“Jesus immediately sent him away and sternly ordered him, ‘Mind you say nothing to anyone'” (Mark 1:43-44).
Our lectionary translation for part of this forthcoming Sunday’s Gospel uses the word “sternly” for how Jesus speaks to the leper he has just healed. But does this translation really work?
On one hand, Jesus has reason to be “stern” because of what happens next: the healed leper disobeys His instructions and, as a result, Jesus “could no longer go openly into any town”.
The Jews never touched lepers because of the risk of contagion. So if they were told that Jesus had done so – and He had indeed touched the leper in order to heal him – they would not want Jesus nearby.
But the leper’s disobedience only takes place after Jesus has spoken to him, so it seems strange to be “stern” before anything wrong has been done.
Another possible translation of “stern” is “deeply moved”: the word literally means “snorting like a horse” and is also used for how Jesus feels about the death of his friend Lazarus (John 11:33.38).
Here in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus begins by being “moved in his innards” (1:41) at the beggar’s sheepish request for a miracle and then “deeply moved” by him once he has been healed.
This can help us relate to Jesus’s treatment of ourselves: His intense emotion of compassion towards us do not stop once He has healed us; He does not become “stern”, but he continues to open His heart and affections to us.
There can be a temptation to think we are “past that stage” of Jesus’s love for us: that because He has healed us, He now expects us, above all, to do things for Him – even “sternly” – rather than simply being the object of His love.
Let’s ask for the grace to always rest in the passionate love of Jesus who is always “deeply moved” at seeing us.
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