In this Sunday’s readings, two deeply connected themes are presented to us: lepers and scandal. The Leviticus text shows us the treatment of lepers in Israel, while the text from Mark shows us Jesus’ treatment. This treatment is “scandalous” to his contemporaries. On this topic, as a complement, we have the reading from Paul…
6th Sunday in Ordinary Time
In this Sunday’s readings, two deeply connected themes are presented to us: lepers and scandal. The Leviticus text shows us the treatment of lepers in Israel, while the text from Mark shows us Jesus’ treatment. This treatment is “scandalous” to his contemporaries. On this topic, as a complement, we have the reading from Paul.
Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46
The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: When a person has on the skin of his body a swelling, a rash, or a spot that looks like leprosy, he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons, the priests.
The priest shall examine the disease on the skin of the body; if the hair in the diseased area has turned white and the disease appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is a leprous disease; when the priest has examined him, he shall pronounce him unclean.
The one who has the leprous disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, “Unclean, unclean!”
He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.
This text prepares us well to better understand the gospel, and it is a good example of why it is advisable to know the Old Testament: among other reasons, to better understand the New.
Part of the legislation regarding skin eruptions is presented here, which are generically called “leprosy,” although they may not be strictly what current medical science understands by that term. Ringworm, scabies, eczema… are quite common and much-feared diseases because they are contagious.
For this reason, the laws clearly establish what must be done with such patients. In the passage we read today, there is no mention of the treatment given (there would certainly be healing systems, herbs, ointments, etc., etc.), but of the “legal” treatment of such patients, which is limited to isolating them from the rest of the people until their cure is verified.
Although the text refers to the times of Israel’s nomadic life, these prescriptions were still in force in Jesus’ time. Lepers are expelled from the village, must wear rags, and announce their presence by shouting: they usually lived in groups on the outskirts of the villages, away from the road.
The term “unclean,” which is applied to them, is the typical way in Israel of saying that something is “contaminated,” and everyone must stay away from it. There are unclean things, such as corpses, actions that “make unclean” such as menstruation, unclean foods, such as pork. It is a generic way of making people stay away from something considered potentially dangerous.
And, of course, the main consequence of uncleanness is that the one who has contracted it cannot approach the worship until he is purified. Purification is always a ritual act: a period of time passes and a rite is performed, generally an ablution. The priest then declares the person clean and reintegrates them into the community.
The notion of uncleanness has nothing to do with the notion of sin. And leaving uncleanness has nothing to do with repentance. They are external things, sometimes hygienic, sometimes food taboos, sometimes diseases… that are sometimes contracted unintentionally and are cleaned because they are cured or because they are purified through rites.
The notion of “uncleanness” is therefore a way of protecting the people against potential dangers. It is very interesting, to complete the topic, to remember that the Israelites considered all other peoples unclean, and had a prohibition against mixing with them. An Israelite cannot enter the house of a “gentile,” much less eat with him. And it is understandable that a small people knows well that only by maintaining their strict peculiarity, their difference, can they subsist without being absorbed by much more powerful neighbors.
Even more radical is the position of the Pharisees, who did not deal with ordinary people so as not to contract uncleanness, to stay pure, since people were considered unclean, since it was impossible for them to stay free of the innumerable uncleannesses that appeared in The Law.
In the case of leprosy, the text of Leviticus shows us the precautions that are taken, and helps to imagine well the scene in the Gospel, in which Jesus encounters a group of lepers (the text speaks only of one), undoubtedly in an open field, near a city.
1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved. Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ.
It basically deals with scandal, but in the exact opposite sense to that of the Gospel. Jesus scandalizes the super-strict law-keepers. Paul speaks of not giving scandal, that is, of accommodating others so as not to hinder conversion. So, these are absolutely different kinds of scandals.
José Enrique Galarreta, S.J.