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I do will it, be made clean.
I must confess that the media have done a pretty good job
keeping the Super Bowl center and front of our lives
these last couple weeks.
Also they have done a relatively good job
balancing the approach and going behind the scenes
and giving some stories about all the players on both sides.
It has been really quite fascinating to learn
about the teams and the players and
how much determination and grit these players have gone through
to get to what is ultimately the goal of the Olympics in the NFL.
The stories are really extraordinary,
whether it is Purdy or Mahomes or Williams,
or you pick the players on either side, and it has been really quite amazing.
I do not know whether that happens every year.
I have only noticed it this year because it is our team in the game.
It is because the San Francisco 49’rs are there.
I am watching it all;
every time red and gold come up, I look at it right away.
Often we do not see things as they are.
We see things as we are.
And so, I am noticing all that because,
the Super Bowl has our team in it.
Look at you all.
Many are wearing the red and gold, ready for today's game
and you are at Mass not the game!!
The reason I say that is that we see what we want to see.
We have to be honest that we have that internal bias,
and that is the way we do it.
What we want to see in the gospel today
is we want to see the way Jesus sees.
Jesus in today's gospel, sees the wounded and the broken.
He sees the leper.
Most others would want to have nothing to do with them
and push them to the side, keep them on the outside of town.
They do not want to even see them because they are sick.
They are contagious.
And we do the same with other people.
Metaphorically, we keep them out of our minds.
We do not see them.
And if we do not see them,
then maybe we do not have to deal with them.
That is the temptation in our life,
whether because they are different than us,
or they have a different party than us,
or whether they have a different culture than us
or different circumstances than us,
we tend to push them to the side so that we do not see them.
Because when we see them, we tend to have to deal with.
Yet the hallmark of Jesus’ ministry is
that he sees the broken, he sees the wounded,
he sees the sick, and he touches them and brings them healing.
He brings them out of the shadows,
and he brings them into the center of his ministry.
He does this over and over again.
And today's gospel is a great illustration of this
because the lepers are meant be on the outside of town,
to not be seen, to be separated.
This man comes in and says
“If you will, I can be made clean.”
Jesus responds.
“Yes, I do will it, be made clean.”
Powerful healing in the face of opposition.
This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday.
I know it is super early this year
and we are going to be celebrating Valentine's Day on the same day.
We have a theme this year for our community:
Seeing with the eyes of the heart: a journey to Easter.
We are trying to open our own eyes to see differently,
not just what we want to see,
but what the Lord wants us to see.
That is the eyes of the heart.
And when we see, then we will be touched,
and we will bring healing both to ourselves and to the others.
Here is the important hallmark of Jesus’ ministry,
that he touches those who are sick and broken
and all those who are disenfranchised.
He ultimately comes for every single one of us.
Jesus sees our sin not as something to be punished,
but as a wound to be healed.
Therefore, he is loving and kind and generous;
but it is the healing that he wants.
He wants us to be healed from our sins,
not be punished in our sin.
This Lenten journey is calling us to see again,
to see our sins, our brokenness, our own mistakes,
and to repent, to turn back to the Lord,
and our purpose is to receive healing,
to be forgiven to be healed.
And when we are healed,
then we are called to pass that healing on to others.
We are called to see others, to notice them,
and to be the one who brings healing to them,
to bring the touch of kindness,
the touch of gentleness,
the touch of forgiveness to them,
so they then can be welcomed into the community.
The challenge for us then is just like when
the 49’rs are players and the chiefs players,
they take the discipline of their sports super intensely,
and they work really hard at it.
And then they are ready for today's game.
We, too, need to take the discipline of Lent seriously:
to see, again, with eyes of faith
and to act on what we see, which requires some discipline;
that is what the root word of discipleship is.
What does that discipline look like for us?
For Lent, we do it for 40 days.
And we talk about extra prayer,
we talk about fasting, and
we talk about alms giving.
That all integrates into the same thing, which is a metanoia,
a conversion of our heart towards Christ to see,
with eyes of faith, to see ourselves as wounded people
who need forgiveness, who need healing.
We see others as wounded and as needing healing.
In that conversion, in that journey,
we become what we receive.
We become the body of Christ.
Broken for others, we become the blood of Christ poured out for others.
But we do this together as a community.
And we need to commit to it.
It is like a team sport.
We need to do it together.
Because it is too hard to do it on our own.
When we come on Ash Wednesday
and I encourage us to take seriously
and to think in these next few days,
what are going to be my disciplines this year,
what am I going to choose to do that helps me
become more aware of my need for God's healing,
and become aware of my woundedness, my brokenness, my sins?
What can I do to help others bring that in their life?
Today, as we come forward to the Eucharist,
we come to celebrate this gift.
The gift that God's will is to heal us.
His love is to overcome all struggles.
We want to see differently.
We promise to get ready for Lent and to see with the eyes of the heart.
The journey together towards Easter
with renewed discipline and commitment.
That it is not just a call, it is also our response.
We come to respond to God's call to come follow him,
to come and to see with different eyes.
He does will it, be made clean.
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