HOMILY FOR THE SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME OF THE YEAR (B)

HOMILY FOR THE SIXTH SUNDAY

 IN ORDINARY TIME OF THE LITURGICAL YEAR (B) – February 11, 2018

      Office: Psalter Week 2                                                           Liturgical Colour: Green

Today’s Reading:

1st Reading: Leviticus 13:1-2.44-46
Responsorial: Psalm 32:1-2.5.11 (R. 7)

2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1

Accl. Luke 7:16
Gospel: Mark 1:40-45

Theme: The Healing Power of Christ

The Holy Mother Church in her love continue to feed us from the table of the word each day as we all journey towards our final home. Today being the sixth Sunday in the Ordinary Time of the year, she brings to our consciousness the continuous salvific mission of Christ, and His tender, love for humanity. In the first reading taken from the Book of Leviticus 13:1-2.44-46 there is a display of how lepers are treated in the Jewish tradition. Leprosy which is sâra`at in Hebrew and lepra in the New Testament meaning “leprosy” in general understanding. But it was not the disease that we come to know as leprosy today, rather it was a general term used to describe “repulsive skin disease”. Metaphorically, the term may be used to describe “public sin” which separate one from the community of believers. We heard the leper at the beginning of the Gospel requesting Christ to heal him: “make me clean” he requested. The Greek verb kathrarisai could mean “declare clean”, which can as well mean to purify, and in a loose sense of it “to forgive”.

However, the story of leprosy is not strange in either Old or New Testament. But the circumstance surrounding the victim is always pitiable. In the Jewish tradition, Leper was tagged “unclean” and as such he had to be separated from the community: “… he must live away from others”. (Leviticus 13:46). The aim of ostracizing the patient was to prevent others contracting the disease. On healing them, he has to present himself to the priest for certification that he is clean and to perform the rite of purification. That is why Christ asked the man He cured in the gospel reading to go and show himself to the priest. To show that He did not come to destroy the law but to bring it to fulfilment.

In today’s Gospel pericope, the tone of the music changes in contrast to what we saw in the first reading, where lepers were pushed to the edge of the society. The Gospel presented us with the story of a man with leprosy, who approached Jesus and requested for healing. Jesus seeing his miserable condition, moved with pity, stretched out his hands, touched him and said: “Yes, be clean” (Mark 1:41). Christ did not only heal the sick man in question, but uses the opportunity to denounce the law of discrimination in the Jewish tradition (cf. Lev. 13:46; Num. 5:1-4; 2 Kgs.15:5). And at the same time revealed the true image of God as “merciful father” the very characteristics Evangelist Luke invited us to imbibe with: “Be merciful as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). This act of healing experience invited us to be accommodating, be patient, show love and concern to our brothers and sisters who are sick, in need, abandoned, etc. 

Still in this dramatic episode, Jesus did not only pronounce healing on him, but He stooped low to touch him. For Jesus, he was not unclean but a human soul in desperate need of healing and re-habilitation. Thus, He did not waste time to dispatch him to go and show himself to the priest for certification of healing as the tradition demanded. The aim of this sudden command was to enable him to be re-integrated into the society. Jesus, remain a merciful healer, a man often moved with pity. Yes! We are Christians, his “ardent follower”. In view of this identity as “Christians” St. Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthian Church which forms today’s second reading, invited us to model our lives after that of Jesus Christ. Paul did not talk about himself, but about Christ. He invited us to look out for the interest of others other than ours, stressing that what afflicted another should be our concern. Finally, he left us with a caveat “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1).

We should also be conscious of the fact that, we are not our own, but God’s. We need his hands to carry us around, the very plea made by the today’s psalmist: “You are a hiding place for me …” To crown it all, let us join in praying today’s collect (Opening Prayer): “O God, who teach us that you abide in our hearts that are just and true, grant that we may be so fashioned by your grace as to become a dwelling pleasing to you …”. Peace be with you!

REV. PIUSRALH EFFIONG, SMMM   piusralphe@gmail.com +2348 0668 90324