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.