Qua bài Tin Mừng hôm nay,
chúng ta thấy những cách mà Chúa Giêsu đã đối xử với mọi người khác nhau, Trong
câu chuyện hôm nay về người bệnh phong cùi, Theo luật Do Thái thì người mắc bệnh
này không được phép đến gần bất cứ người Do Thái nào vì sẽ gây ô uế cho người
đó và người đó phải được thanh tầy trước bước vào đèn thờ. Như những bài Tin Mừng
thì Chúa Giêsu đã không ngại ngùng đến gần họ, và sẵn sàng chữa lành bệnh phong
cùi của họ. Điều trái ngược với cách thức mà Ngài đã phản ứng với người cha của
cậu bé bị quỷ ám (Mc 9:23) khi người ấy nói với Ngài "Lạy Chúa, Chúa có thể
làm được bất cứ điều gì, xin thương xót chúng tôi và giúp chúng tôi." Chúa
Giêsu có lẽ đã trả lời phần nào đột ngột hay ít nhất một cách nghiêm nghị: “Nếu
có thể!... mọi sự đều là có thể cho người tin!" Tức thì cha đứa bé kêu lên mà nói: "Tôi
tin! Nhưng xin hãy đáp cứu lòng tin yếu kém của tôi!" (Mc 9:25).
Những phản ứng khác nhau của Chúa Giêsu cũng cho chúng ta
thấy những cách khác nhau trong những lời, lòng tin và cách cầu xin của những
người đã xin Chúa thực hiện những yêu cầu của họ, Những người bệnh phong cùi đã
không dám nói bất cứ điều gì vì dám đặt câu hỏi về khả năng của Chúa, nhưng người
bệnh phong cùi này đã biết phó thác và đặt tất cả niềm tin tưởng vào sự quan
phòng của Chúa Giêsu. Còn người đàn ông kia đã không đến với Chúa để cầu xin
cho chính mình mà đến để cầu xin cho người con yêu dấu của mình, trong những
lúc mà ông ta đang tuyệt vọng và đang tìm kiếm sự cưu giúp.
Trong sự tuyệt vọng của ông ta, ông ta đã dùng những lời
gần như đay nghiến chính mình. nhưng trong thực tế, trong thăm tâm của ông ta
có lẽ đã không có ý như thế. Do đó chúng
ta đã được dạy để cầu nguyện với lòng khiêm tốn, kiên nhẫn, bền bĩ, và dịu dàng
như là dấu hiệu của niềm tin đó cho phép chúng ta đón nhận và tận hưởng những
ân sủng của Thiên Chúa. Lạy Chúa Giêsu, theo như Thiên ý và ân sũng của Chúa,
Xin Chúa tẩy sạch chúng ta sạch mọi tội lỗi.
Reflection:
It is instructive to
consider the different ways in which Jesus deals with people. In this story of
the leper, recounted by Matthew, Mark and Luke. Jesus responds gently and
promptly to the leper's indirect request for healing. This contrasts with the way in which he
reacted to the father of the boy possessed by a demon (Mark 9:23) who said: “If
you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.” Jesus answered somewhat
abruptly perhaps or at least sternly: “‘If you can?’ Everything is possible to
anyone who has faith. ‘Immediately the boy’s father cried out,’ I do have
faith. Help the little faith I have!’”
Jesus’ different
reactions also reveal to us the different ways in which the two men made their
request. The leper did not say anything to appear to question Jesus’ ability to
cure him but left everything to Jesus’ good will. The other man was not making
a request for himself but for his son and was obviously desperately looking for
help. His desperation added a sharpness to his words which he perhaps did not
intend. We are thus taught to pray with humility and patience and gentleness as
signs of the faith which allows us to receive and enjoy God’s graces. Lord
Jesus, according to Your gracious will, cleanse us of all sin.
Friday of the Twelfth
Week in Ordinary Time
When Jesus came down from
the mountain, great crowds followed him. And then a leper approached, did him homage,
and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” He stretched out his
hand, touched him, and said, “I will do it. Be made clean.” His leprosy was
cleansed immediately. Matthew
8:1–3
After
leading the Israelites out of Egypt, God gave Moses not only the Ten
Commandments but also laws governing daily life, including regulations on
ritual purity. Among these were strict laws regarding leprosy, a contagious and
incurable disease at the time. Lepers were forbidden to touch anyone, were
isolated from the community, barred from worship, and required to cry out
“Unclean, unclean” when approaching others. Beyond preventing disease, these
laws had a deeper spiritual meaning: leprosy became a symbol of sin, which
defiles the soul and separates us from the holiness of God, necessitating
divine purification.
