“SEEDS OF LIFE”
Sunday, 9th October 2016.
Twenty Eighth Week of Ordinary Time
2 Kings 5: 14-17;
Psalm 98: 1-4;
2 Timothy 2: 8-13;
Luke 17: 11-19
FROM HEALING TO FAITH!
Today’s Gospel speaks about a gratitude filled Samaritan leper. Many often take this passage to be a lesson of good manners, to remember to say ‘thank you’. The Samaritan leper, a non-believer surprises Jesus. The Samaritan had a theological insight which the other nine Jews, who educated in the faith and knowledgeable of the Scriptures, did not have. While all the ten were aware that Jesus was a healer. A new light brightened only in the mind and heart of the Samaritan: he understood that Jesus was more than a healer. In his act of salvation the leper captured the message of God. He who did not believe in the prophets, had surprisingly intuited that God has sent him, whom the prophets announced. He is the first to truly grasp that God is not far from the lepers. In Jesus, the Lord appeared in their midst; he touches and heals them.
The First Reading speaks of the healing of Naaman, the commander in chief of the army of Leprosy. On Elisha’s command Naaman goes down to the Jordan river, washes himself seven times and his flesh becomes like that of a child’s; he is healed. He returns to thank Elisha with a gift, but Elisha refuses to accept it: The healing must not be attributed to him, but to the Lord. Naaman understands and exclaims: “Now I know that there is no other God anywhere in the world but in Israel” (vv. 15-16), from now on I will not adore other gods but the Lord.” Naaman is healed not only of bodily leprosy but also of the soul. From paganism he passes on to the faith in the only God.
When Paul writes the second letter to Timothy, he is in prison, in Rome. He already underwent a first process during which no one had the courage to present himself to testify in his favor (2 Tim 4:16). Many friends abandoned him or were lined up against him (2 Tim 4:9-15). What consoles the Apostle in this difficult situation is, the thought that Christ also passed through the same sufferings and misunderstandings before entering into the Father’s glory! For this he says to Timothy and to himself: “Remember Jesus Christ!”(v. 8). To arrive to salvation it is necessary to tread the same way. “If we have died with him, we shall also live with him. If we endure with him, we shall reign with him” (vv. 11-12). What happened to Paul and Jesus is repeated in the life of each authentic disciple.
In the time of Jesus: “Four categories of persons are treated as dead: the poor, the leper, the blind and the childless.” All diseases were considered a punishment for sins but leprosy was the symbol of sin itself. The healing of leprosy was a miracle comparable to the resurrection of a dead person. Only the Lord could cure it. The story does not speak of one but ten lepers. The number ten in the Bible has a symbolic value: it indicates the totality (the hands have ten fingers). The lepers of the Gospel represent therefore all the people, the entire humanity far away from God. All of us—Luke wants to tell us—are lepers and we need to encounter Jesus. No one is pure; we all carry on our skins signs of death that only the word of Christ can cure. Whoever realizes himself/herself as a leper will not feel superior, will not judge, not distance himself/herself, not look down but will be in solidarity in good and in bad with the brothers/sisters.
The parable says that only the Samaritan gave glory to God, that is, the only one who understood immediately that the salvation of God comes to people through Christ. He is the only one who acknowledged not only the good received, but also the intermediary chosen by God to communicate his gifts. He desired to proclaim it before all, his gratitude and discovery. The others were satisfied with a physical healing, but the Samaritan leper, like Naaman received a healing to faith. They received the gift of salvation. We are all lepers who have cast ourselves away from God’s salvation and mercy through our sins and failings. Let us thus ask for a healing of faith, a desire to receive the mercy of God especially in this year of Mercy.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, May I recognize your salvific role in my life. Amen.