Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 9, 2022 – 2 Kings 5:14-17; 2 Timothy 2:8-13; Luke 17:11-19

So, I said, before the first reading, to pay close attention to the strange behavior of both Naaman and Elisha at the end of the story. Naaman. in genuine gratitude for being healed of his leprosy, wants to give Elisha a big gift and Elisha refuses. Why does he refuse? Then, as a result of Elisha’s refusal, Naaman asks to take a couple buckets of dirt back to Syria with him. Why would he want some dirt? The reason why Elisha refuses to accept the monetary gift is because Elisha is God’s minister and he has not cured Naaman, God has cured Naaman. Elisha does not feel himself entitled to take a gift for what God has done. Elisha is only God’s emissary.

The stranger thing is the buckets of dirt. The belief in the ancient world was that you worshipped the God of the place. When you moved to another place, there was a different God. Since Naaman is a Syrian, he is a Pagan. He does not believe in Yahweh God. He has crossed from his own territory to the territory of another God. Once he realizes that its Elisha’s God who has saved him, he wants to bring back dirt from Israel so that he can worship the God of Israel back in his own home. Pour the dirt on the ground, stand on it and then pray to Yahweh God because he cannot pray to Yahweh God in the area of some other God. It is a very strange thing that we could not possibly comprehend in our time. But what the story is all about is the way in which God works among those whom others reject.

The same thing is true of the Gospel. Luke tells us that the one leper who was cleansed was a Samaritan. The Samaritans, just like the other Jews, worshipped Yahweh God but they cordially hated each other for several very basic religious reasons. The people of Samaria did not believe that you had to worship God in the temple in Jerusalem. They worshipped on their own mountain, which was a scandal to the rest of the Jews, a major violation of Torah.

Notice that St. Luke tell us at the beginning that Jesus was passing through Samaria, which means Jesus was in enemy territory. And it’s strange what Jesus says. He says, “Has no one returned to give thanks to God except this foreigner?” Right now, the one leper who comes back is not the foreigner. He’s the only one who is in the right territory. Jesus, and presumably that the other nine, were the foreigners. Lepers were ostracized by society and tended to band together in camps outside of inhabited areas. They have all taken a great chance. That’s why I said to notice how the word subtly changes to what happened to them. 

The first time something happens, Luke says, “On their way they were healed.” They were healed. Then it’s “cleansed.” And then it’s “saved.” Everybody was cleansed of their leprosy. Their skin was nice again. They experienced the miracle of healing. But healing implies more than just the fixing of the sores. It implies something that happens inside of you. They all had a moment with God. All ten of them. Had a moment when their lives were utterly changed by the intervention of God. But Jesus says to the Samaritan, to the outsider - just like Naaman was an outsider - He says, “Your faith…” Unlike the faith of the other nine. They all had faith that Jesus could do something for them. They all had faith in the power of God. He says, “Your faith [unlike the faith of the other nine] has saved you.” Has saved you. Your life is utterly changed. From this moment on you are a new person. That’s the significance. That you are from now on a new person. It implies that your life has to be different going forward. 

I think that, if you asked a lot of Catholic people of various ages, but the older the better, if they ever experienced a moment when God seemed very active in their lives, answered one of their prayers, they would say, “Yes, I remember a time when I prayed desperately for this, that or the other thing and God answered my prayer.”

The question is what happens after that? The other nine lepers, they continue with the same old, same old. They went right on to the temple to follow the rules about getting certified of being clean of leprosy. They did what they always do. They just followed the rules. The one who came back recognized that his life was utterly changed.

If we have an experience where we sense that God has been active in our lives, it is an invitation to change. Why was this story told? In the time of Jesus, himself. The story is about the fact that Jesus is a moment in time, never to be repeated. And that people have to make a decision about what they think about and what they are going to do about what they think about Jesus. By the time Luke writes the story, it is a different moment in time and Luke is dealing with several things. He’s dealing with the fact that the Church is now largely made up of former Pagans. The challenge before the Church is to preach the Gospel in the face of persecution. It is another moment in time. As the Gospel is passed down to us on this Sunday morning is another moment in time. If we have sensed in our lives that, at some point, God answered our prayers, what are we going to do about it?

The only difference between the story and us is this. In the story, it’s made to seem like the other nine missed their moment. In our lives, God never closes the door.