Lv 13:1-2, 44-46
1 Cor 10:31-11:1
Mk 1:40-45
When reading scripture, be it Hebrew or Catholic, it is important to go beneath the text to discover its meaning. This is particularly important when the word 'leprosy' appears. Without some understanding of how the people of the Ancient Near East defined and viewed leprosy we are stuck because neither the concept nor the diagnosis of leprosy in ancient times had anything to do with the bacterial illness leprosy that is now known as Hansen's Disease. Significantly, Hansen's is rare and difficult to contract. There were only 185 new cases in the U.S. in 2018, eighty-nine percent of which occurred in seven states. None of those states was in New England but watch out for Florida. Hansen's is a very slowly progressing disease and is curable though the treatment with a combination of antibiotics requires one to two years.
Leprosy--from the Greek meaning scales of a fish--is the unfortunate translation of the Hebrew word 'tzara'at,' a term applied to discolorations of the skin, hair, and beard. It was a catch-all term for a scaly eruption of the skin with pale discoloration, a discoloration that would stand out on swarthy Middle Eastern skin. But, tzara'at could also be applied to clothing and buildings; we would call it mold today. Jewish commentators note that today vitiligo, a loss of skin pigmentation, and psoriasis would be considered tzara'at. Chapters 13 and 14 of Leviticus are dedicated solely to considering the diagnosis of tzara'at and the criteria for declaring it cured.
Leviticus understood tzara'at as a gradual erosion of the skin that allowed the life-force to ooze from the body. This was a sign that death, or what we would call the 'death process', had begun to consume the body. The seeping out of the life force caused ritual impurity in those who came close to it, thus the quarantine and shunning. The afflicted was looked upon as potentially dead, analogous it seems, to the way anyone with a positive covid test is understood today. And, like the leper who was compelled to call out unclean, there is a complete lack of respect for personal privacy as headlines name the names of prominent people who were covid positive.
Was it really necessary for anyone outside of his family to know that 91 year-old Bobby Bowden, former head football coach at Florida State, was infected and hospitalized in October? It appears that HIPPA has been suspended for the duration. He recovered. But Newsweek published an article noting that following his recovery he commented to the press that he was happy to have recovered from covid so he could vote . . . for Trump. Apparently that was the equivalent of declaring himself a sinner The bashing and bullying began almost immediately upon the release of his statement. As Newsweek reported, "Though there were many who defended the coach, there were those who spewed venom for political reasons."
U.S. society today is pathetic.
The individual afflicted with tzara'at was shunned, isolated, and barred from social contact lest he come into contact with the healthy as described in the first reading. Similarly with covid (or for holding political views deemed "Not Our Kind Dear") the shunning, ruptured relationships, and cruelty have been remarkable. The venom spewed through social media on the part of both democrats and republicans was crude, rude, sexually abhorrent, and, worst of all, mostly unoriginal, finding eternal life online only because someone pushed the share or forward button on a computer without thinking or reflection. Life would be more pleasant today were society to pay closer attention to the second reading in which Paul wrote, "whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. Avoid giving offense" to anyone. Not a bad idea.
The reading from Leviticus began with vv 1-2 and then jumped to vv 44 to 46. Be grateful for that jump. The deleted verses are what amounts to a picture-free dermatology textbook for the priests who examined a lesion thought to be "tzara’at" It was up to them to pronounce those lesions as being either leprous or non-leprous. The priests also reexamined an individual after a period of quarantine to determine if the lesion had been healed. Thus, we heard Jesus' instruction to the man to present himself to the priests and make the usual offerings.
Because the germ theory of disease was thousands of years in the future tzara'at was understood as the outward sign of interior uncleanness attributed to sin, even when, as in the case of Job, the individual had not sinned. Some commentators suggest that tzara'at was seen as a physical manifestation of a spiritual malaise, evidence of sin, and a warning the individual to mend his ways.
Moderns profess to believe in science, though that belief seems to apply only if the version of science in which he or she believes fits with his or her social preconceptions. Declarations of unclean shouted at the individual rather than by the individual suggest that many see covid as less a viral illness and more or a moral failing, particularly if one is walking alone in a park without wearing a mask.
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
Human nature and its inherent intolerance has not changed. It is unlikely that it will.
The gospel ends with an example of what is called the Markan Secret, in which Jesus warns his followers or the beneficiaries of miracles to remain silent about Him and thus silent about His Messianic mission. There is a lot of speculation as to why Jesus demands this secrecy. That is another homily for a different liturgical season.
The important point of this gospel is in the action of Jesus healing a man of a disease that marked him as a sinner in the minds of all who saw him. Jesus' action reunited him with his family, community, the temple, and, most importantly, made his very self whole again. The politicization of covid that has had partisans hurling epithets and accusations of unclean (and worse) at each other has done and will continue to do long-lasting damage to the fabric of what used to be called civilized society.
May God have mercy on our souls and heal us of the internal lesions of tzara'at.
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Would love go be back in Ljubjana as I was four years ago for the carnival parade, similar to Mardi Gras, and to eat krof, the donuts (without holes) that are eaten in vast amounts.
Never eat krof while wearing clerical black clothes unless they are destined for the washer immeidately afterwards.
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