particularly in the
gospel of Mark, that's highlighted verse 44.
The next thing is as the leopard is Go and show yourself to the
priest and this is following the Old Testament law here.
So the Old Testament required that a leper who claimed to be
healed of leprosy, couldn't just come back into the society.
They actually had to go and be inspected by the priest.
And the priest would have to look over them and we admit them
into public Society. If the if the priests agreed
that the man had in fact been healed.
Second thing Jesus says, here is make the offering for your
healing prescribed by Moses is evidence of your recovery.
So according to the law of Moses, if the priest, check them
out and declares and the leper, cured the leper or the X slipper
then has to take to clean. Birds one is sacrificed and the
other bird is dipped in the blood of the first, which seems
a bit strange to us. But that's how they did those
ritual laws as evidence of their healing and that's spelled out
in Leviticus, 14 verses. Has 327.
So, the Old Testament background for leprosy is Leviticus 13 and
Leviticus 14. And Jesus in the leper are just
following the law that's laid out there.
So that's what Jesus says and the leper needs to go and do But
verse 45, the man started talking about it freely and
telling the story everywhere. So, he goes against Jesus wishes
here, but understandable, because he would be so joyful
that he's been healed from this leprosy that he's had his entire
life, but the result is, Jesus can no longer go openly into any
town. Now, everyone, because the leper
is telling everyone everyone knows about Jesus and his power
to heal. So now when people hear his
coming though, crowd around wherever, You staying.
So it was becoming really hard for Jesus to go into Villages
because immediately people would crowd around him.
So the result is he has to stay outside in places where nobody
lived or another translation says he was forced out into the
country so it was apparently getting to the point where Jesus
couldn't actually stay within the village.
So he has to go and into broad open areas of the countryside,
such as the hills around the Sea of Galilee.
And so there's a transition here in Mark's gospel from Jesus
doing Ministry within the Galilean villages, to now, sort
of going to the Galilean. Entry side where he can better
deal with the larger crowds. It's ironic though, isn't it?
That Jesus is now taken on the lepers condition in society.
Previously the leper couldn't go into villages in public and they
are Jesus can't go into villages in public either.
But even the fact that he goes out into the open Countryside,
the text says, even so people from all around would come to
him. So still people from the
Galilean area would here where Jesus was and the crowds would
travel hours to come to find him.
So the cats out of the bag now. So that's the end of our
passage, the healing of the leper.
How is this reference in the catechism?
How does the church develop teachings based on this passage?
So, firstly, in paragraph, 26 16 which is in in relation to Jesus
in prayer. Talks about how Jesus answers
prayer, particularly the prayer of this leper and so paragraph
2616 lists. A whole lot of people that Jesus
responds to requests from, and the leper from this passage is
listed as one of them. And then also in paragraph, 15
over 4 is in the section. About Christ, The Physician and
I'll read out this paragraph because it's quite a nice
summary of Jesus role as a physical healer.
Often Jesus asks the sick to believe he makes use of signs to
heal spittle and the laying on of hands mud and washing the
sick. Try to touch him for power came
forth from him and healed them all.
And so in the sacraments Christ continues to touch Us in order
to heal us. And that's quite a profound
Catholic teaching that's developed there in that
paragraph. Just as Jesus heals people
physically, literally in the gospels like the leper.
Here, he continues to heal us today through the sacraments
Okay, so that's the end of our short passage today.
Hopefully learn something new.