In our first reading today, we hear about an Assyrian general, Na’aman. Despite being a powerful and influential person, he contracted a concerning skin disease.1 But he felt confident he could find a cure. Na’aman was directed to an Israelite prophet, Elisha, by an Israelite slave who served his wife.2
Going to Elisha, who lived in Samaria, Na’aman was instructed to plunge himself into the river Jordan seven times.3 Initially, he resisted doing this. Not only did he resist, he protested, telling the servants who accompanied him that Elisha should be able to simply “stand there… call on the name of the LORD his God… move his hand over the place, and thus cure the leprous spot.”4
Na’aman further complained that because the rivers of Syria were mightier than the relatively small Jordan, he should be able to wash in one of those.5 As he turned to depart for home, his servants reminded him that he had come a long way to seek a cure from Elisha. So, he relented and did as the prophet instructed him.6
After he plunged himself into the Jordan, not only was Na’aman healed but, as the Scripture makes clear, he was in better shape than he was before contracting the disease. Grateful that he was cured, Na’aman tried to pay Elisha for healing him but the prophet would not take payment.7 It was enough for Elisha that Na’aman became a worshiper of the one, true God.
Na’aman’s cure, of course, is a prefiguration of baptism. It is in the waters of baptism that not only is sin washed away, at least for those who are baptized after reaching the age of reason, but the person baptized is restored to what might be called the original state of grace. In baptism, as our reading from 2 Timothy intimates, we die and rise with Christ.8
In our Gospel today, Jesus is still journeying toward Jerusalem in order to keep his appointment with the cross. Geographically, he may be in southern Galilee near the border with Samaria. Perhaps these lepers had heard about Jesus healing people because when they saw him they shouted: “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us.”9
The homiletic point of today’s Gospel is quite straightforward. It is Christianity 101: like the ten lepers, we need Jesus to take pity on us. We need Jesus to heal us, to make us whole. In a word, we need Jesus to save us. When we go to confession or engage in the Penitential Rite at the beginning of Mass, which is not a substitute for going to confession, we call on Jesus to take pity on us; to have mercy on us. We ask for God’s mercy just before we receive communion, saying: “Lord, I am not worthy…”10
Just as he does with the lepers, Jesus unfailingly takes pity on us. He shows us the mercy of God time and time again. During the Jubilee of Mercy several years ago, Pope Francis observed more than once that you will grow tired of confessing your sins way before God will grow tired of forgiving you. God never grows tired of being merciful because God never grows tired of being God. Jesus is the mercy of God. As someone who has received God’s mercy, the issue becomes whether you take it for granted or you are grateful. Are you like the nine lepers who did not show gratitude or the one Samaritan who came back to thank Jesus for healing him?
It's significant that the one leper who returned to thank Jesus is a Samaritan. The inspired author of Luke often uses the much-loathed Samaritans as exemplars of righteous living. Without a doubt, the most notable of these is the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Just as in that parable and our first reading, in which Na'aman, a Gentile, gives thanks to the God of Israel, in this episode, the hero- the one who experiences and recognizes God’s salvation in Jesus, is from outside the chosen people.
Eucharist” is another name for Mass. “Eucharist” is the Greek word for giving thanks. The Greek word used by the inspired author of Luke, translated in our reading as “thanked,” is eucharistón.11 A more accurate translation of the phrase in which this word appears is “giving him thanks.” We should be grateful to the giver for the gift. In the case of Jesus, the giver is the gift.
Giving thanks to God for what he has done for us in Jesus is what we are doing right now. The first result of being filled with the Holy Spirit is giving thanks to God. Above all people, Christians should have an attitude of gratitude. As we say in Eucharistic Prayer II, addressing the Father: “It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Father most holy, through your beloved Son, Jesus Christ…”12
Coming to Mass each Sunday, the Lord’s Day, the day of the resurrection, is how you thank Jesus for what he has done for you and for what he is going to do for you. Being a Christian means being someone who can’t thank Jesus enough for having pity on you and showing you mercy.
In turn, you are called to take pity and have mercy on others, just like Jesus does for you. By our participation in the Eucharist, like the grateful Samaritan leper, our lives are to become a Eucharist. It is through such lives that the Lord reveals to the nations his saving power.13
1 2 Kings 5:1.↩
2 2 Kings 5:2-3.↩
3 2 Kings 5:10.↩
4 2 Kings 5:11.↩
5 2 Kings 5:12.↩
6 2 Kings 5:13-14.↩
7 2 Kings 5:15-16.↩
8 2 Timothy 2:11.↩
9 Luke 17:13.↩
10 Roman Missal, "The Order of Mass," sec. 132.↩
11 Eberhard Nestle, Novum Testamentum graece.↩
12 Roman Missal, "The Order of Mass," sec. 99.↩
13 Psalm 98:2.↩
No comments:
Post a Comment