28th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C, 2019

May we receive pardon for our sins through our faith in God, and through the graces of this Eucharistic celebration be endowed with the graces to be ever ready to reciprocate God’s love to us through our expression of gratitude in Him. Happy Sunday!

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(2 Kings 5, 14-17; 2 Timothy 2, 8-13; Luke 17, 11-19: 28^th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C, 2019)

The first reading for today is a narrative about healing, gratitude, conversion, and worship. The primary character in the story is Naaman, a foreigner who was cured of leprosy by immersion in water and converted to the God of Israel. Miraculously, the waters of the Jordan transformed Naaman's flesh into that of a child. Naaman was a man of means. He traveled with a retinue, an entourage that probably included attendants of various kinds. Suffering from leprosy must have been a terrible physical affliction and an unbearable social stigma as well. When he realised he had been cured, his indebtedness prompted him to return to Elisha and offer him gifts. This should not be construed as payment for services but rather an expression of gratitude. Having experienced the power of Elisha's God, he proclaims there is no other God but the Lord. Evidence of the sincerity of his conversion is seen in his desire to worship the God of Israel even when he is back in his own land. Since it was believed that one could only worship a god in the land of that god (for example, Gen 4,16; 1 Sam 26, 19), Naaman asks permission to take some earth back home with him so that he will be able to worship the God of Israel even outside the land. The story of Naaman champions monotheism and universalism. It is not surprising that an Israelite would claim there is no God but the Lord. When a non-Israelite does, it is truly remarkable. Naaman may have needed a miracle to recognise this truth, but recognise it he did! Something else makes this story exceptional. When there were many people suffering from leprosy in Israel, God chose to heal a foreigner. This demonstrates God's love and concern for all, Israelites and non-Israelites alike. One feature of this story betrays the uneven development of Naaman's monotheistic faith. While he does declare that the Lord and only the Lord is God, he has not yet realised that this means God's power extends over the entire world. Naaman does not need the land of Israel to ensure the presence of the God of Israel.

In the second reading, 2 Timothy 2,8-13, Paul exhorts Timothy to remember what is most important in the gospel Paul has preached. He is speaking here of a manner of remembering that is far more than merely calling to mind. It is a way of witnessing to the authenticity of what is remembered. In this case it is a truth that is twofold: Jesus Christ is raised from the dead and he is a descendant of David. The first component of the testimony is the very basis of Christian faith. The title "Christ" means "anointed one," the long-awaited one who would inaugurate the reign of God and bring it to fulfilment. This was accomplished through his death and resurrection. The fact that he came from the line of David shows that he fulfilled all the expectations and promises associated with that royal family. This is the gospel to which Paul committed himself and for which he was now suffering imprisonment. Paul’s attitude toward his confinement is complex. While he considered it a privilege to suffer the same fate as did his Lord, it was still a great affliction for him. It prevented him from engaging in the ministry in which he took such pride. It kept him from the people whose lives he had touched and who had touched his life. More than this, Paul was a freeborn Roman citizen. It must have been a great humiliation for him to have been treated like a common malefactor, a slave, or a conquered captive. He calls himself a criminal, a term generally used to designate burglars, murderers, traitors, or other serious offenders. Still, the greater his humiliation and torment, the more he rejoices in participating in the sufferings of Christ. The agony and indignity Paul bears are seen by him as a share in the birth pangs of the Messiah, that necessary suffering that would precede the birth of the reign of God. The idea that there was a predetermined amount of suffering that had to be endured before this glorious reign could come seems to lie behind Paul's thought here. He believed that the more suffering he would undergo, the less the rest of the Church would have to undergo and the sooner the reign would appear. He seems to have been assured of his own salvation, and in this way he sought to assure the salvation of others as well-not that he could earn it but that he could actively participate in its dawning.

