On December 18, 1865, after a war had been fought, a president assassinated (Lincoln), and the Emancipation Proclamation had publicly been stated, an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, abolishing slavery, was signed into law. The news swept across the country and virtually every newspaper in all the states carried the headline: “Slavery Legally Abolished.” Yet, years after this declaration, many slaves in the South, who were now legally freed, continued to live as slaves, living in fear and squalor as though nothing had happened. This unfortunate reality, unfortunately, is not much different from how many of us relate to sin, in spite of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. The gospel reading (Mark 1:40-45) on this sixth Sunday in ordinary times, Year B, tells the story of the healing of a man with leprosy; a story not so much about the leper being healed as it is about the freedom from sin that God has brought unto us in Jesus Christ.
The first reading (Leviticus 13:1-2,44-46) describes the horrible condition of a leprous. “The one who bears the sore of leprosy shall keep his garments rent and his head bare.... and shall cry out, Unclean, unclean!’…He shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp.” Leprosy separates one from the community as sin separates us from God. The outward sign of Leprosy is like sin's innermost spiritual corruption, small in its beginning but gradually spreads, little by little, leading our inner nature into disfigurement, corruption, degradation, dissolution, defilement, and inevitably rending us unfit to be in the presence of God. Just as a leper is helpless in curing his or her condition, so are we unable to cure our own condition of sin. No wonder the man said to Jesus, “If you are willing, you can make me clean,” and Christ answered, “I am willing, be made clean.” My friends, Jesus is the only answer to our conditions, no matter what they may be, and the good news is that He loves us completely and is more than willing to do something about it, to touch us with His compassion and love. We do not need to fix our lives before we can come to Jesus; we just, like the leper, can come to Him the way we are and receive His mercy, and compassion. Notice that after healing the man with leprosy, Jesus told him, “Go and show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” In order words, Christ was saying to the leper, “Go and do not live like a leper ever again and surely, the leper never went back to acting like a leper again. Rather, he went into town, celebrating his freedom. We must do the same. Our Lord has set us free from sin, and we must start acting and living like it. The Bible says, “I urge you, therefore, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect." What God has done for us in Christ Jesus is an invitation for us to showcase Him to a world badly in need of freedom from sin. Many times, we think that coming to Jesus and forming a relationship with Him will keep us from having a fun life. On the contrary, forming a relationship with Jesus truly gives us the freedom to live life to the fullest; as Scripture says, “I have come that they may have life and have it in its fullness.”
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