In
today’s Gospel, Jesus fulfills and transcends the requirements of the Mosaic
Law by touching and healing a leper. Under the Law, contact with a leper
rendered a person unclean, yet Christ’s divine power reverses this order. The
leper’s touch does not defile Jesus; instead, it purifies the leper. In this
miraculous act, Jesus reveals a deeper spiritual reality: it is only through
His touch of divine grace that sinners are truly cleansed and restored to
communion with God. No longer does impurity separate man from holiness; rather,
in Christ, holiness overcomes impurity, offering reconciliation and healing to
all who seek Him in faith.
The
scene unfolds immediately after Jesus concludes His Sermon on the Mount and
descends from the mountain. This imagery echoes Moses descending from Mount
Sinai after receiving the Ten Commandments. Yet, while Moses brought down a law
written on stone, Jesus, the new and greater Moses, descends not merely as a
lawgiver but as the very embodiment of the New Covenant. In Him, the Law is not
only taught but fulfilled and perfected. Whereas the Mosaic Law prescribed
ritual separation from impurity, Christ now draws near to the unclean,
extending the Divine Mercy that alone can fully restore and sanctify.
The
leper perfectly models how we ought to approach Jesus and the New Law of grace.
He does not demand healing, nor even explicitly ask for it; rather, he simply
professes faith in who Jesus is and what He can do: “Lord, if you wish, you can
make me clean.” In addressing Jesus as “Lord,” the leper acknowledges His
divine authority, recognizing Him not merely as a miracle-worker, but as the
One who has dominion over sickness, impurity, and all creation. Furthermore,
the leper displays not only trust in Jesus’ power but also surrender to His
divine will. He does not presume to dictate the outcome but submits himself
entirely to the Lord’s mercy.
Too
often, we approach God with a kind of spiritual wish list, treating prayer as a
means of securing our desires rather than aligning ourselves with His will.
Like the leper, we must transform our prayer from self-centered petitions to
acts of faith and trust. First, we acknowledge God’s sovereignty—that He alone
is the all-powerful Lord, capable of healing every wound and forgiving every
sin. Second, we surrender completely to His will, trusting that He knows and
desires what is best for us. How beautiful it is to pray, “Lord, if You wish…”
or “Lord, as You will…”—a prayer that reflects a petition Jesus had just taught
on the mountain: “Thy will be done.”
Reflect
today on this humble leper and the example he sets for perfect prayer. We do
not need to convince God to help us; He desires it far more than we do. Call to
mind those areas of your life that, like leprosy of old, separate you from God
and His Church, leaving you in need of His healing grace. Entrust your wounds
to the Lord with humility and trust, laying them before His mercy. Seek Him in
prayer and especially in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and like the leper,
you too will hear Him say, “I will do it. Be made clean.”
Lord
of perfect mercy, You desire my cleansing far more than I do, and You alone can
accomplish it. Like the leper, I profess my faith in You as the New Moses, the
Perfect Lawgiver, and the Divine Healer. All that You say and do is holy,
restoring my soul and leading me to life. I surrender myself entirely to You—my
wounds, my sins, my weaknesses. Let Your will alone be done in me, O Lord, for
through Your touch, I find my healing and peace. Jesus, I trust in You.
Friday of the Twelfth
Week in Ordinary Time 2026
Opening Prayer: Lord
God, I wish to be made clean with all my heart. You sent your Son to cleanse me
and wash away my sins with his blood. He is the true Lamb sacrificed for our
sins. He is my brother and Redeemer, who paid my debt of sin and brought me
home to you.
Encountering the Word of
God
1. The First of Ten Great
Works of the New Moses: Matthew 8 begins the
narrative section of Book Two of Matthew’s Gospel. While Book One, Matthew 3-7,
announced the Kingdom, Book Two, Matthew 8-11, is concerned with the
establishment of the Kingdom. It covers Jesus’ miracles and his commissioning
and instruction of the twelve apostles. Jesus, the New Moses, comes down from
the mountain after his sermon to perform the first of ten great works and signs
that reveal the nature of the kingdom he has announced. The 10 great works of
the New Moses recall the 10 plagues that the old Moses mediated to Egypt. Jesus
first cures a leper, who exhibits great faith in Jesus and his divine power.
