That Guy

Reaching those at the margins

Mark 1:40-45

A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,  touched him, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean. Then, warning the him sternly, he dismissed him at once.  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.

             Have you ever heard of St. Damien of Molokai, also known as the “leper priest”?  He has an amazing story, so amazing that they even made a movie of it.  In 1873 he volunteered to work on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, which was a leper colony.  He built hospitals, clinics, churches and some 600 coffins for those who died of leprosy.  12 years later, in 1885, he contracted leprosy himself and died that same year.  You may have heard that part of the story, but here’s something you probably don’t know.

             Shortly after Damien died, a Presbyterian minister named Rev. Hyde wrote a scathing criticism of Damien and his work on Molokai.  Damien, however, was defended by the famous writer Robert Lewis Stevenson; that would be like John Grisham coming to your defense or writing your eulogy!  Stevenson’s rebuttal of Rev. Hyde is so eloquent, I want to share a portion of it, even though it’s a little long.  He wrote to Hyde: “But sir, we have failed, and another has succeeded; we have stood by, and another has stepped in; we sit and grow bulky in our charming mansions, and a plain, uncouth peasant steps into the battle, under the eyes of God, and succors the afflicted, and consoles the dying, and is himself afflicted in his turn and dies up on the field of honor.”  Then, Stevenson concludes: “If that world at all remember you, on the day when Damien shall be named a saint (which would happen 100 year later), it will be in virtue of [your] one work: your letter [criticizing Damien].”  In other words, you’ll go down in history as just “that guy” who complained about a saint. Don’t be “that guy.”  You see, saints always seek those who sit at the margins of society, like lepers, and they even give a footnote in history to their detractors, like Rev. Hyde.

            This is exactly what Jesus does in the gospel today as he seeks those segregated by society.  A leper approaches Jesus and requests that he heal him.  But did you notice how Jesus healed the man?  He did exactly what he should NOT have done: he touched him.  In the first reading from Leviticus, Moses expressly tells the people that lepers should be expelled from the camp and never touched.  But Jesus comes precisely to seek the lost and the lonely, the ostracized and the outcasts, those who live on the fringes and those who are forgotten.  And when Jesus touched the leper, he didn’t just remove his uncleanness, he also brought him back from the margins into the heart of society, like St. Damien touched the lepers of Molokai and made them feel loved and accepted.

            Last week someone sent me this little joke.  A lawyer, a doctor and a priest went hunting together.  They came upon a big buck and all three of them shot simultaneously.  The buck dropped dead and the three men rushed to see who shot it.  They noticed there was only one bullet hole, and started arguing about who hit it.  A few minutes later the game officer came by and asked what the problem was.  The doctor explained the reason for the debate.  The officer took one look at the deer and said with complete confidence: “It was the pastor who shot the buck!”  They asked, “How do you know that?”  He said, “Easy.  The bullet went in one ear and other the other.”  But do you know why some Sunday sermons go in one ear and other the other?  I believe it’s when we priests, like Stevenson said, “sit and grow bulky in our charming mansions while plain, uncouth peasants step into the battle.”  In other words, sermons go stale when we priests don’t practice what we preach, and seek those at the margins of society.  You see, soul stirring sermons are only given by saintly pastors who care for the most “unclean” in their congregations.

             My friends, we cannot all go to Molokai and work with lepers to make them feel accepted, but there are people at the edges of our lives, and we can reach out to them.  There’s no better example of this than Pope Francis.  He’s constantly calling Catholics to seek those at the “peripheries” (the edges, the margins) – the refugees and immigrants, the homosexuals, the divorced and remarried, the mentally ill and those in prison.  Aren’t these people the modern-day "lepers" who live “outside the camp” and whom we feel dare not touch?  But they are precisely the people who merit our special attention and love.  There may be people in our own circle of family and friends whom we’ve pushed to the edges of our hearts.  Sometimes, those who are farthest from our hearts, live under the same roof.  Pray for them at this Mass, and find a way to reach out to them today.  And by the way, may I sincerely apologize if there’s anyone in this parish who feels I’ve ignored or neglected them?  No one should feel they are on the peripheries of Immaculate Conception Church, but rather at the heart of this parish community, and in the heart of this pastor.

             You know, in the end we only have two options in life; there are only two kinds of people in the world.  We can either be like the saints and seek those segregated by society, or we can be like “that guy” who complains about and criticizes the saints.  Don’t be “that guy.”  But, don’t worry, even if you are “that guy,” you will still get a footnote in the history books.

            Praised be Jesus Christ!