Full Restoration
"Show yourself to the priest..." (Mark 1:44)
"Show yourself to the priest..." (Mark 1:44)
He had already been made clean.
So why does Jesus tell this leper in today's Gospel to go show himself to the priest?
Only a priest could fully admit a cleansed leper into society. Like how a doctor's note appeases your boss and those sick days off from work, people only fully embraced a healed leper back into the community when he or she had received the local priest's "stamp of approval." (Leviticus 14 details this process; just don’t read it on your lunch break today!)
Sending the leper to the priest demonstrates Jesus' concern with restoring him socially as well as physically.
God desires our ENTIRE restoration.
How does God desire to restore me?
Jesus, if you wish, you can make me clean. Amen.
Father Connor Penn is parochial vicar at St. Timothy Catholic Church in Lutz. Ordained in 2020, Fr. Penn briefly studied journalism before entering the seminary. Fr. Penn grew up in Temple Terrace, attending Corpus Christi Catholic School and later Jesuit High School.
