topleft05.jpg (18208 bytes)HOMILY
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
16 February 03


 

Driving home from the airport this past Friday afternoon, I was listening to Sean Hannity on WABC in New York.  Hannity was talking with a woman who had called wanting to know how Hannity¾a Roman Catholic conservative¾was able to be so kind and civil to his co-host, Alan Colmes¾a Roman Catholic liberal¾on the Fox News Channel’s Hannity and Colmes Show.  Hannity responded that he has learned not to let Colmes get under his skin but, instead, to believe that the power of his ideas will ultimately win the argument.  Hannity then related this to being a successful parent, noting that successful parents learn not to let their kids get under their skin but begin each day as if yesterday didn’t happen.  “You just have to understand that that’s where kids are at and one day they hopefully will pass beyond it,” Hannity said.

I haven’t raised any children but I have taught a lot of people’s children over the past three decades.  And, I do know that when it comes to students¾especially teenage students¾the most successful teachers do precisely what Sean Hannity was describing.  At the beginning of each day, these women and men don’t let what their students did yesterday becloud their judgment about their students today.  Instead, most successful teachers begin each day by taking a fresh look at their students¾not forgetting what happened yesterday¾but looking instead to bring out of them something better and more positive than that which reared its ugly head on the previous day.

Perhaps, too, some of us have experienced just the opposite, namely, a teacher who never was able to see beyond the fact of something we did yesterday or one of our siblings had done in a previous year.  Each day, rather than taking a fresh look at us, this teacher prejudged us.  There was nothing we could do to change the mental image which the teacher had already formed of us.  Sadly, not much learning took place in that classroom because the teacher’s prejudice formed an impenetrable wall for both of us.

I’m pretty sure that Hannity is correct; it’s got to be like that with parents, especially with parents teenage children.  Undoubtedly, every child proves troublesome at one time or another and, sometimes, is downright irksome.  Ive seen kids say things to their parents and act toward their parents in ways that, if I were the parent, I’d probably go ballistic.  But, if all a parent focused upon what the child said or did, the probability is that the parent would become incapable of seeing anything worthwhile in that child.  And, if this was the case for an extended period of time¾perhaps even years¾the child would experience profound alienation from his or her parent, believing that there is nothing that he or she could ever do to gain any respect from his or her parent.  Likewise, there’d be nothing the child could do to change the way the parent saw this child.  Both the child and the parent would live in a prison of the parent’s own making.  Luckily, most parents¾even those who go ballistic¾are able to see beyond what their kids say and do and don’t construct prisons.

It's got to be like that, no doubt, with spouses.  I know lots of spouses who have learned not to become like “The Bickermans,” that is, allowing one another’s momentary attitudes and lapses into bothersome idiosyncrasies transform into major obstacles and roadblocks to a healthy and mature relationship with one another.  These spouses have learned¾perhaps through some harsh lessons¾to bite their lower lip, to turn away from an opportunity to score a low blow, and to waltz away upstairs or to another room rather than to engage in bludgeoning one another over what oftentimes are part-and-parcel of what constitutes fallible human beings.  Then, at the start of a new day, rather descend into the mud pit and start slinging the mud in an act of revenge, one spouse takes a fresh look at the other and moves beyond the temptation to engage in warfare and to construct prisons that make it impossible to have a healthy and mature relationship with one’s spouse.

Arguably, there is little else worse than being alone in the world and experiencing the alienation caused by being labeled as one of society’s “untouchables.  To be surrounded by people and yet to remain untouched and unwanted creates a spiritual pain more piercing than that caused by any physical disease.

Yet, that is precisely what so many people do.  Perhaps we even do it ourselves when we blame others for their plights and regard them as untouchable.  It may be that someone lives a lifestyle we don’t approve of.  It may be a person who is afflicted with HIV-AIDS, an unwed teenage mother, a drug addict, an alcoholic, or a mentally ill person living on the streets.  To deal with the unease we experience when these untouchable people approach us, we avoid them or we ignore them so that we won’t have to stretch out our hands and touch them.  Sadly, parents sometimes cast out their children from their lives, children sometimes cast their parents out of their lives, and sometimes¾more often than any of us would ever hope¾cast their spouse out of their lives.  How many of us have cast out people who were once our friends and now label them as “untouchable”?

Today’s gospel presents a striking contrast to this approach to dealing with the “untouchables” among us.  Rather than prejudge the man with leprosy as was common in the Jewish community at the time, Jesus took a fresh look at him and, by doing so, scandalized his fellow Jews by going so far as to dare to touch someone whom society had ostracized as untouchable.

