Homily for Thursday of the 1st Week in Ordinary Time

Often, Jesus healed people by His spoken word alone, “Be healed!” But in His attention to the poor leper, Jesus not only spoke to him, but also touched him physically. In making physical contact with the man suffering from leprosy, Jesus did what was never done by people in that time and place.

For obvious reasons, people kept lepers at a distance, and lepers were expected to keep their distance from others. Yet, it was the character of Jesus to make contact with people and to keep no one at a distance, not even one as sick as this leper. No one was beyond His reach; no one was untouchable. He came to touch our lives in a very perceptible way, all of our lives, regardless of our condition.

The leper wasn’t sure whether Jesus wanted to heal him, as is clear from his opening words to Jesus, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” By touching him, Jesus very clearly showed that He wanted to heal him.

Jesus wants to touch all of our lives because He wants to bring life to us all. Nothing we do or fail to do, no circumstance in which we find ourselves, need place us beyond His reach. As St. Paul says in his letter to the Romans, “Nothing can come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus.” The LORD touches our lives, where we are, as we are. All we need is something of the leper’s initiative in reaching out to our LORD.+