12th February, 2006

ADMISSION PRICE

We all know that God has a sense of humour – calling Simon ‘Peter’, a rock, when He knew he would crumble – choosing a hated tax-collector to preach His message of love – inviting Peter to walk on the water, when He knew what would happen, etc. etc. The Bible is full of stories rich in an ironic humour. And I feel He didn’t stop at the Bible. Many a time I’ve felt He’s had a chuckle at my expense. For instance, when I was a youngster going to school one of my favourite subjects was history – I loved the stories, the heroes, the ‘eureka’ moments – but it was also my worst. The Lord, while giving me a liking for history, didn’t give me the necessary memory for names and dates to go with it!

And one of the reasons I enjoyed history was the fun of imagining myself living at the various times and places that I read about. And growing up I never imagined that the day would ever come that I would actually have such a fabulous place as the Palace of Versailles almost on my doorstep. Since coming here I have visited it a few times, but last week was the first time I have ever visited it on a Sunday.

And that’s when I got to appreciate that the French also have a sense of humour! On arriving there I was pleasantly surprised to find that on a Sunday there was no admission charge, a policy for which the authorities should be given great credit; and one which works, judging by the crowds that were there on what was a very raw Sunday afternoon. And so, without any charge, I was able to visit such places as the Royal Chapel, the Queen’s bedchambers, the Hall of Mirrors, the Hall of Battles, etc. Before leaving I felt a little visit might be advisable. You can imagine my amusement to discover that while I could get into the Royal Palace for free, I had to pay to get into the loo!

I’m sure Mark, when writing the passage that we have in today’s Gospel, must also have had a sense of the irony in the situation. The passage immediately before has Jesus freely travelling around the country and preaching everywhere. And now he meets up with a leper, who is very restricted in where he can go, and what he can say. Jesus cures him, and we end the passage with a seemingly total role reversal! Now the leper is free to go where he wills, and is telling the story everywhere, while, as a result, Jesus now can ‘no longer go openly into any town, but had to stay outside in places where nobody lived’.

But whatever about the ironic humour of the situation, the message is very definitely serious – whatever Jesus needed to do in order to get over the message of God’s love and healing mercy, He was prepared to do. Whether it be taking on the isolation of the leper, the hunger and homelessness of the poor, or just our weak human nature, Jesus was not sparing of Himself in winning us salvation. You might say He was prepared to pay the admission price so that we could be free.

And there are no hidden charges in heaven!