Homily for the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
by Fr. Azam Vianney Mansha, CJM - STL
While on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus encountered ten lepers. Often, this Gospel passage is known as the passage of “The Healing of Ten Lepers,” but in reality, this passage reveals the Divinity of Jesus; that is, The Holy One of Israel, the Messiah.
In today’s first reading, we did not hear the full account of Naaman’s healing. In order to get the whole picture of the passage, let’s make a quick review of the fifth chapter of the 2nd Book of Kings. In this chapter, the king of Israel tore his clothes when King Aram sent him a letter to heal Naaman’s disease. The king of Israel said, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his skin disease?” (5:6-7). It is not only a cry, but a visible expression of faith of the king that only God can heal the lepers? Upon the action of the king, the prophet Elisha sent him a message, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel” (5:8). The English word prophet has its roots in the Hebrew word “nevi,” which means “the mouth of the Lord.” In other words, Elisha told the king that God is present in Israel and as we heard in the first reading, after his physical healing, the non- believer Naaman confessed, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel” (5:15). It is only the God of Israel who can heal the lepers.
In the passage of the ten lepers, like Naaman, they approached Jesus for healing, and as I said before, we need to go beyond the physical healing of the lepers. Therefore, it would be good to have a quick overview of the Gospel passage in the light of the Old Testament:
First, let’s see the geographical setting: Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, which means that he was somewhere between Galilee and Samaria. In other words, Jesus was not in the Holy City of Jerusalem as the Jews believed that God was always present in the temple.
Second, let’s see the allegorical meaning: Ten lepers approached Jesus. Hebrew is an alpha-numerical language, which means that every number has a corresponding letter. Now when I say “number ten,” what comes to mind? Ten Commandments. Allegorically speaking, these ten lepers represent the Ten Commandments or instructions.
Third, let’s talk about the courage of the lepers to enter the village to meet Jesus. According to the Mosaic Law, lepers were not allowed to enter the village to meet someone because their action would make the other person unclean.
Now, let’s put these three elements together: 1) Jesus is outside of Jerusalem; 2) the ten instructions and the obedience of the lepers show that God can work in our lives as we follow His instructions/commandment; and, 3) the Law of Moses was not meant to put people in a box, but rather, it was given so that through the obedience to God, the faithful can see God in their lives, particularly in their physical healing. Jesus did not come only to give physical healing, but He came so that we can have life and life in abundance (John 10:10).
Just to ask you a quick question: what is the first commandment or instruction? I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me (Exodus 20) This is what the Samaritan did!!! The first step of obedience is to believe that “God is our Savior.” The Samaritan’s physical healing moved his heart to recognize that he encountered the Holy One of Israel, the Messiah, which we can see in his action: “[The Samaritan leper] fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.” His way of gratitude made him receive salvation as Jesus Himself said, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.” In short, it is through the obedience to Jesus that the ten lepers received their physical healing, and it is through the gratitude of the Samaritan leper that he received salvation.
Is it a joyful moment to praise the Lord when you receive salvation!!! Therefore, let us sing together the following famous Christian song (anonymous):
“Praise him, praise him,
praise him in the morning,
praise him in the noontime.
Praise him, praise him,
praise him when the sun goes down.
Thank him, thank him,
Thank him in the morning,
Thank him in the noontime.
Thank him, thank him,
Thank him when the sun goes down.”
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, the seed of obedience is placed in our hearts through the Sacred Scripture and Sacraments in order to encounter the Messiah in our lives. The fruit of obedience is gratitude, which leads us to receive salvation. As St. Therese of Lisieux teaches us, “Jesus does not ask for great achievements: only [obedience] and gratitude.” Let’s not forget that our complaints, problems and pains will end when gratitude enters our soul.
May Mary, the mother of Jesus, our mother, and the model of obedience and gratitude, intercede for us to be always obedient in listening to Jesus with an attitude of gratitude.
