WWLD or WWJD?

If you went to church on Sunday you probably heard the same scriptural readings I heard, for all the major Christian faiths use the same readings each week. The Old Testament reading (Lv. 13: 1-2, 44-46) talked about leprosy and how the leper was banished from the Jewish Community – “… since he is in fact unclean. He shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp.”

There was a prohibition in Jewish communities at the time against any interaction between lepers and members of the community. It was a total quarantine - quite logical in the sense that leprosy was deemed to be highly contagious and incurable.

The Gospel story by Mark (Mk 1: 40-45) is set at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry and depicted how Jesus cured a leper and then instructed him to “show yourself to the priest”, so that his banishment from the community (and from worship) may be removed. 

In my reflections on the readings I asked myself: “Who are the lepers in my life?” I didn’t expect an answer but then realized a “Great Aha!”.

You probably read the story about conductor Benjamin Zander being fired by the New England Conservatory for hiring a registered sex offender to record performances by NEC students. That sex offender is a friend of mine.

I first met him a couple of years ago when he recorded a joint concert presented by my men’s singing group and two other similar men’s choruses. He did an excellent job at a very fair price.  He later came to join my singing group and sang with us for several months before resigning because of other time commitments. Now, because of fallout from being identified in the recent news articles he is watching his bookings disappear.

One of those concerns my own club. We are scheduled to repeat the joint concert in several weeks and the question arose of whom should we hire to record it? I argued strenuously for my friend saying that he had done an excellent job previously at a more than competitive price. He had paid his debt to society and deserves the right to make a living. Besides, most of the singers are card carrying members of Medicare not callow youth. Before a decision could be made by the club's officials, we were told that the decision had been made moot — the venue had nixed him from working at their facility.

That decision was made even more galling for me because the venue is Regis College, a Catholic college founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston. Actually, I am quite fond of Regis. One of my favorite academics is a department head there and I have lectured before their continuing education program.

I am sure that the good Sisters of St. Joseph heard Sunday’s gospel, but I wonder if they were really listening. Jesus knew that by curing the leper he had broken the Jewish Community’s prohibition about associating with lepers. While a remarkable act, there were many in the community who would strongly frown upon it. But isn’t that Jesus’ message? He is constantly breaking Jewish law to do what is right.

While leprosy has been cured, our society has created a number of “new lepers” and sex offenders are among them. Even after they have paid their debt to society and demonstrated safe behavior, old prejudices deprive them of their legal rights to earn a living and live in certain neighborhoods. Perhaps it’s the litigious nature of our world and decision makers are making the “legally safe” decisions. In other words its “WWLD?” rather than “WWJD?” That is “What Would a Lawyer Do” rather than “What Would Jesus Do ?”