Ritual and Moral Purity (6th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

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Leviticus contains extensive instructions for what to do if a person contracts a certain skin disease. Although the disease in question has traditionally been identified as leprosy, the instructions are meant to be applicable to a wide variety of skin diseases, including leprosy.¹

While the instructions to isolate the infected person may have had some medical benefits, in terms of preventing the spread of such diseases, the primary concern of this passage is not health, but ritual cleanliness. Skin diseases were associated with death, and just as contact with a dead body renders one unfit to come near the tabernacle (Numbers 19:11-13), so does the presence of skin disease. It is also notable that in many Bible passages, the Lord inflicts skin disease as a punishment for transgression, so there is an association with sinfulness as well, although not everyone who contracts such a disease necessarily did so because of something they did.

Although we no longer need to be outwardly clean in order to come to God in the New Covenant, the need to be ritually pure in the Old Testament provides a picture of the need to be morally pure, which applies in all ages. We know that coming to the Lord’s table with sin in our lives can lead to judgment and even death, as St. Paul teaches us (1 Corinthians 11:27-31). Even if we no longer need to be concerned about our outward purity, we still need to be inwardly pure in order to have access to God via the Eucharist.

Finally, the association of skin disease with one’s moral status puts a new dimension to the Gospel reading where Jesus heals the leper (Mark 1:40-45). Jesus is not just restoring his health, but also his access to the temple. This thus becomes a reflection of how Jesus through His atoning work grants us access to God. Similarly, although sin may make us unfit to receive our Lord, we can restore that fitness if we repent and turn back to Him through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

J. Luis Dizon

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