6^th Sun Ordinary Time B, Feb 14, 2021; Lv 13:1-2, 44-46; 1 Cor 10:31-11:1; Mk 1:40-45

In the summer, of 2003, I worked as a chaplain in a hospital in Ft Worth, Texas, and I discovered that there were three ways that people interact with hospital patients, the same three ways we tend to interact with people who are sick, people with diseases, people with disabilities, people who speak a language that we do not understand, people who are poor, and, generally, people who are different from us.

All three of these ways, that we interact, can be demonstrated with my hand. First, there is the hand that pushes away, which makes a barrier between me and another person. This is the reaction based on fear. “Get away” “You’re unclean” as we heard in the first reading, or “You might try to change me” or “You might want, or need, something from me”.

Don’t get me wrong healthy fear is good. It serves to protect us. But if fear keeps us divided from those who need us. If fear becomes an excuse to push others away because they are different, and not like us, then we have failed to follow Jesus’ example.

The second way we interact with someone, who is different from us, is with a hand that is meant to control. This reaction can be based on fear too but it’s more a reaction based on power. “Come on now, you need to change your life” “Just do what I tell you and everything will be okay” “No, that’s not the way it’s done, you have to do it my way”.

In the second reading, St. Paul tells us that it’s not about forcing people to fit some man-made mold. Instead, we are to follow Jesus’ example, to imitate him, and become examples for others to follow.

The third way to interact with someone, who is different from us, is the method we hear in today’s gospel. A leper approached Jesus and asked to be healed. However, as we heard in the first reading, lepers were not supposed to come near anyone.

They were supposed to keep themselves away from others. They were supposed to tear their clothing and shout out that they were unclean - so that people could be warned to stay clear of them. And, according to Jewish Law, anyone who so much as touched a leper was also made unclean.

So what does Jesus do? Does Jesus push the leper away? No. By Jewish law, Jesus had every right to put up a barrier between himself and the leper and push the man away. But Jesus doesn’t. So, does Jesus take this man by the robe, to control the man, and drag the man to the temple to be purified?

No. Jesus does not do that either. All Jesus does is reach out, with a compassionate hand, and gently touch the leper, as Jesus did with Peter’s mother-in-law, in last week’s gospel. Jesus does not push away or try to control but, instead, offers a gentle loving hand that someone can choose to take or not.

Thanks to the Pandemic we cannot “literally” offer a physical hand to someone in need but there are tons of ways to reach out to those who are struggling, to let them know someone cares about them and is willing to help, just as Jesus did.

It may take a little creativity, right now, but it can still be done if we are willing to open our hearts and try.