In today’s readings we are invited to keep looking to Jesus as the source of our hope, strength and healing. We hear from the Letter to the Hebrews that “we have become partners of Christ” in trying to live with a pure and faithful heart. As a reminder of how through Christ we can be cleansed, the Gospel then goes on to recount the story of the leper who places all his hope in Jesus and seeks healing from him.
Jesus, of course, heals the man from his leprosy but then commands him to not say anything. This is because his contemporaries, the Israelites, were not ready to embrace the truth of who Jesus actually was. Jesus knew that once he began proclaiming the truth of his identity and mission, it wouldn’t be long till a chain of events would lead to his ultimate sacrifice for our sins on the Cross, but he needed time. He needed the time to reveal the Father and his plan and how to relate to him, and time to choose the apostles and journey with them. He then needed to establish a Church to teach in his name, and to institute and set in motion the Sacraments. A lot of things needed to be done and he knew that the outrage of the people at their lack of perception and openness to his message would cut his time short. In theology, the “secrecy of Mark” is a reference to all the times Jesus in this Gospel admonishes people he heals to be aware that it wasn’t the right time to spread the news.
I would like to comment on this a bit. The leper in today’s gospel was so ecstatically happy with his newfound healing, which brought with it a freedom of movement he had lost, and also a reinsertion into the community, that he just felt he had to tell everybody about Jesus. This is what one would expect after all, yet he was given specific instructions by the Lord to keep it to himself. One would think that if there was nothing else that could compensate Jesus’ kindness and generous benevolence, the least the leper could have done is merely obey him, right? “Jesus, thank-you for the healing. You are asking me to remain silent about it, and so I will. Thank-you Lord.” But this doesn’t happen. Our brother must have thought, “What could be the harm?” The harm was, that now people would start to chase the Lord like paparazzi, and begin a barrage of questions as to how he did what he did for the leper. They will inevitably want to know who Jesus is. Yet, instead of receiving his truth when it was called upon, they rejected it and began to conspire as to how to get rid of him and put him to death.
Brothers and sisters, it is important to follow our Lord’s instructions to the tee. There is no room for obedience and prudence at fifty percent of the time. We are either all in or still clinging to our pride and that of the world that thinks it somehow knows better than God. When the Lord asks us to do something, we do it. How often do we think we know better than him. This was something the apostles also had to learn, slowly and gradually, but through much patience on the Lord’s part. Sometimes, what the Lord does for us, is meant just for us—for our own growth in faith. Discerning when this is the case takes prayer and the discipline, time and humility to listen.
Our Blessed Mother too pondered all the amazing things in her heart. There was so much she could say, but she knew that timing was very important. So too it is with us and all the wonders Jesus works in our lives—one day, we too will be able to tell our story and perhaps in the meanwhile, share some tidbits along the way. May you be blessed this day through Her intercession as she points us always to the Source of all goodness and joy, her Son, our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, with whom we have been made partners and heirs. Our Lady, Queen of Pilgrims, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Amen.
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