Joke: Three ladies died and went to heaven. Upon their arrival, Saint Peter took them to the heaven garden where there were a lot of baby ducks running in the garden. Saint Peter said to them, “You have to walk very carefully to try not to step on the baby duck. If you step on the baby duck, I will give you a punishment.” Three ladies began to walk, and not too long, the first lady stepped on the baby duck and killed the baby duck. Saint Peter appeared, and with him, a not handsome man was given to her as a punishment for stepping on the baby duck and killing the baby duck. The other two began to walk slowly, and not too long, the second lady stepped on the baby duck and killed the baby duck. Again, Saint Peter appeared, and with him at this time was another man who was worse looking than the first one to give to her as a punishment. The third lady was trembling and walked very slowly till she was tired, she sat down. The moment she sat down, Saint Peter appeared, with him at this time was a good-looking man given to her as a reward for not stepping on the baby duck. She was so happy, but the man was so sad. So, she asked the man, “What’s the matter? Why do you look so sad?” “I tried so hard,” the man replied, “but I still stepped on the baby duck and killed the baby duck.”

In today’s Gospel, the untouchable leper touched the heart of Jesus just by saying, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” “If you wish” what a marvelous profession of faith that the leper believed that Jesus could heal his leprosy disease if he wanted to. How is our faith in Jesus? We believe in God and profess on our lips at least once a week on weekends when we come together for Mass. We profess the creed together that “I believe …” But when things didn’t go the way we believed or we asked for, would we still believe in God? “I believe” is a choice for each individual to profess his or her faith. It is not that we believe that we once expressed before it changed to “I believe.” Even if we said together that we believe, what is Jesus Christ for every one of us individually? He is God Almighty and Power. He is a compassioned and merciful God, etc. What would you say Jesus Christ for you and why?

I once asked brothers and sisters in RCIA class “Who is Jesus Christ for you and why,” and I received several answers. One said that Jesus Christ is a loving God because I left the Church for so many years, and now he gave me a chance to come back to draw closer to him. Someone else said that he is a merciful and healing God because when she lost her job, and her husband was diagnosed with cancer, God helped her go through it by finding a better job than the previous job. A month later, the doctor said to her that her husband’s cancer, for some reason, was not there anymore, and he was cancer-free. Still, another person said that Jesus Christ is an awesome God who is always there in his life through good times and bad times.

Jesus could be a doctor, a provider, a compassionate and merciful person, or a healer, etc. but He is for sure God and Man. What is it that the leper asked the Lord Jesus to make him clean? The leprosy disease on his skin, or rather his human dignity, his freedom to be a child of God, and to be accepted among his human race when he had a skin condition. We might not see leprosy disease in our country, in this blessed land, but leprosy still occurs in other countries like Asia, Africa, and others. Leprosy, also called Hansen’s disease, is a chronic, curable infectious disease that mainly causes skin lesions and nerve damage. It is a contagious and devastating disease. If it’s left untreated, the nerve damage can result in crippling of hands and feet, paralysis, and blindness even at the time before Jesus, reported in today’s first reading, the Lord instructed Moses and Aaron saying, “The one who bears the sore of leprosy shall keep his garments rent and his head bare, and shall muffle his beard; he shall cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean,’” so people could stay away from the leper.

After the leper was cleaned from leprosy, Jesus warned him sternly saying, “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.” Jesus just performed an awesome job, why didn’t he allow the leper to spread the news? Oh, doctor so and so, we might say, is a great doctor, a great surgeon, or an excellent doctor, etc. Don’t we do that? And surely, some doctors are great, great surgeons, with no doubt. However, Jesus didn’t want the leper and the people to miss out on his mission to come into this world not only to be a physician on our human nature, but above all, he was the Messiah, the God and the Savior of the world who came to save the whole human race and not a certain particular race.

What is interesting was the evangelists, the authors of the Gospel, tried to capture the pictures of the ministries of Jesus that are so stunned. People, at the time, that he would not allow to touch nor get closer to the leppers, but he still approached them and even touched them to restore their health, and above all, to bring them back to the society where they were isolated because of their sickness and illness. Instead of being thankful for what he had performed to bring healing and to restore life, the scribes, the Pharisees, and even the Levites were often the ones standing at a distance from the Lord Jesus and would not allow him to touch and convert their harden hearts. Only people who were sick and ill, and even the sinner and the dead allowed Jesus to touch them, and they got healed and cured from their illness and sickness. Who do we identify ourselves with—the scribes, the Pharisees, the Levites, the ill, the sick, or the sinner? What is it that might stop us from allowing the Lord Jesus to touch us, to heal us, and to cure us from any illness and any brokenness of life? Leprosy was untouched by others for more than two thousand years ago, is there anything that isolates us away from others, even our loved ones, and untouched by the Lord Jesus Christ? How have we been untouched by the Lord Jesus Christ if it’s that we don’t go to Mass to receive Communion, Christ himself? When we accept and allow the Lord Jesus to touch us, to heal us in the Eucharist, don’t we need to encourage one another those who for whatever reason do not come to Mass? How should we overcome this bearer to be free to experience peace, joy, and happiness in life and not isolated from others? Our good intentions will become meaningless if we cannot deliver them into action. Good doctors cannot heal the sick if they cannot translate their knowledge into actions to perform good procedures to bring healing for their patients, their credentials are just by name, no more no less. Our name as Christians we bear will become meaningless if we cannot live out the teachings of Jesus in action. The decision is yours.