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Friday after Epiphany
I John 5:5-13
Psalm 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20
Luke 5:12-16
Summary
We have arrived at the penultimate day of the Christmas season.Today’s reading
from 1 John testifies that Jesus is indeed theWord made flesh, the Son of the liv-
ing God, who has promised us eternal life.The responsorial psalm glorifies and
praises God for the proclamation of the word that grants peace and security to
those God has chosen. Luke’s gospel proclaims the transformative power of Je-
sus’ touch.The gospel passage serves as the preamble to Jesus’ ministry that will
commence this Sunday with his baptism by John.
Reflection
The most famous section of Leonardo daVinci’s painting on the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel is the Creation of Adam.That iconic fresco of God stretching out
his hand and touching the finger of Adam symbolizes God’s life giving power.
Jesus does the same thing for the leper in today’s gospel story. For the leper to
come to Jesus was a manifestation of faith in Jesus’ power to cure. Suffering
from leprosy excluded one from the community. Lepers were forced to live a life
of loneliness and isolation. Feeling alienated and unwelcome was not the life
that God intended for God’s creation.
After the leper was cleansed, Jesus instructed him not to tell anyone but to
simply show himself to the priest to witness to Jesus’ life giving power. It is hard
to imagine that the now cleansed leper could keep from shouting from the roof-
tops his great joy of being freed from his affliction. Proclaiming by word or hu-
man testimony, however, as mentioned in the reading from 1 John pales in com-
parison to the testimony of God that is so transformative. Jesus instructed the
leper to give witness of his new life simply by being – which is more powerful
than anything he could ever say.
The epistle (1 John) presupposes an awareness of John’s gospel. Recall that in the
gospel of John, Jesus commanded his disciples to love one another as he loved
them. He warned them that there was a good chance that the world would hate
them if they demonstrated a sense of welcome and inclusion for all who felt al-
ienated. In today’s reading from the epistle of John, we are reminded:“Beloved,
who indeed is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is