Homily 481 | 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time | Year B
It’s not that bad. We say this all the time when confronted with our own sin and inadequacy. It’s not that bad. We rationalize. We minimize. We pretend that “God understands.” Whatever it takes to allow us to remain peacefully in our current imperfect state without having to change.
At the risk of this being forever known as the “Monty Python Homily,” I used an example today from that great classic, Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail. In the movie, King Arthur has a famous battle with the Black Knight. As Arthur progressively chops off one arm and then another and both legs, the Black Knight continues to assert that “It’s not that bad.” Well, of course it is that bad. “You’ve got no arms!” Arthur exclaims. To which the Black Knight responds, “Yes I do. It’s just a flesh wound.” You’ve just got to watch this…
This scene is hilarious because of the absurdity of someone trying to fight with no arms and thinking that things are really going well. But we do the same thing when we try to pretend that our sins are really “not that bad.”
In today’s readings, we see that if someone was suspected of having the disease of leprosy, they were not aloud to judge this for themselves. The had to go and “show themselves to the priests.” In the same way, we are often not capable of being an effective judge of the seriousness of our own situation. This Lent, do as Jesus suggests and “Go, show yourself to the priests.” Go to confession. Receive good counsel and healing. Do be silly like the Black Knight. When it comes to serious sin… it really is that bad.