Readings: 2 Kings 5, 14-17; Psalm 98, The Lord has revealed to The Nations His Saving Power; 2 Timothy 2, 8-13; Luke 17, 11-19.
Twenty eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time- Intro to the readings.
Our first reading today is from the second book of Kings, and was written about the year 560BCE. The Book of Kings was written at a time of great crisis. In 587 the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzer and his armies had attacked the southern kingdom, Judah, and destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, and taken the Jewish people back to Babylon as slaves.
The big question for the Jews was “where was their God in all of this?" What about the promises he had made on Mount Sinai? The 400 year rule of the Davidic line of kings has come to an end. The purpose of the writer is to tell the people that it is not God who has been unfaithful, but the people. He encourages them to see that God is still faithful to his people.
Our short story in today’s reading fits with the gospel in that someone saw that the gospel was about lepers and so find something about lepers in the Old Testament! Recall that in those days most gods were seen as local, and so we find Naaman, who is a high ranking general from Damascus, where Paul was heading when he had his vision, asking Elisha if he can take two mule loads of the earth back with him. He has been cured by Elisha’s god and wants that god to be with him when he returns home. To get the full impact of this reading I want to read to you the piece which leads up to our reading today:
Naaman, the army commander of the king of Aram, was highly esteemed and respected by his master, for through him the LORD had brought victory to Aram. But valiant as he was, the man was a leper. Now the Arameans had captured from the land of Israel in a raid a little girl, who became the servant of Naaman's wife. "If only my master would present himself to the prophet in Samaria," she said to her mistress, "he would cure him of his leprosy."
Naaman went and told his lord just what the slave girl from the land of Israel had said. "Go," said the king of Aram. "I will send along a letter to the king of Israel." So Naaman set out, taking along ten silver talents, six thousand gold pieces, and ten festal garments. To the king of Israel he brought the letter, which read: "With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy."
When he read the letter, the king of Israel tore his garments and exclaimed: "Am I a god with power over life and death, that this man should send someone to me to be cured of leprosy? Take note! You can see he is only looking for a quarrel with me!" When Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his garments, he sent word to the king: "Why have you torn your garments? Let him come to me and find out that there is a prophet in Israel." Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. The prophet sent him the message: "Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will heal, and you will be clean."
But Naaman went away angry, saying, "I thought that he would surely come out and stand there to invoke the LORD his God, and would move his hand over the spot, and thus cure the leprosy. Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?" With this, he turned about in anger and left.
But his servants came up and reasoned with him. "My father," they said, "if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary, would you not have done it? All the more now, since he said to you, 'Wash and be clean,' should you do as he said."
Twenty eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Homily
On the surface today’s gospel message seems simple enough, don’t forget to say, “Thank you”. But because I have two weeks to reflect on the story, and also because a good friend of mine whom I was ordained with years ago told me about a great homily he had heard about the ten lepers, I had to pry deeper. My friend now lives in England and after spending thirty minutes on the phone with him the other day, neither one of us could come up with what that original ‘great homily’ was all about! I feel there is more to Luke’s account than a lesson in ‘good manners’.
The story itself is classical Luke. Jesus is still heading towards Jerusalem, although the geographic clues, which Luke gives at the beginning of the story, tell us that Luke doesn’t have a clue of the geography of the area! Ten lepers meet with Jesus and are sent off to be inspected and declared free of their leprosy. Only one comes back to say thanks.
There are several things we need to keep in mind. The one who came back was a Samaritan. Luke seems to have a thing for Samaritans; we have the “good Samaritan, the Samaritan woman at the well, and now the Samaritan leper. What we can easily forget is that the Samaritan would not be going to Jerusalem to be declared “cured’ by the Temple priests, he would have gone to Mount Gerizim, that was their place of worship.
When the nine Jewish lepers would have been declared clean, there is explicit instructions for a thanksgiving offering clearly spelt out in Leviticus chapter 13: “30And he shall offer, of the turtle-doves or pigeons such as he can afford, 31one* for a sin-offering and the other for a burnt-offering, along with a grain-offering; and the priest shall make atonement before the Lord on behalf of the one being cleansed. 32This is the ritual for one who has a leprous* disease, who cannot afford the offerings for his cleansing.”
What I would like to read into today’s story is the following. The nine lepers who went to the temple in Jerusalem were doing exactly what the Law of Moses told them to do. Of course they were thankful, and did what the Law prescribed.
Whenever Jesus seems to run afoul of the Jewish leaders it is because they are trying to enforce the Law and he is ignoring it! His laws are fairly simple, “Love God and Love your neighbor”. Too often we have been raised to “follow the rules”. As I have said recently, we have become slaves to the rules. Vatican II has invited us to act responsibly and be accountable for our own actions. Too often people need the security of “following the rules”. I came across the following story from Margaret Silf in the current issue of the magazine “America”.
A bewildered traveler was once walking in a strange country. Feeling fearful, without map or compass, he came to the junction of three trails. There was no signpost to indicate where any of them might lead. As he sat on a rock, contemplating the problem, a young boy came by and wished him a bright “Good Morning!” The traveler replied, “And a very good morning to you, son. Can you help me, please? I’m not from these parts, and I’m lost. Where does that trail over there lead?” “Sorry, sir, I don’t know” said the boy. “Well, what about that second trail there?” “Sorry, sir,” replied the boy, “I don’t know.” By now the traveler was getting impatient. “O.K., where does this third trail go?” “Sorry sir, I don’t know,” came the cheerful reply. Now seriously frustrated, the traveler snapped back, “For goodness sake, boy, what do you know?” “I know I’m not lost, sir,” came the confident rejoinder, as the boy went on his way.
It is that ability to be comfortable with not knowing, with being able to be your own person, make your own decisions after reflection that come to me as the point in the story today. The Samaritan leper was not bound by the urgency to get to his priest to be declared clean, but decided to go back to Jesus to say thank you. He would then still need to go the temple at Mount Gerizim. It was his ability to act for himself and not be determined by the rules, which saved him.
St Ambrose, the third century theologian uses a very simple analogy which I think might have value for us today in the rather turbulent times we live in. He says we need to look at the little fish in the big ocean and try to be like that. The fish has learned to swim in calm waters and when the sea is raging. Neither sea bothers the fish, it is happy in its environment. Most of us would rather the sea be calm, but it isn’t right now, not on any front. All the rules are being challenged, all our solid truths are being questioned and it feels like the traveler at the intersection of three roads.
Remember the lovely story of the apostles in the boat during the stormy sea. Why were you afraid, did you not know I am with you!
This is the message I get from today’s simple story.