Why would Jesus engage in such risky behavior?

The gospel answers this question, telling us that Jesus stretched out his hand to the leprous man because Jesus was “moved with pity.”

Having knelt down and begged Jesus, “If you wish, you can make me clean,” we might conclude that Jesus “felt badly” for the man afflicted with leprosy and, because of this, Jesus stretched forth his hand and willed that the leper be healed.

While I am certain that Jesus did feel badly about the leper and his plight, this interpretation doesn’t square with what people who have been ostracized want others to feel.  Handicapped persons, people with deformities, teenagers with zits and crooked teeth or who believe themselves to be too tall or too short, the elderly abandoned in nursing homes, and the lesser-abled among us don’t want us to feel sorry for them.  No, what these people desire is for us to look at them for who are, not as society and we may judge them to be, namely, something less than worthy of the touch of our hand.

In fact, the word “pity” derives from the Latin root “pietas” or “piety” in English.  The term denotes devotion to religious duty and practice as well as loyalty and devotion to others.  Being “moved with pity,” Jesus didn’t feel sorry for the man with leprosy.  No, moved by devotion to what Jewish law required every faithful Jew to practice, namely, that he love God and neighbor as he loves himself, Jesus brought God’s law to its perfect fulfillment in this instance by willing that the leprous man be made clean.  “I do will it,” Jesus said, “Be made clean.”  Moved by loyalty and devotion to others and their needs rather than simply putting his feelings and self-interest first, Jesus did what not one of his fellow Jews was willing to do.  “Moved, with pity,” Mark tells us, “Jesus stretched out his hand, touched the man with leprosy, and said, I do will it. Be made clean.”

It’s so very easy to dismiss people because of our petty prejudices and the judgments we’ve made about them, isnt it?  Perhaps to avoid scandalizing others and offending them, we dont look at others as Jesus looked upon the leprous man¾“with pity”¾and will that these persons be healed of the behaviors, attitudes, and sins afflicting them.  Or, perhaps to avoid sullying ourselves, we don’t make the great personal sacrifice required if, like Jesus, we were going to stretch out our hand, touch those people, and will that they be made clean.

“If you wish, you can make me clean,” the lepers of our lives¾the people we have labeled untouchable¾tell us.  Perhaps it’s the unpopular moron at school.  Perhaps it’s a lazy co-worker.  Closer to home, it may be one’s stupid brother or sister or one’s pathetic in-laws.  More sadly yet, it may be one’s insolent child, one’s unyielding parent, or one’s thoughtless and selfish spouse.  Why are we so afraid and what reasons do we use to justify withholding our hand and from willing that any of these persons be healed of the disease afflicting them?

Using today’s gospel to answer this question, the simple reason is that¾unlike Jesus¾our hearts are not moved with pity.  That is, we are devoted neither to religious duty and practice nor by loyalty to others.  Our hearts are filled not with charity but with selfishness and, as the untouchable approach us, we put our feelings and our self-interest first and use that to justify withholding our hands and turning our backs upon the untouchables.

The true irony, however, is that by not stretching out our hands to these people and by not allowing ourselves to be touched by them for fear that their cooties will infect us, we really are saying, “I don’t want you to touch me.”  And, in so doing, we expose the hypocritical leprosy that is festering in and threatening to destroy our hearts.

Why are good parents, successful teachers, and wise spouses able to begin each day as if yesterday didn’t happen?  It’s simply because good parents love their children more than they love themselves.  Successful teachers love their students more than they care about their own feelings and self-interest.  And, wise spouses understand that they married a fallible human being who they love more than they care about their own feelings and self-interest.

But, as nice as this is¾it’s the stuff of good, civil, and mature behavior¾this isn’t what discipleship is about.

In his letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul reminds us today that disciples imitate Christ just as St. Paul did.  Exactly how are we to do this as disciples and not because we are merely good, civil, and mature people?

Today’s gospel provides the model.  To imitate Jesus, we must be willing to stretch out our hands to those we view as untouchable and we must will that they be healed of the diseases afflicting them.  By being willing to stretch out our hands and to reach beyond our self-interest in imitation of Jesus, we will that the love of God present in our hearts pour forth, heal others of their isolation and the shame they feel, and build up a community whose members know their true dignity is found in loving God and neighbor as much as they love themselves.

 

 

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