Leprosy is an infectious disease. It physically disfigures and disables a person. In biblical times lepers were ordered by priests to be cast out of society. In today’s Gospel a leper violates that priestly order by approaching Jesus. Jesus violates it too by caring for the man; he touches him and heals him. When Jesus touches the leper he is also healing another infectious disease. It is a psychological and sociological disease. It also disfigures and disables a person and whole societies. It is the disease of privilege. It is spread by the priestly class.
The disease of privilege is caused by certain people claiming the right of supremacy to cast out other people. Those cast out are not cared for but discriminated against, perhaps killed. Rich cast out poor; men cast out women; straight cast out gay, gun lovers cast out gun victims and so forth. Privilege is a personally bad habit and a socially infectious disease. Privilege spreads across cultures in offsetting pairings. People in privileged groups are entitled to be dominating, use those they cast out, and do violence to them – whereas we whom they infect are conversely coerced into being dominated, cast out, and violated by people of privilege. People in privileged groups judge others for appropriate inclusions and exclusions – whereas we who are cast out are influenced to judge the appropriateness of our humanity. People in privileged groups judge their culture as normal, desirable – and judge our cultures as abnormal, undesirable. People in privileged groups think their view of reality is the only view – whereas we know at least two views; our own as well as that of the privileged group. People in privileged groups see problems that arise between their group and those they cast out as personality differences – whereas we who are cast out know that problems are systemic because the privileged people benefit from maintaining a system of inequality. People of privileged groups see solutions to problems as promoting better feelings between people – whereas we see solutions as changing the system that treats us as a problem. People in privileged groups are trained to speak, interrupt, threaten violence, be violent, and institutionalize violence – while they train us to listen, be interrupted, be threatened with violence, have violence inflicted upon us, and accept that they we deserve institutionalized violence. Lastly, people of privileged groups take all these actions across history and across cultures and yet claim ignorance of the discriminatory effects on we outcasts though claim they are current victims of discrimination. Privileged people do this at the same time they coerce us into accepting injustices as being our personal fault, to be ashamed of our being lazy, sinners, malcontents thus hindering our activism about privilege’s deadly social effects. We who are poor are trained to defer to rich, women to men, blacks to whites, gay to straight, gunshot victims to gun owners. We are trained to defer to the privileged people who produce the problems and the infectious system.
“Dear People of Privilege, we don’t want you to apologize for your ancestors. We need you to dismantle the privilege system they built that benefits you and oppresses others.”
Prayer: Spirit of Humility, with your guidance may we always live as One.
Question: Who are the people I need to be aware I’m leaving out.
February 11, 2018 Gospel Mark 1:40-45 Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time