The Outcast - Being Different From Others
6th Sun in Ordinary Time
Mark 1: 40-45
Today’s reading was about Jesus curing a man of his leprosy. The man begs Jesus to cure him if Jesus was willing to do so, and Jesus, showing compassion, cures the man of his leprosy. Leprosy in the Bible refers to the contagious and deadly skin disease. During those times, people who had leprosy were outcasts in their society: they had to live away from their homes and people, to live in a colony with others who had leprosy, and to die over there if they were not cured.
In today’s context, this “leprosy” in my view refers to the “disease” which makes people - and even me, at times - feel outcast and alone. As we live our lives, it is visible to us that there are people who are shunned by society or cast aside due to their being “different”. But what can we do if we see someone among us that is outcasted? I had a friend in secondary school who was often shunned due to his hyperactive condition, as people got annoyed by him when he had his difficult moments. So I approached him and I started to communicate with him, asked him about his feelings, and whether I could be of any assistance to him, and soon I discovered he was actually a very unique and interesting person. I introduced him to my own band of friends, and we accepted him into our social group, where we made him feel welcome and accepted.
We should not be swift to judge others based on what we perceive of them. Instead, we should show compassion to them, like what Jesus did with the leper, and our society can be a more accepting one.
*A reflection by Zachary Wong, 14+ yrs old, who worships at St. Andrew Chapel.
