Los leprosos....

Mc 1, 40-45

En aquel tiempo, se le acercó a Jesús un leproso para suplicarle de rodillas: “Si tú quieres, puedes curarme”. Jesús se compadeció de él, y extendiendo la mano, lo tocó y le dijo: “¡Sí quiero: sana!” Inmediatamente se le quitó la lepra y quedó limpio. 

Al despedirlo, Jesús le mandó con severidad: “No se lo cuentes a nadie; pero para que conste, ve a presentarte al sacerdote y ofrece por tu purificación lo prescrito por Moisés”. 

Pero aquel hombre comenzó a divulgar tanto el hecho, que Jesús no podía ya entrar abiertamente en la ciudad, sino que se quedaba fuera, en lugares solitarios, a donde acudían a él de todas partes.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GospelMK 1:40-45

A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said,
"If you wish, you can make me clean."
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched the leper, and said to him, 
"I do will it. Be made clean."
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
Then he said to him, "See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them."
The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.
He spread the report abroad
so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.
He remained outside in deserted places,
and people kept coming to him from everywhere.

========================================================

Meditacion:

A Jesus le molestaba muchisimo la forma en que Israel trataba a los leprosos.

No solo no podian acudir a los servicios religiosos sino que eran excluidos sociales porque se pensaba que la lepra era consecuencia del pecado.

Las traducciones han dulcificado mucho el recuerdo de la curación del leproso. Los manuscritos antiguos más fiables, en vez de un Jesús “compadecido”, hablan de un Jesús “airado”; y esa ira está muy en sintonía con la “severidad” que seguidamente se menciona.

La escena debió de revestir para Jesús una gran seriedad: la presencia del leproso le trajo a la mente algo que él no soportaba, el comportamiento inmisericorde que en Israel se practicaba con los leprosos, manteniéndolos alejados y considerándolos malditos de Dios. La ira de Jesús no va contra el pobre leproso marginado y excluido del culto, sino contra “los piadosos” judíos que no sabían apiadarse; esto a Jesús le indignaba. La originaria precaución ante posible contagio físico se había convertido en prevención ante una supuesta contaminación religioso-moral. La lepra era motivo de marginación religiosa.

Pero Jesús se confesó una y otra vez como el que había venido a buscar a los supuestos pecadores, a los de fuera, a los perdidos. No le importó que le tildasen de “amigo de publicanos y pecadores” (Mt 11,19). En eso se alejó radicalmente de las autoridades religiosas de su tiempo. Muy probablemente la expresión “que les sirva de testimonio” deba entenderse en el sentido de “testimonio contra ellos”, contra los puritanos sacerdotes que pretendían garantizar la santidad del templo excluyendo de él a todo leproso o a todo pecador público.

Imaginen hoy dia cuando algunos paises cierran completamente sus fronteras a los "nuevos leprosos", aquellos excluidos de sus paises por la violencia, por la probreza, por la falta de oportunidades.

Y aun mas cercanamente, nuestros propios leprosos, las personas que viven excluidos de la sociedad, viviendo en las calles, los adictos, las personas sin esperanza.

Lo de Jesús en cambio es la salud humana integral. Él no ahuyenta, sino que acoge; no impide que el leproso se le acerque, incluso le toca con su mano. Y no se conforma con limpiarle de la lepra: le integra de nuevo en la comunidad cultual de Israel, podrá participar de nuevo en la liturgia de la sinagoga y del templo.

No ha sido el papa Francisco el primero en desear una Iglesia que salga fuera de sus espacios sacros, que “se manche” con la suciedad de este mundo, aunque huela a establo.

Entonces mis amigos hay que salir y proclamar, hay que ayudar y cuidar porque hoy hay muchisimos mas "leprosos" que en los tiempos de Jesus.

Así pues, cada vez que vayas a Misa y, en realidad cada vez que recibas el Sacramento de la Reconciliación o cualquier otro sacramento, piensa que tú eres el hombre del Evangelio de hoy, y que Jesús toca cada parte de tu vida, la sana y la vivifica.

“Señor y Salvador mío, te doy gracias por extender tu mano y tocarme en mi cuerpo, mi mente y mi espíritu y así renuevas mi vida.” Amen

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jesus resented the way Israel treated lepers.

Not only could they not go to religious services but they were socially excluded because it was thought that leprosy was the consequence of sin.

The translations have greatly softened the memory of the healing of the leper. The most reliable ancient manuscripts, instead of a "compassionate" Jesus, speak of an "angry" Jesus; and that anger is very much in tune with the "severity" that is mentioned below.

The scene must have given Jesus a great seriousness: the presence of the leper brought to mind something that he could not stand, the merciless behavior that was practiced in Israel with the lepers, keeping them away and considering them cursed of God. The wrath of Jesus is not against the poor leper marginalized and excluded from the cult, but against "the pious" Jews who did not know how to take pity; this made Jesus indignant. The original precaution in the face of possible physical contagion had become a prevention against a supposed religious-moral contamination. Leprosy was a reason for religious marginalization.

But Jesus confessed again and again as the one who had come to look for the supposed sinners, the outsiders, the lost. He did not care that they called him a "friend of publicans and sinners" (Mt 11,19). In that he radically distanced himself from the religious authorities of his time. Most probably the expression "that bears witness to them" should be understood in the sense of "testimony against them", against the puritan priests who sought to guarantee the sanctity of the temple by excluding from it any leper or any public sinner.

Imagine today when some countries completely close their borders to the "new lepers", those excluded from their countries by violence, by poverty, by the lack of opportunities.

And even more closely, our own lepers, people who live excluded from society, living on the streets, addicts, people without hope.

Jesus' thing, on the other hand, is integral human health. He does not chase away, but welcomes; it does not prevent the leper from approaching him, even touching him with his hand. And he does not settle for cleaning him from leprosy: he integrates him back into the cult community of Israel, he can participate again in the liturgy of the synagogue and the temple.

Pope Francis was not the first to desire a Church that goes out of its sacred spaces, that "gets dirty" with the filth of this world, although it smells like a stable.

Then my friends have to go out and proclaim, we have to help and care because today there are many more "lepers" than in Jesus' time.

So, every time you go to Mass and, in reality every time you receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation or any other sacrament, think that you are the man of the Gospel today, and that Jesus touches every part of your life, heals it and vivifies it.

"Lord and my Savior, I thank you for extending your hand and touching me in my body, my mind and my spirit and thus renew my life." Amen