Taking sin away

Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time A-1

Entrance Antiphon Upon a lofty throne, I saw a man seated, whom a host of angels adore, singing in unison: Behold him, the name of whose empire is eternal.

Collect Attend to the pleas of your people with heavenly care, O Lord, we pray, that they may see what must be done and gain strength to do what they have seen. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: 1 Samuel 4:1-11; Psalm 43; Mark 1:40-45

There came a leper beseeching him, and kneeling down he said to Jesus, “If you will you can make me clean.” Jesus felt compassion for him and stretched forth his hand and touching him, said, “I do will it. Be made clean.” Having spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was clean. He strictly charged him, and immediately sent him off telling him, “See you tell no one; but go and show yourself to the high priest and offer in testimony for your cleansing what Moses commanded. But having gone, he began to broadcast everything everywhere so that Jesus could not openly go into the city, but remained out in desert places. They flocked to him from all sides. (Mark 1:40-45)

Taking sin away Our Gospel scene opens today with the poignant spectacle of a leper in all his impossible predicament coming and actually kneeling down before Jesus to ask him for a healing. His prayer is heartfelt, it is worthy, it presents a true and pressing need, and it is full of faith. He tells Jesus that “if you will, you can make me clean.” It evoked the power and compassion of Jesus and at a word he cured him: “I do will it. Become clean!” Immediately the leprosy disappeared. This entire scene prompts many thoughts, but one is this — and it is an ever-recurring thought in a very broken world. Our Lord had the power and he certainly had the compassion, why then did he not seek out the rest of the lepers in the land and do something for them? Numerous persons afflicted with various diseases were brought to him or sought him out and he cured them. Well then, why did he not go further and do something for those others who did not make personal contact with him? What was he doing all those years in Nazareth quietly working at his trade? He could have been out and about curing people of their afflictions and raising even more people from the dead and so bringing consolation to so many — just as he did for the widow of Nain. It is the old question of, where was God when people were suffering? Was he asleep during the holocaust? Did he exist? Consider our Gospel passage again and notice that when our Lord did cure the leper he “strictly charged him” him not to tell anyone about it: “See you tell no one.” It looks as if, much as our Lord responded to the afflictions of people who came for him to take them away, that was not the essential mission he had come to fulfil. The lifting of suffering had its place in his work but it was not the fundamental need to be met. In fact the leper did what our Lord told him not to do — he broadcast everything. The result was that hoards of people came seeking our Lord to get him to take away their sufferings. The result? The Gospel tells us that “Jesus could not openly go into the city, but remained out in desert places. They flocked to him from all sides.” (Mark 1:40-45)

All this is instructive. Our Gospel scene shows that Christ had a greater goal and one that allowed for the presence of suffering. His goal, as the Scriptures make clear, was as the Lamb of God to take away the root cause of the evils in the world, which is sin. He came to fix the universe at its core and that core problem is man’s sin. Christ suffered and died and then rose from the dead, having in this unexpected and mysterious way implanted at the heart of the world the principle that would gradually make all things new. That principle is redemption and the gift of the Holy Spirit. But what of suffering after the root problem was dealt with? It is still not eliminated, indicating that the elimination of suffering from human life is not the first priority in the plan of God, though God wants us, in union with Christ (who said “I do will it. Be clean”), to do all we can to alleviate and lessen it. Suffering is still with us even though the Messiah has come and gone. There are forms of Christian spirituality which in the face of suffering simply respond by praying for healing as did the leper. They see no other response than that of the leper and the crowds that sought our Lord for him to take away their afflictions. But no. Suffering has not been taken away. Rather it has been given a new meaning and possibility. There is a far richer spirituality, a fuller putting on of the mind of Christ in the face of suffering, and the saints knew how to live it. Their sufferings were the means of deep union with Christ who suffered and died for sin. Christ himself suffered beyond imagining and his sufferings were essential to his life and mission. Suffering is redemptive and sanctifying if it is marked by union with Christ. Just as Christ’s highest and greatest moment was the moment of his obedient suffering, so too the Christian’s greatest moments are those when he suffers in union with Christ. Great as is the blessing of being freed of our suffering — if God grants this blessing — greater still is the blessing of suffering with Christ for our own sanctification and for the redemption of the world.

It is clear from the life and work of Christ that though God hates to see his children suffer, and though he commands us to do all we can for those who do suffer — and our judgment by God will depend on it — nevertheless, the presence of suffering does not prevent the triumph of good. Indeed, God in Christ has transformed suffering from being a pointless burden to being a means of new life. This is what Christ did through his obedient suffering. And so the mark of a true disciple of Christ? It is to take up one’s cross every day and to follow in Christ’s footsteps, right to Calvary. If we suffer and die with Christ we shall experience the power of his resurrection and contribute in and with Christ to the redemption of the world.

(E.J.Tyler)

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