Recent experiences of fear regarding the contagious covid virus should give us some insight into the astounding action of Jesus towards the leper in today's gospel: "Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him." (Mk 1: 41) To touch a leper was effectively to condemn oneself to becoming a leper and sharing the same fate of ostracism from the community. The amazing gesture of Jesus shows us not only his power to heal but also his willingness to enter fully into the human condition of suffering which reaches its greatest expression in his sacrificial death on the Cross. St Paul put it this way: "For our sake he (God) made him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Cor 5: 21) The former leper does not obey Jesus' instruction to keep quiet and endangers Jesus by going on to proclaim to all and sundry that he was healed by Jesus. Rather than staying away from Jesus, the Scripture tells us that: "... people came to Jesus from every quarter." (Mk 1: 45) Likewise, this Lent, we should not be scandalized by the Cross. We, too, need to approach Jesus and avail ourselves of his mercy and redemption which is actualized in the sacrament of reconciliation.
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