Sunday Homily, October 13, 2013, 28th Ordinary Time C
Readings:
2 Kings 5, 14-17, Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times.
Psalm 98, The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
2 Timothy 2, 8-13, The word of God is not chained.
Luke 17, 11-19 Where are the other 9?
2 Kings observations:
Time of the events: 900 B.C.
Time when written: 550 B.C., during the Babylonian captivity.
Subject of 1 Kings: This book continues the history of the kings
taking up with the death of King David and continuing through the story of
David & Bathsheba's son Solomon. He builds the famous Temple of Solomon. After his death the
nation divides into the northern & southern states, Israel in the north, Judah
in the south (including Jerusalem;
remember by the "J's").
Subject of 2 Kings: This book continues the history of the decline
of the two states until Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeats the people.
Subject of our chapter 5 (read it all, it is delightful): one of
the leaders of the Syrian-Babylonian army goes to visit the prophet of the day,
Elisha. Naaman, the general, has leprosy. Note the twist of the
story at the end. Thanks is a theme of this selection and it sets the
stage for Luke's story about gratitude. Three characters: Naaman, his little slave girl, and Elisha.
Gratitude
This morning I would like to talk about the theme coming from Luke’s
story and the neat little story about Naaman, the general with leprosy. Specifically, gratitude.
To put together a story, I looked back over the week for special gifts,
events I am grateful for. I thought of
our ROMEO lunch Friday, of my 2 French sessions, and the fact that my nice skin
doctor, Sara Scott, gave me a pass.
Despite how grateful I am for these events, two others really stood out.
Friday night Rosemary and I were privileged to be part of a special
celebration. It was the marriage of
Kristin Urbanczyk and her fiance’ Josh
Eddings. You all know that I take
delight in celebrating weddings and get to do quite a lot, especially now that
I am not officially Catholic.
As precious as all of them are, it is a unique jewel of an event when I
get to celebrate the wedding of a person whom I have known since
childhood. Kristin I have known for maybe 18-20
years. She used to throw water balloons at
me when she was a supposedly nice little girl.
Folks, it does not get better than last night for me.
Thursday morning before this event took place, Rosemary and I went for one
of our early morning bike rides down to and around The Lake, our beloved White
Rock. At one point we are riding south
on the path at the edge of the lake and along East Lather Drive. We have just passed in front of the
Arboretum.
As we approach the bridge just before Garland Road, the tarmac path curves
left then right and is wet from earlier sprinklers. I am about 30 years ahead of Rosemary. I go up on the bridge and for some reason I
look back.
What I see scares me to death.
Rosemary is sitting on the path, her bike down, and people are running
to her side. I turn around and race back.
She has slid out on the wet tarmac.
She has hit the back of her head on the path but not broken her
helmet. She says she is okay and will
walk on to the boat house over near the dam.
I race back to the car, return, and tell her I really would like for her
to call our M.D. right there in the car.
Later he checks her out and says nothing is wrong. Just bruises and sore ribs.
Folks, I am so grateful and cannot give thanks enough.
A few observations.
First. The temptation is to think I am one of the
nine who did not return to thank Jesus. Yes probably & No, also. I would suggest
again: we are both. Lots of times we forget to thank. Lots of times
we thank.
Second. There could be symbolism in the nine and
one. Perhaps I am nine tenths ungrateful and one tenth grateful. Is this a pretty normal proportion? A lot of times, however, I am not so much ungrateful
as just insensitive, totally unaware. Perhaps the lepers who did not
return just figured they were lucky and went on their way. The other guy
realized he had been given a gift by that stranger and wanted to respond.
Jesus tells him his faith has saved him. I would
suggest that his gratitude transformed him.
Third. How is it possible to rearrange the
percentages? Practice. Practice make perfect. Rosemary & I have a favorite little practice that we do
every night. I've mentioned it before. We ask each other what were the blessings
of the day. I recommend this. I even recommend it for sitting alone,
while savoring the first coffee in the morning, driving or riding the DART to
work & back, getting ready to go to school. Simple question: what
were my blessings today, yesterday, or this week?
You may start now: what were your three biggest blessings
this week?
