Unclean! Unclean!
6th Sunday In Ordinary Time, B
2009-02-15
Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46; Mark 1:40-45So, you’ve come to Mass this Sunday for a little inspiration. And, of course, it all starts with the word of God.
As the Liturgy of the Word begins, you settle back into your pew, you hush the children, and you prepare yourself to be moved by the Holy Spirit.
You perk your ears up, you take a breath, then, in the silence, you hear these words of inspiration…
“Scabs, pustules and blotches!”
In disbelief, and with an unsettled stomach, you ask, “Did he just say ‘sores of leprosy?’”
Which leads to a series of questions, “What on earth does this have to do with anything?” “Hasn’t leprosy been all but wiped out? “Why does the Church think we need to hear this?” “Is this supposed to inspire me?”
Sometimes, the Book of Leviticus can be a bit hard to read. It’s filled with lots of seemingly useless details…useless, that is, to the average Jane or Joe in the pew. With its priestly rituals, rules for sin-offerings and mandates of male circumcision, it’s not a book for the faint of heart.
And, you’re probably NOT going to gather the kids around the fire to read to them the huge list of “abominations” and dietary and sexual restrictions found in Leviticus.
So why do we read from it today at Mass? There must be a reason. Well, there is. Just hang in there!
Let’s fast-forward to today’s Gospel reading. Mark tells the story of a man who wants to be healed. But, actually, the man doesn’t ask to be “healed,” he uses a different word. He asks to be “clean.”
“Clean” is the Old Testament word from Mosaic Law, the law under which this pitiable man serves the God of Israel. This is the same law found in – you guessed it – the book of Leviticus.
So, there’s a connection between the Old Testament reading from Leviticus and the New Testament Gospel reading from Mark. Jesus heals a leprous man, a man who has been deemed “unclean” by the local priest, and forced to “dwell apart” and make “his abode outside the camp.”
“Moved with pity,” Jesus removes all evidence and effect of his leprosy. He totally “cleans” him – end of story.
“Still,” you say, “What’s the point of all this? Why are we learning about leprosy? What does this have to do we me…now?”
So, I’ll get to the point.
While leprosy has been largely extinguished from the face of the earth, there is still a great plague among us…a plague that reaps havoc in its wake, brings death and destruction, and literally tears apart families, communities and entire nations. There are so many of us wandering through life and crying out, “Unclean! Unclean!”
But, we’re not suffering from leprosy…we’re suffering from something far worse…sin. Yes, sinfulness as a disease is epidemic in our times.
Like leprosy, sin leaves terrible scabs, pustules and blotches on our souls. These sores make us unclean in the sight of God, and they force us to “dwell apart,” and make “our abode outside the camp.” That’s because sin separates us from the Body of Christ.
That’s the bad news. So, what then, is the Good News?
The Good News is that no matter how bad the sores are, no matter how deeply sin has scarred our soul, if we truly want it, if we are truly repentant, Jesus can – and does – reach out His hand, touch us and make us clean, totally clean.
How does He do this for us today?
Confession. That’s right, Reconciliation with Holy Mother Church, with each other, and with God.
If you’ve heard me preach more than once, you’ve probably heard me use the Latin phrase in persona Christi – “in the person of Christi” – when referring to our priests. That’s because, as I talk about the work of the priest, I’m really talking about the work of Christ. Our priest is acting IN THE PERSON OF CHRIST in all that he does as a minister of the Church. And, this is especially true in the Sacrament of Confession. For, in this wonderful Sacrament, Jesus, like He does for the leper, reaches out and touches our very soul and CLEANS us.
It’s a gift, and a gift freely given. It shows just how much God loves us, that He would send His only Son to die for our sins.
This is true compassion…and true healing.
Why is it, then, that in recent years, the lines to the confessional have grown shorter and shorter?
Why wouldn’t everyone want this gift? Why would we not line up for miles only to humbly say to Jesus, “If You wish, You can make me clean.”
Is it possible that people don’t sin anymore? Is it possible that we don’t need Christ’s healing touch any longer? Is it possible we don’t need Jesus?
I know there are many people who haven’t been to confession in years, maybe not since they received the Sacrament of Confirmation.
These are people who look ordinary in many respects. They go about their daily lives as if nothing is wrong, when, in reality, a veritable time bomb ticks deep within their souls. It cries out “Unclean! Unclean!”
But, it’s a cry that’s drowned out by the calamitous noise and cacophony of the world around us. It goes largely unheard. You see these people everywhere you go…in fact, they may be sitting next to you right now…or worse yet, “they” may be “you.”
I know all this, because, just 10 years ago, I was one of these souls.
After I received my Confirmation, which included Sacramental Confession, it would be years before I would again darken the door of the confessional. Oh, I didn’t plan it that way. I wasn’t cocky and thinking I wasn’t a sinner…at first. I was always planning to go…tomorrow, or next week, or maybe even next month…just not NOW. You might say I just got caught up in “living my life.”
But, before I knew it, 25 years had past, and I think my heart started to harden just a bit each passing year. I thought less and less about, until, Confession…and the whole concept of serious sin wasn’t even a blip on my radar.
But, trust me, after all those years, there were many “scabs, pustules and blotches” to contend with. Then, as I got older, I started realizing that I was missing something. I started to get a sense that while I was “at church,” I was not truly IN church. I didn’t feel like I belonged. And I started to worry about my life…not in this world, but in the next.
I realized that I needed to go to Confession, to be reunited and reconciled to the Church and the entire Body of Christ. I needed the healing touch of Jesus.
I remember being scared about going to confession after such a long time. What will I say? What will he say? Can I possibly remember ALL my sins? There are so many! This is going to be so embarrassing!
Then I remembered an obscure Bible verse. Maybe the Holy Spirit I received at Confirmation brought it to me. I don’t know. But, it was very helpful and very comforting. It said, simply, “Be still and know that I am God.”
That’s just what I needed to hear. Next thing I knew, on one Saturday afternoon, I was kneeling next Father Gabriel De Federico in one of those confessionals just behind you.
Father Gabe was wonderful, God rest his soul! I’ll always miss his homilies, when he would lean into the mic and tell us about “JESUS!” or when the little kids would call him Santa Claus. But, I’ll mostly miss the opportunities he afforded me to experience the REAL Jesus inside the confessional, as a holy priest in persona Christi.
Confession was wonderful. It was refreshing. It was easy. And for the first time, I truly felt “clean.”
In fact, immediately after that confession, I remember thinking, “God, if I’m ever going to be hit by a bus…NOW would be a good time. POW! Straight to Heaven!” And, guess what, I still feel that same love, that same forgiveness, that same cleanliness each time I receive the Sacrament.
I’m so glad I got over my silly fears, and allowed Jesus to perform that “miracle cleaning” of my soul.
And I share this with you, to help you see that we desperately need this in our world today.
We NEED His healing. We NEED the healing touch of Jesus. We NEED Confession!
This is why we are reading Leviticus today. This is why we’re reading Mark’s account of the healing of the leper.
Jesus wants us to be healed. He wants us to be CLEAN. He wants us to go to Confession, so that He can express His love for us in a most profound, merciful and REAL way, so that we no longer must cry out, “Unclean! Unclean!”
I hope to see you in a long line on Saturday.