Mk.1:40-45
It was a Sunday evening, people had gathered in the church to listen to their pastor. The pastor before sharing his Sunday sermon introduced the guest minister to his flock, an old man, who is the father of his closest childhood friend. He told that the guest minister would speak for some time and he would share the sermon. The old man came to the pulpit with his breaking voice and started to share a story. Once a man went for a sail in the pacific along with his son and his companion. All of a sudden a violent storm hit their boat. In a matter of seconds, the boat was capsized…
The guest pastor looked at the crowd. He found that only two teenagers seemed to be interested in his story. He made eye contact with them and continued the narration of the story.
He knew how to survive in that turbulent ocean. Neither his son nor his friend did not know swimming. Unfortunately, only one lifeline was there in his hand. He had to make that difficult decision. His son is a Christian and believer. Whereas his friend is not a believer. If his son would die, he would share eternity with Jesus. If his companion, he may not have that privilege. He screamed: ‘I love you my son’ and threw lifeline to his friend and pulled him to the capsized boat, in a fraction of second, his son got drowned and disappeared into the deep sea and they could not even find his body.
He concluded the story with a message telling them that this is the way Heavenly Father loved us. He sacrificed his Son to redeem us. A pin-drop silence spread in the hall. The protestant pastor thanked the guest master and shared a short sermon. After the service, those two teenagers who were attentively listening to his story, came to the guest pastor and said, “That was a nice story, but I don’t think it was very realistic for a father to give up his only sons life, in hopes that the other boy would become a Christian.” Glancing down at his worn Bible he told them: ‘well I have experienced the pain of God the Father losing his son in a lesser degree because I was that father who sacrificed my son for his friend. And the one whom I saved is your pastor.’
Dear friends in today’s gospel we see the Christ experience of a leper. We all are familiar with the social ostracisation a leper had to undergo in those days. He was considered cursed, unclean and had to aloof himself from the mainstream of the society. Anyhow, he forgets his social barriers and approaches Jesus and surrender himself at his presence. Moved with compassion Jesus touches the leper, which was not allowed according to the Jewish law. Jesus restored his health. Having cured him Jesus strictly warned him not to proclaim this news to anyone. However, he goes around and proclaims the great thing that the Lord has done in his life. Did he sin by disobeying Jesus?
No. It is the humility of our Lord that asks this man to keep it as a secret. At the same time, Jesus knew the priest would come to know his miraculous cure as well as his family members and friends. Dear friends just like the incident we heard in the beginning the unbelieving friend became a believer and pastor, once we experience Christ we cannot remain silent. We will begin to share our Good News with others. As we meditate on this passage today let us reflect on a question that am I ready to share my Christ experience with others. Christianity spread all over the world not merely through the proclamation of the apostles but also through the sharing of the Good News within the communities and between the communities through her members. The Church is experiencing a crisis in some parts of the world it is because we are not sharing our Christ experience with others. Let us imitate the example of the leper who proclaimed Jesus courageously to the whole world the marvel that Jesus had done in his life…