The gospel narrative, Luke 17, 11-19, echoes the story recounted in the first reading. It is the story of a foreigner who suffered the pain and indignities of leprosy. He was cured by the power of God and returned to give thanks. While similar lessons are taught in both narratives, each contains its own meaning. The gospel reveals the power of God working through Jesus and the power of faith to save. The abhorrent nature of leprosy can be seen in the fact that the ethnic and religious rivalry that existed between the Jews and the Samaritans was superseded by the disease. In a sense, the disease took complete control of them. They had no other identity but the disease of leprosy. They could claim no ethnic or political privileges, and were barred from religious practice. According to the law they were to be isolated outside the cities and villages, segregated from all the normal activities of life (cf. Lev 13,46; Num 5,2-3), crying out "Unclean" should anyone approach them (cf. Lev 13,45). These outcasts recognised Jesus, for standing at a distance, they cried out to him by name. They also addressed him as Master (epistates), a term only the disciples used for Jesus. They did not ask for alms, as was customary for destitute people who sat outside the villages begging for food or money. They asked for mercy, for compassion. Knowing who Jesus was, this probably meant they were seeking a cure. Jesus neither touched nor spoke words of healing over them. He merely sent them away with directions. He put their faith to the test by having them go to the priests presuming they would be healed. They were sent to the priests who, as cultic functionaries, were responsible for protecting purity and guarding against impurity (cf. Lev 14:2). They did as Jesus directed them, and on the way, they were healed. Only one man returned to thank Jesus. He is described with bold strokes: he glorifies God; he prostrates himself before Jesus; he is a Samaritan. He is not surprised that Jesus healed him. He, along with his companions, had recognised  Jesus earlier and had hoped for a cure. Nor is he the only one who had faith. They all believed Jesus had the power to heal them, and they all went off to show themselves to the priests. What makes this man unique is his gratitude. Furthermore, it is a Samaritan, one who is despised by the Jews, who shows gratitude to the Jewish wonder-worker a point Jesus clearly makes. Jesus commends the man for his faith. Once again the last (a Samaritan) will be first (held up as an example).

The readings for today suggest a journey. They trace the stages of Christian conversion from sin through healing to gratitude and finally to the privilege of living fulfilled lives in the eschatological age. The journey begins with the stories of Naaman and the ten men who had leprosy. Their leprosy, which was the principal alienating disease of that period, serves as a metaphor for our sinfulness, the condition that makes us unfit for the presence of God and despicable in the eyes of others. Separated from God and alienated from society, we are truly in a deplorable state, a state out of which we are unable to extricate ourselves. Into these seemingly hopeless conditions came the prophet Elisha and Jesus. Each in his own way brings the healing power of God, and His saving grace. Paul is such a mediator as well. He brings the gospel to those who are in need of salvation. When people are open to his preaching, they are transformed and made ready to receive eternal glory. It is interesting to note that in both narratives the agent of God's healing did not belong to the social group of the one healed. In other words, God's grace does not move along ethnic, racial, gender, class or generational lines. God's healing grace is sometimes available to us through unfamiliar means. Had Naaman not crossed ethnic boundaries, he would not have been healed by waters that were foreign to him. Had the Samaritan man not been in the company of the other leprous men or had he not approached the Jewish Jesus, he would not have been healed. God's grace comes to us from unexpected quarters and in unexpected ways. The next step in our journey of conversion is the response of gratitude and praise. Both Naaman and the lone Samaritan are so filled with gratitude they returned to the one responsible for their healing. They were not so preoccupied with their good fortune as to forget that it came to them as a gift. They must have known unbelievable joy in their cure, but the narratives depict them as overwhelmed with gratitude. Their response is the kind of thanks and praise proclaimed in the psalm and also celebrated at each Sunday Eucharist. We have been saved from our alienation from God and one another. Let us give thanks to the Lord. Those who knew they have been healed, who realise this was a gift freely given to them, and who return to give thanks have, by these acts of devotion, stepped over a threshold into a new way of living. Their thanks and praise usher them into the new age of eschatological promise: if we have died with him, we will live with him. This new life is completely dependent upon faith. For Naaman it was faith in the words of the prophet; for the leprous man, it was faith in the words of Jesus; for the people to whom Paul wrote, it was faith in the words of his teaching. We see this Sunday what we have seen on earlier Sundays, that is, the importance of faith and the role played by the community in bringing the promises of God to fulfilment. May we, therefore, be granted in today’s Eucharistic celebration the gift to be brought back to friendship with God and the grace to be grateful to God for favours granted to us. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye.

(graphics  by chukwubike)