Jesus was not made ritually unclean by touching the leper; rather, Jesus’ holiness
transformed the uncleanliness of the leper and made the Leper clean. In his
Incarnation, the Son was not made unclean by assuming our human nature. He
became like us in all things but sin. He was not contaminated by his solidarity
with us. Through his passion, Jesus transformed our human nature; he merited
for us the Spiritual Bath that would cleanse us of our sins. We are made clean
in the waters of Baptism because it is our share in the action by which our
human nature was transformed, namely, the passion, death, and resurrection of
Jesus Christ.
2. Liturgical Worship in
the New Kingdom: Jesus announced his kingdom with a
call to repentance. Through the gift of God’s grace, we turn from a life of sin
and enter into communion with God. Christ, the high priest taken from among
men, has made us a new people, a kingdom of priests. Jesus tells the leper to
show himself to the priest so that he can be reintroduced into the community of
worship. Through our Baptism and our Confirmation, we are introduced into the
Liturgy of God’s Kingdom: we now share in the thanksgiving sacrifice of the Son
of God; we truly worship the Father through the Son and in the Holy Spirit.
3. The Faith of the
Leper: The leper approaches Jesus with remarkable
humility and confidence: “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” He does
not presume to tell Jesus what he must do, nor does he doubt Jesus’ power to
act. His faith unites complete trust in Christ’s ability with complete
surrender to Christ’s will. In this way, the leper teaches us how to pray. We
bring our needs, wounds, and sins before the Lord with confidence, knowing that
he possesses the power to heal and save. Yet we also submit ourselves to his
wisdom and providence, trusting that whatever he wills is ordered to our true
good. The response of Jesus reveals the heart of God toward those who seek him
in faith: “I will; be clean.” Christ does not turn away from those who come to him
in humility. He stretches out his hand, touches us in our weakness, and
restores us to communion with God and his people.
Friday of the Twelfth
Week in Ordinary Time
When Jesus came down from
the mountain, great crowds followed him. And then a leper approached, did him
homage, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” Matthew
8:1–4
To
do homage to another is to publicly express reverence and respect. This is what
this leper did to Jesus. He “did him homage.” But the leper went even further.
He also expressed his certain faith that Jesus could cure him if He wished to
do so. And Jesus did desire this. Jesus stretched out His hand to touch the
leper and pronounced the words, “I will do it. Be made clean.” And with that,
the leper was cleansed.
The first thing to note
in this passage is that Jesus “touched” the leper. This was a forbidden
practice, since lepers were unclean, and touching them could spread their
disease. But Jesus broke the norm and touched the man, revealing to him his
innate dignity.
It’s interesting to
consider the question: Who paid whom a greater act of homage? Was the act of
homage shown by the leper greater? Or the act of touching and cleansing the
leper greater? Though we need not compare these two acts, it is helpful to
reflect upon the profound fact that Jesus did show a form of homage to this
unclean leper.
As was said above, to do
homage to another is to publicly express reverence and respect to them. Without
a doubt, Jesus did just this. He not only honored the leper by His touch and
healing, but He publicly expressed His love and respect for this man through
this act.
Of course, the homage we
owe to God is unique. It is the homage of worship. We must bow down before Him,
surrendering our lives in total abandonment and trust. We must honor Him as God
and express our love accordingly. But, in addition to Jesus showing His
almighty power by this miracle, He also sets for us an example of how we must
treat others. Every person, because they are made in the image and likeness of
God, deserves our utmost respect, and they deserve to receive that respect in a
public way. We must continually seek to honor and respect others and express
that honor and respect for others to see. This is especially difficult when the
person we are called to show respect for is considered by others as “unclean.”
The leper is only a symbol of the many types of people whom the world considers
unclean and unworthy. Criminals, the poor, the confused, the sinner, the
homeless, the political opponent and every other person in our world deserves
our utmost respect and reverence. Doing so does not justify their sin; rather,
it cuts through the surface and looks at their innate dignity.
Reflect, today, upon the
act of homage done by this leper to Jesus. And then reflect upon the act of
homage Jesus offers this leper by publicly confirming his innate dignity. Who
in your life is represented by this leper? Who is “unclean” because of the condition
of their life, the sin they commit, or the public stigma they have? Whom is God
calling you to reach out and touch with love and respect, for others to see?
Seek out the leper in your life and do not be afraid to imitate this holy act
of homage exemplified by our Lord.
My holy Lord, You are
worthy of all adoration, glory and homage. You and You alone deserve our
worship. Help me to continually discover Your hidden presence in the lives of
those around me. Help me, especially, to see You in the leper of our day. May
my love and respect for them flow from my love for You and become an imitation
of Your act of love for all. Jesus, I trust in You.
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