Readings: Leviticus 13, 1-2, 44-46; Psalm 32; 1 Corinthians 10, 31-11, 1; Mark 1, 40-45
Leviticus: The book of the Levite tribe, the priestly tribe, one of the 12 tribes of Israel (from the 12 sons of Jacob–The Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob).
Author: a collection of many sources, but not Moses (impossible).
Date: some laws go back 1400 BCE., others from ca. 450 BCE.
Note: an interesting example of how academics better understand these texts. They noted that both Leviticus 11 & Deuteronomy 14 have similar lists of clean and unclean animals for eating. Deuteronomy 14, however, has 11 additional critters which are not mentioned in Leviticus 11. These 11 dwell only in the Arabian desert, not in Egypt or the land of Canaan (Holy Land). From this it can be deduced that the person (s) writing the laws in Leviticus had not wandered the desert and was writing before the Exodus. The writer (s) of Deuteronomy, however, had wandered the desert. Source: The Book of Leviticus; Believe: Religious Information Source, Canon Tristam
Subject matter: laws for better living with Yahweh. For instance in chapter 11, one may not eat pigs, camels, or rabbits, no animal with a divided hoof. All winged insects are unclean, except those that hop. In chapter 12, women are ritually unclean after giving birth, 7 days for boys, 14 days for girls. Chapter 19, "love one another as one's self." This morning's selection deals with how people with leprosy are to be treated. Leprosy, of course, was considered a punishment for sin & disobedience.
Exclusion vs Inclusion
When I first lived in Kenya & Tanzania in the late 70's I spent time working on my Swahili in a Jesuit parish that was in a town called Tabora, Tanzania. The town is in the middle of Tanzania with no paved roads leading to it. Only a few roads in the town itself are paved. The parish had about 3 Jesuit priests in those days, if I remember correctly, a French Canadian, an Irish, and an Indian. Today the Jesuits have departed and handed it over to the diocese because of not enough Jesuit priests.
In those days the parish had 21 outstations, some of which even had other outstations further out. These were located in small villages where little mud walled churches had been put up. Occasionally I found a rather large cement block church left over from times when priests were more abundant. Each Sunday we would all head out on motorcycles to the outstations.
On the edge of Tabora there was a special community. A community of men & women who had leprosy. The exclusion of these lepers was similar to what we read in Leviticus, though they received better care. Our parish used to help them a lot and I went to say Mass for them and spent time talking with them often individually, sometimes in a group. Despite the effectiveness of modern medicine, many had significant scarring and were without hands or feet. I remember being touched mostly by the quality of their spirits and sense of acceptance.
I am reminded of this leper community when I read about the lepers in today's readings. Leviticus lays down the directives, exclusion. Mark has Jesus dealing with a leper, including him in the community. I've already discussed Leviticus. Let me mention 3 points relevant to Mark & his account.
First, Mark's aim. Mark wants to convince Christians of Jewish & mostly Gentile background that Jesus is the Messiah. This community probably lived in Galilee, that is, around the Sea of Galilee or in Syria. How do today's students of the bible know this? Because they analyzed the text and noted that Mark used Greek rather than Aramaic. Moreover, Mark describes some Jewish customs. Both points indicated that he talks to a community made up more of Gentile Christians than Jewish Christians. They could not speak Aramaic and they did not know Jewish customs. Also, it is thought that the community was dwellingng around Galilee because Mark describes the geography of those places rather than around Jerusalem.
Secondly, Mark's means, how does he accomplish his end? He uses two literary techniques, the somewhat famous Messianic Secret technique and miracle stories.
When Mark has Jesus tell the leper, "See that you tell no one anything," Mark is using the Messianic Secret technique. People were saying that they lived at the time of Jesus, but never saw or heard about any of these miracle events. Mark is saying that they did not hear about them because Jesus tried to hide his powers. The secret is only supposed to be revealed at the end, at the death & resurrection. Nevertheless, as part of his technique Mark allows it to leak out by writing that the man "began to publicize the whole matter."
Thirdly, how Mark carefully crafts his writing. It is noted that in this chapter 1, Mark has 8 points he is using to convince people. For example, he built community by calling the apostles, he showed power by running off an unclean spirit, he gives life to Peter's mother, and so on. The miracle he describes today is number 8 and aims at inclusion of rejects in the community.
Instead of excluding the leper like Leviticus instructs, Jesus welcomes him. In fact, he does something that broke the law and the people would be astounded. He touched the leper. This was after Mark has the leper break the law by approaching Jesus. People around are saying, "Wow!", when they read this.
This might be today's lesson for us. Inclusion. Like it was for me in Tabora, Tanzania, it may be easier for us to think of including a leper, because we know the virus is not that contagious and can be effectively treated. But HIV? What about other races, colors, religions, students from other schools?
Whom do I have trouble including in my community?
References:
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Austin Cline, Audience of Mark's Gospel (on line), for the 11 extra critters
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Carmelite website, Homilies, for the 8 points Mark makes in chapter 1
AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2009-02-15.mp3
Picture 1: Mass with Sabrina helping
Picture 2: Hunter & Dillon, Kim, Ken, & Cindy
Picture 3: at the Coffiee Island, Maureen, Greg, & Angelo
Picture 4: Hunter