6th Sunday of the Year, Year B

"I do will it, Be cured"

Lectionary Readings for the 6th Sunday of the Year, Year B

In this Sunday's gospel, we find a leper approaching Jesus and pleading to Jesus that he be cured of his disease. We know that in those days, leprosy makes one an outcast of the Jewish society and people consider lepers unclean. This ostracism is heightened all the more by the fact that leprosy is considered a punishment also for one's sins. Thus, anybody who has the disease is two times denied of his freedom: the freedom to be part of the everyday life of the people and the freedom to be favored in the eyes of God.

Today, even though leprosy is curable and does not really mean what it meant before in the time of Jesus, we still encounter life experiences that make us unfree to be part of the life of the people, and also unfree to be seen as favored in God's eyes. But even though we or other people may experience this, there is a way to regain our freedom. As the leper in the gospel approached Jesus, he said, "If you will to do so, you can cure me." And Jesus stretched out his hand, touched the leper and said: "I do will it, be cured." We need only to approach Jesus and he will really will that we be cured, and that we regain our freedom again as part of a family of communities who are favored in the Lord's eyes.

The priest in the Mass this morning tells us that we can be cured of whatever kind of leprosy in our life through the sacrament of reconciliation. It is a sacrament that restores us to the Church, where a family of communities are bonded together in Christ; it is also a sacrament that makes us feel again the Lord's favor as we experience God's love through being made whole from our sinfulness. And not only can we experience our freedom again through this sacrament of reconciliation, but even the Sunday Mass that we are called to celebrate, is an opportunity for us to be made whole again with our brothers and sisters in the faith.

Let us therefore not be afraid to approach the sacraments. This gospel shows us that Jesus indeed wills that we be made whole again; that we experience the freedom that is originally intended to us as a gift for being made in the image and likeness of God, and thus fulfill our role to make the good news known to all: Jesus wills that we be saved, regain our freedom, and be made whole again.