Jesus Healed A Leper Teaching Us To Be Compassionate
Today’s gospel reading is about how Jesus healed a leper. Not only did Jesus heal him, but Jesus touched him as well. Today’s gospel speaks to us about being compassionate; what it means to be compassionate. It speaks to us about our own brokenness, and how we too should cry out from the depths of our hearts, “Jesus touch me! Jesus heal me!”
One of the social ills that plagues almost every society is that of vagrancy. Unfortunately, people fall into this state for many different reasons. Some as a result of financial difficulties, some due to mental illness, some due to addiction and to some again due to some tragedy that occurred in their lives that they just could not deal with, and so they just dropped out of life. What ever the reason, the homeless remains a serious course for concern among all civil societies. Many of the homeless do a really great job at trying to keep themselves clean but many others do not do such a great job. I remember a few years ago, one of them made his way into our church just before Mass. I was upstairs in the choir loft and the only indication I had that a homeless person was in the church was from an awful smell that unfortunately he had. No one wanted to go too close to him as he was eventually ushered out of the church.
Apart from not having anywhere to call your own, one of the great pains of homelessness is that of a complete loss of identity and worse yet – a loss of dignity. People chase the homeless away from them. Many are even violent towards them. There is a homeless young man that I look out for and I will stop and talk to; and one day I saw him all bloodied and a huge plaster on his head. So I stopped and asked him what happened. He told me that he approached someone and asked for assistance and he was beaten by police. This young man is extremely polite and God alone knows why he is there.
Many of us “good people” will condemn and scorn the homeless, but St. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 15: 10, “but what I am now, I am through the grace of God.” None of us should pat ourselves on the back for who we are. We should first and foremost, be completely grateful to God for His blessings. When we can do that, we can see the homeless through the eyes of Jesus, and we will understand why Jesus did not just say to the leper, “be healed”, but Jesus touched him and Jesus healed him. Jesus’ touch was one of compassion, and He was teaching his disciples what it meant to be compassionate. Jesus was teaching them that being compassionate is a very important part of the Christian journey.
A compassionate touch heals. A compassionate touch restores. A compassionate touch gives new life. A compassionate touch says, “I accept you as you are.” A compassionate touch says “I love you as you are.” All of this is what Jesus conveyed to the leper when He touched him. You see, back in those days, if you had leprosy, you were ostracized from the rest of society. A normal person would not come near you. You had to live on the outskirts of the town, far away from everyone else. If you ever had to come into the town, you had to ring a loud bell and from a distance shout, “Leper! Leper! Unclean! Unclean!”
Can you imagine how humiliating that must have been for the lepers. Can you imagine the pain they must have felt because no one came to visit them – not even family – for fear of catching the disease. Can you imagine the great hope this leper must have had when he found out that Jesus the great healer was in town. Surely He can heal me too, he must have thought. Can you imagine how he must have quaked when Jesus walked towards him. Can you imagine the great sense of being set free when Jesus said, “Of course I want to. Be healed”, and touched him. WOW! He got more that he had bargained for – so much more. He must have thought, he touched me; he actually touched me.
‘All we like sheep, have gone astray.’ Every single one of us have fallen short of His grace and should cry out from the depths of our being, “Jesus heal me! Jesus have mercy on me”, and in faith know that our prayer, like that of the leper, will be answered. No matter what you’ve done or where you’ve been, just as Jesus healed the leper, He can heal you too.
As Catholics and as Christians, we are challenged by today’s gospel to be compassionate as Jesus is compassionate. Jesus shows us very clearly what being compassionate is all about.
There are two sides of compassion – the side that gives, in this case Jesus, and the side that receives, here the leper. I admire the faith of the leper. I admire his boldness. In spite of what society said about him; in spite of being cut off from all else; in spite of the humiliation; in spite of the shame; in spite of the large crowds that followed Jesus, he was not intimidated by this, but was determined to do that which was in his heart. He dared to come to Jesus with his request for healing. Can you imagine that? The bible says something very important. The passage says that the leper “did him homage, then said, Lord, if you want to you can make me clean.” Note the absolute humility. He worshiped Jesus, then humbly made his pray request. How many of us, when we are in need, forget all about the worship part, forget all about the love, and go straight to our ‘I want’ list of demands?
There is much to be learnt from today’s gospel reading. We see that not only did Jesus heal the leper but Jesus touched him, teaching us about being compassionate.
For some, there may be outcast in our very homes. Maybe your husband or your wife that you have not spoken to for some time. Maybe a son or a daughter. Maybe a fall-out between you and your brother or sister. Jesus wants to heal that and use you as the agent of positive change.
May we be more and more like Jesus showing compassion to the outcast and in so doing, help in the restoration of their humanity.
