Today's readings: Leviticus 13, 1-2.45-46; 1 Corinthians 10, 31 - 11, 1; Mark 1, 40-45.
Leviticus today leaves us perplexed as to the harshness of God's law and the exclusiveness of religion in the Old Testament. Although the law was inspired by the need to protect the community, it changes with Jesus.
Exclusion is a major challenge for Christian communities today. We live in an inclusive society which is not inclusive at all. The Christian community, which by nature and by its calling should be inclusive, is called upon to give authentic witness of what inclusiveness really means. Today's readings invite us to come to terms with some of our Catholic inconsistencies.
The Church's mission is not just to preach reconciliation, but to concretely make it happen. Reconciliation is always sought but never fully achieved. Consider the many people who are either divorced, remarried or living with partners, or practising contraception, or in gay relationships.
People in these situations either feel excluded from the Church, or else find their way of living with it, by belonging and at the same time mentally shutting out aspects of the Church's teaching. People cherish the freedom to decide for themselves on issues that pertain to their conscience. They are suspicious of anyone who claims to know the roadmap to heaven.
What can the Church do in these situations? On the one hand it does not feel authorised to renounce to ideals. On the other, it knows that it exists precisely for those who feel excluded and those who cannot live up to those ideals. Pastorally, we need to be more sensible and compassionate.
Today, the Christian community seems to be at a crossroad, lost as to where the boundaries are. We cannot just categorise people as good or bad, normal or abnormal, believer or non-believer. Strictly speaking, we cannot look down upon or label anyone. Rediscovering God's perspective of creation would change so much in our way of seeing and judging people and situations.
Leprosy in Mark stands for the myriad of labels we continue to stick on people, probably in the name of the law. The law kills, excludes, judges, leaves no leeway. But Jesus died on the Cross to give us his Spirit, the Spirit which gives life, includes, forgives and heals, and opens new horizons and possibilities. We have received this Spirit. Perhaps we need to stop speaking in his name and let him guide us more.
This Spirit can mark the Church with the same deep compassion Jesus felt every time he came across people excluded and judged by society and religion. St Paul today puts it succinctly: "Never do anything offensive to anyone; just as I try to be helpful to everyone at all times, not anxious for my own advantage but for the advantage of everybody else, so that they may be saved."
While Leviticus may sound scandalous, if we open our eyes we will notice that we perpetuate that same culture today. Old stigmas have gone, but new ones are being invented. After Martin Luther King fought the segregationist policies, after Nelson Mandela pulled down apartheid, we create new ways of segregating.
There is no point denying that religions have been invoked in support of some of the most abysmal kinds of immorality. Just as there is no point in denying that at times even the Church itself is a victim of its own discriminatory and authoritarian style of organisation. Jesus in no way justified the social or religious order of his time. He just abolished segregation as being sinful. He could have shown compassion to the leper in many ways. But he just "stretched out his hand and touched him".
In spite of our rigidity, Jesus always opens new paths to hope. May the Church in these times stand in front of Jesus and plead: "If you want to, you can cure me." And may the Lord touch his Church again.
It needs to be touched and healed.