{"id":13446,"date":"2021-02-14T00:00:59","date_gmt":"2021-02-14T00:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/turski.blog\/?p=13446"},"modified":"2021-02-14T00:00:59","modified_gmt":"2021-02-14T00:00:59","slug":"6th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/?p=13446","title":{"rendered":"6th Sunday in Ordinary Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

He was carefully examined by an officially appointed and approved specialist and the diagnosis was positive. It was devastating news for the man because it meant self-isolation away from his family and friends. He tried to negotiate with the man in charge but deep within he knew it was pointless; the rules were clear-cut and the procedures well established: \u2018he \u2018must wear his clothing torn and his hair disordered; he must shield his upper lip; he must live apart: he must live outside the camp.\u2019<\/em> That was essentially the background story of the man in today\u2019s gospel who approached Jesus begging for help: \u2018If you want to, you can cure me.\u2019<\/em> We can – as many preachers would certainly do this Sunday \u2013 wax lyrical over Jesus\u2019 merciful and compassionate response, clearly shown by touching the unclean man. And rightly so because that\u2019s true. So, I will leave it to others while drawing your attention to different aspects of the story.<\/p>\n

Traditionally, let me first paint a slightly wider context. Leprosy in the biblical setting refers to a wide range of what were effectively skin conditions, including the modern medical term of Hansen\u2019s Disease. Some of them were considered safe, others infectious and thus dangerous not only to the person in question but to the wider community too. In ancient times there wasn\u2019t any Google to self-diagnose or self-medicate. Instead, the task of the examination was given to the members of the priestly tribe of Levi. The biblical Book of Leviticus (chapter 13) gives detailed instructions on how to diagnose \u2018leprosy\u2019 and the procedures to follow if a positive outcome. So, those in charge were trained and well-prepared – in terms of the primitive medicine of the time – to do their job; unlike some modern priests and pastors who voice their opinions on medical matters despite having had no professional medical education or training – but I digress\u2026 When a positive case of an infectious type of ‘leprosy’ was identified, the infected person was essentially obliged to self-isolate to prevent the spreading of the disease. Please note that the isolation wasn\u2019t absolute; as we heard in the first reading, \u2018he must wear his clothing torn and his hair disordered; he must shield his upper lip and cry, \u201cUnclean, unclean.\u201d\u2019<\/em>; in other words, the infected person must have clearly indicated his condition to other people. Which wouldn\u2019t have made sense if they had been totally banned from any contact with the wider population. That goes against a very common misconception that lepers were outcasts, locked up and left to rot. In fact, \u2018leprosy\u2019 was considered a curable disease. The aforementioned Book of Leviticus indicates that clearly. The whole of chapter 14 is dedicated to the ritual purification of lepers, or in modern terms, the official certification of the healing. The lepers, like many other disadvantaged members of ancient Jewish communities, were actively helped and supported by those communities. The Law of Moses, often wrongly considered as harsh and heartless, was in fact built around compassion and support that we tend to identify exclusively with Jesus\u2019 teachings. Communal support for lepers meant food, clothing, shelter and the medication of the time; relatively effective means that offered a chance of healing and returning from self-isolation. Let\u2019s draw some conclusions. In biblical communities, isolation of people with infectious diseases was for the preservation of the community. That\u2019s a crucial point if we want to understand today\u2019s gospel reading.<\/p>\n

As I mentioned earlier on, I\u2019m going to skip Jesus\u2019 evidently compassionate response to the leper\u2019s request; there\u2019s no point in explaining the obvious. What follows contrasts with the common image of the rebellious sweet and soft Jesus. Having cured the leper, he \u2018sternly ordered him, \u2018[…] \u201cgo and show yourself to the priest, and make the offering for your healing prescribed by Moses as evidence of your recovery\u201d.\u2019<\/em> The \u2018sweet Jesus\u2019 is dead serious about sticking to the medical procedures of the time! The leper had to go to an approved professional for re-examination and official certification of healing before he could return to the community. Telling everyone \u2018I\u2019ve been healed by Jesus\u2019<\/em> is not enough. In fact, doing so against Jesus\u2019 wishes: \u2018Mind you say nothing to anyone\u2019<\/em> caused so much trouble that \u2019Jesus could no longer go openly into any town, but had to stay outside in places where nobody lived.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

This story sounds particularly familiar in our current situation. For nearly a year we have been asked to actively support national and global efforts to contain the spread of the virus. Over time, medical professionals and governments have developed various strategies based on an increasingly better understanding of the virus. Most of us have quite trustfully followed the rules and regulations not because it\u2019s been easy or pleasant; we have been doing it despite the personal inconvenience, discomfort, loss and frustration; we\u2019ve been doing it for the sake of others\u2019 health and wellbeing; in other words, for the preservation of the community. For us, Christians, this self-sacrifice for the sake of others rings a bell, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

\n

Image by Christo Anestev<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He was carefully examined by an officially appointed and approved specialist and the diagnosis was positive. It was devastating news for the man because it meant self-isolation away from his family and friends. He tried to negotiate with the man in charge but deep within he knew it was pointless; the rules were clear-cut and the procedures well established: \u2018he \u2018must wear his clothing torn and his hair disordered; he must shield his upper lip; he must live apart: he must live outside the camp.\u2019 That was essentially the background story of the man in today\u2019s gospel who approached Jesus begging for help: \u2018If you want to, you can cure me.\u2019 We can – as many preachers would certainly do this Sunday \u2013 wax lyrical over Jesus\u2019 merciful and compassionate response, clearly shown by touching the unclean man. And rightly so because that\u2019s true. So, I will leave it to others while drawing your attention to different aspects of the story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","category-year-b"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13446\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}