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A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said,
"if you wish, you can make me clean."
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched him, and said to him,
"I do will it. Be made clean."
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
He said to him, "See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them."
The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.
He spread the report abroad
so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.
He remained outside in deserted places,
and people kept coming to him from everywhere.
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I personally feel that this gospel is so powerful and full of wonders. The way I relate to the first half of the gospel is through the connection to confession. The leper came to Jesus, just as we go to a priest and ask for forgiveness. The leper asked for Jesus to purify him, and so it was done. Jesus said "I do will it, be made clean" The way i view this is that Jesus WANTS to heal and purify us. He calls us to come to him with our problems and our crosses that we bear and have him help with the load. We are called to be like the leper to reach out and go to Jesus, and to pray for forgiveness. When you tell a priest your confession your sins are let go. You feel a sense of being "unstoppable" and that a huge weight has been lifted off your chest. "The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean." I bet he felt a similar type of joy and power after having been purified.
ReplyDeleteThe second half of the gospel is a little bit different then the first. I see it as the cured man trying to Evangelize, to go out and spread the good news. Similarly in our own lives, if Mark had told us after Xanten, all this feeling you have in you now, just keep it to yourself, hold it in. After today just pretend like Xanten never happened, dont tell anyone. I think this would be somewhat hard after getting to know the lord so well and having been purified. I would want to go out and tell the world of my wonderful experiences!
Thats just my view on this gospel, I really like this one and I think it holds a lot of different but powerful messages.
This gospel always fills me with such joy at being the daughter of such a generous and loving God. I can understand how the leper could not keep from shouting about the greatness of the Lord!
ReplyDeleteI was touched, Ryan, by your comment. The conversation between the leper and Jesus is very much like our interactions with the Lord through the sacrament of Reconciliation! The leper was even given a penance ("...Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed...").
As Valentine's Day approaches, it has been on my heart to ask the Lord to be my valentine and to use Confession to give my heart more perfectly to Him. I pray for the humility of the leper when I approach the Lord.
Ryan that was a great view. This Gospel sounds a lot like confession! But also on the topic of Xanten as well as confession, after we are made clean we want to go and spread the word - as you said. Often after retreats or some sort of religious uplifting, like confession, I feel the power to go and speak to others. Many people I know have not met God yet or are going through a hard time in their relationship with Him and I have difficulty trying to communicate with them and explain to them how God is always there. I think that the leper being healed is very similar to a retreat high in the way that when we come in contact with an awesome amount of God's love and revelation, we feel inspired to go out and share that.
ReplyDeleteIn my life right now, I feel this Gospel is telling me to try and use some sort of high, whether is from confession or service projects or whatever, and go out and tell the world of how God has changed my life for the better. We must be like the leper and humble ourselves so that we may share the good news of God.