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Gospel Reading for January 16, 2025 – Mark 1: 40-45
VERY MUCH JESUS
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.
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The leper could not be blamed for publicizing what Jesus did for him, despite Jesus’ warning not to tell anyone. Experiencing being healed from a disease that repelled people is not an ordinary experience. If not for Jesus, the leper could not be free of leprosy. His life would still have been in the dumps. And Jesus, not wanting publicity, had to retreat to deserted places so he could continue his ministry.
It is VERY MUCH JESUS not to want publicity. There are those of us who are in so much need of publicity or photo op when doing good deeds. It is VERY MUCH PHARISEE. In Matthew 6: 4, Jesus says, “so that your charitable giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”
Lord God, may our reward for doing good deeds for others be the realization that everything we can share with others comes from you alone!
