Friday, January 10, 2003

After Epiphany
1st Reading: 1 Jn 5:5-13

Gospel: Lk 5:12-16

One day in another town, a man came to Jesus covered with leprosy. On seeing him he bowed down to the ground, and said, "Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean."

Stretching out his hand, Jesus touched the man and said, "Yes, I want it. Be clean." In an instant the leprosy left him. Then Jesus instructed him, "Tell this to no one. But go and show yourself to the priest. Make an offering for your healing, as Moses prescribed; that should be a proof to the people."

But the news about Jesus spread all the more, and large crowds came to him to listen and be healed of their sickness. As for Jesus, he would often withdraw to solitary places and pray.

Gospel Commentary

The tentativeness of the leper's request for healing echoes one of the great questions of humanity. "Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean." If you wish. What is the deepest heart of the mystery of God? What are God's deepest intentions towards us? The absurdities and tragedies of life raise anguished questions: are we, as Shakespeare's King Lear insists, as flies to the gods, who make fools of us for sport? Is God indifferent to us? Does God truly care for us? The gift of the revelation of God in Jesus is God's unambiguous affirmation in him: "Yes, I want it. Be clean." The mystery of suffering is not removed, but illumined and made bearable by the witness Jesus, in his life, in his death and in his rising, gives of the Father's compassion and his passion to heal, to cleanse, to make whole.

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