At one point in his book, “Jesus, Present Before Me,” Fr. Peter John Cameron shares the story of a young priest who served as a chaplain to Ground Zero immediately after the terrorist attacks of September 11^th.  One of the duties the priest had was serving in the makeshift morgue that was set up in a tent to receive the remains of the victims.  It is easy to imagine the frenzied activity and the number of busy rescue workers intent on their mission but what the priest found amazing was that whenever a new body would arrive at the tent all the work, talking and activity would halt, the workers would gather in a circle with the priest around the body and the workers would bow their head and they would wait for a prayer from the priest.  Even in the deep trauma and pain of that moment, the people recognized that there was something “more” that was stronger even than death. 

The leper in today’s gospel (Mk. 1:40-45), even if he could not specifically say why, recognized that there was something “more” in Jesus.  We heard in the first reading from the Book of Leviticus how lepers were looked upon and treated at this time in history.  There was no cure for leprosy in the time of Jesus.  Leprosy is a horrible disease that, if untreated, ultimately ends in death.  People feared the disease and they wanted nothing to do with lepers.  Lepers were cast out; they were ostracized and they were isolated.  But the leper saw something in Jesus that was more than both his disease and the ostracization he knew.  The leper trusted in this “more”.

The leper falls at the feet of Jesus and he begs, “If you wish, you can make me clean.”  A simple request made in faith. 

Jesus touches the man afflicted with leprosy.  This is no small thing.  By this simple action Jesus demonstrates that he is not bound by the fear and prejudice of his time.  Jesus also knows that something “more” is at work in this moment – the will of his Father that all might be saved.  Jesus recognizes the inbreaking of the Kingdom where all illness and all injustice is to be wiped away.  In the simple act of touching the leper and by saying, “I do will it.  Be made clean,” Jesus brings this poor man afflicted with leprosy to his Father, the Father receives the man and – healed and restored – returns the man to the Son.

I’ve had a realization following my recent trip out west.  On my trip I visited Grand Canyon National Park, Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park.  I saw the grandeur and experienced the serenity of those amazing places and then I ended all of that with an evening in Las Vegas before my flight home the next day.  That evening, I walked along the main strip gawking at all the lights, sights and sounds of that city.  Contrasting the parks and the city, I came to this realization, God does not need spectacle to accomplish his will.  We might need spectacle, in many ways it seems we crave it (i.e. Las Vegas), but God does not because God is the source of all that is, plain and simple. 

There is “more” in Christ.  The leper saw it and this “more” is encountered and made known in the simple.  The simple act of the bowing of heads in prayer even in the midst of death and destruction, the simple act of faith, “If you wish, you can make me clean,” and the simple act of touching another person in love and care. 

There is “more” in Christ and this more is encountered in the simple rather than in the spectacle.