Daily Gospel Reflection for January 16, 2020

Today's Gospel: Mark 1:40-45 Often when I read this gospel, it would confuse me as to why Jesus would tell the man to “tell no one anything.” It would be so difficult to contain the excitement of being healed by Jesus. Furthermore, since he had a physical condition in need of healing, wouldn’t it have been obvious to others that he had been healed upon seeing him? Why these specific instructions? Despite my confusion, I knew that there would be intentionality behind them, so I started to ponder potential rationales. One possibility is that the directions were linked to proper prioritization, having him first go to the priest in order to remain grounded in God. Out of love, maybe God wanted him to be able to have space for God first before the potentially overwhelming attention that must have followed the awareness of his healing. It was not that he could never talk about his healing, but that he would follow a process and reveal his healing through a different means than rushing out to tell people. Considering from this light made me think of humility, trust, patience, and obedience. Regardless of the rationale, we know that if God works all things for our good, if God is love, and if God is trustworthy and faithful, then we should follow His commands even when they don’t make sense to us. The leper knelt before Jesus. He knew that Jesus could do what he himself could not. He recognized Jesus’ power. Yet, upon receiving the healing he desired, he disregarded Jesus’ instructions. My initial reaction of confusion, or the sense that the healed leper’s response made more sense than what Jesus was asking of him, helps me to understand how easy it can be to unintentionally slip away from allowing God to guide our steps.