28TH SUNDAY HOMILY OF THE ORDINARY TIME: YEAR C

28TH SUNDAY HOMILY OF THE ORDINARY TIME: YEAR C

HOMILY THEME: JESUS HEALS TEN LEPERS

BY: Fr. Mike Olumba

Kings 5:14-17; 2 Timothy 2:8-13; Luke 17:11-19

1-In the first reading of today, the Prophet Elisha subjected Naaman to a trial of faith. At the insistence of his Jewish handmaid, Naaman humbled himself and obeyed the instructions of the Prophet, dipping himself 7 times in a river without even seeing the prophet himself! He was healed of his leprosy just as the ten lepers of the Gospel. Naaman returns later, not to seek health: he has already found it. Filled with gratitude, he came back to say: “Thank you”. True faith is to seek God, to live in communion with him and to cling to his person. With his profession of faith, Naaman commits himself to serving only the true God who also heals. Coming from a foreign country, he takes away a quantity of the soil of Israel. Even in a foreign country, Syria, that is not the usual territory of this God of Israel, Naaman can still serve him. Every time he stands on that soil/sand that he carried away from Israel, he is actually standing on the soil of Israel, the land and the territory of that God whom he now serves. Perhaps, the holiness associated to the land too, seen in the cure received in it also incited him to this gesture of carrying away some quantity of soil from the land of Israel.

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2-(There were then national gods, tribal gods, and territorial gods. Here is the God of Israel who claims trans-national, trans-tribal and trans-territorial dominance over all other gods. In the course of time, He eventually became the Arusi na efe mba awa afa starting from the time he showed his powers among the magicians and gods of Egypt. (Confer, Exodus 7: 22-8: 10, Moses and the magicians of Egypt).

3-The episode of the healing of the ten lepers this weekend is articulated to the parables proposed last Sunday: Jesus continues its teaching by inviting us to marvel at God’s free gifts. (Last Sunday, Jesus was asked to increase the Faith of his disciples that they could in turn live out the Christian faith and moral demands made by Christ. He promised that as we are servants of God; that Faith herself will also become our servant. Today, he healed people after testing their Faith. Their Faith became the servant through which the Lord accomplished the healing received).

4-On a path that will lead to his death and resurrection, Jesus encounters leprosy and those suffering from it. This is a disease that removes the sick person from the civil and religious companionship of others. At that time, a leper is obliged to carry a bell every time he left home, to announce from afar to everyone that he, the leper, is not far away. He has to make sure that he is not on the path of wind which would touch others after blowing past him. They lived an isolated life, separated and cut off from others.

5-In the time of Jesus, Jews and Samaritans normally do not have easy communication and friendship with each other. But for these ten wretched people, their misfortune has united them in this band of lepers beyond the societal norms. They were united by their misfortune which no longer had regards for their social boundaries. They were all in it together, the same boat of misfortune. Sometimes in life, difficulties and hard times bring arch-enemies together in their common effort to survive.

6-Like all those who call on the tenderness of the God of the Covenant, the lepers cried out to the one in whom their faith perceived a possible Saviour. They trusted in him. In turn, he granted them their request; He healed them. Their healing had another social meaning. It was not only a matter of physical health, a matter of regaining their bodily health. No! It was also a spiritual fact. In fact, the physical sickness of leprosy was seen as a physical manifestation of the spiritual overflow of sin operated by God. This healing of the body (and of the soul) puts them all back into the community of men. The healing re-inserted and reintroduced them into the social community and the religious worshiping community.

7-By sending them first to those who are empowered to confirm a possible cure or healing, Jesus did not only make a promise to them; he also put their faith to the test by another step of faith. “Go, and show yourselves to the priests”. For at this moment they have not yet been healed: they will become healed “in the course of their journey”, to see the priest in obedience to Jesus’ words. This physical sickness that has its origin in metaphysical sin has priests as those who certify that healing of such has taken place.

8-Then, to their joy, but now oblivious of the giver, they scattered like fish thrown into the sea, and like the butterfly under the open sky, each in his whirlwind of happiness and joy except for one man; a Samaritan, almost a pagan stranger. He is not satisfied with having obtained this miraculous healing by his faith: he increases this Faith by going back to Jesus, giving thanks for this divine surprise, recognising in Jesus the Priest who, after having lifted him up and saved him, can set him back on his way and enlist him among his own. He was first healed and then saved because he discovered that in Jesus it was God who intervened in his life of misery. He discovered that he mattered to God. His heart was filled with gratitude.

9-In the beginning they all sought healing, now like Naaman, one of them comes back to seek God to simply say “thank you”. “Have not all ten been purified? Where are the other nine?” asked Jesus. This question or soliloquy from Jesus was not directed to the Samaritan but to us all. The silence that followed Jesus’ speech on account of the Samaritan that came back to say thanks here must be one of the longest pauses of the gospel. Jesus is still waiting for the nine others: it is not possible that they too will not return. He calls them in silence. He remembers their faces when they begged him for healing. He waits for them. One by one, and to each of them, and to us all, he repeats his question, Where are you? I am waiting for you! Among the ten, only one in ten came back: 1 over 10. That is our percentage.

10-All these stories about gratitude question us. How many times have I forgotten to say thank you? How many times have we considered many things such as health, food, peace in the family, etc., all as things to which we are entitled? Perhaps, the Jewish Lepers thought that Jesus, the Jewish prophet healing them is normal. Nwanne anyi gworo umunne ya! Our bother healed his brothers! Ewu Ndaa tara okworo Ndaa/Ndaa’s goat ate Ndaa’s okro. Not a big deal! Perhaps, the Samaritan Leper felt that he was not entitled to this healing from the hands of Jesus, the Jewish Prophet. Unlike the others, it could be that he felt that the enormity of what he received merited retracing his steps just to say thanks. In any case he came back to say “Thanks” for the favour received! And this was counted and credited to him as a virtuous and praiseworthy act by Jesus.

11-How many times have we acted as ingrates/ungrateful people/ungratefully?
12-How often do we recognise that we owe gratitude to others for their kindness?
13-Have we ever tried to formulate a List of our Creditors of Gratitude? (Part of the other text or list can be used here).

14-Mind you, the Common [Weekday] Preface, IV, says; “…although you have no need of our praise, yet our thanksgiving is itself your gift, since our praises add nothing to your greatness but profit us for salvation…”. Our thanksgiving and our songs of praise add nothing to God’s greatness. They do not increase his glory, but even the desire to thank and praise him are themselves gifts from God”-

15-The ten lepers symbolise humanity disfigured by sin, sometimes with little gratitude for the Lord’s goodness. Let’s try to be a little more grateful and we’ll see how that attitude will change our lives for the better. Let’s teach our children to say “Thank you”. Saying thank you is much more than a matter of politeness and courtesy! It is a way of showing our gratitude to others and our attitude to life.

16-Let not the miracles of the Lord be wasted on us.
Let our hearts and lips thank God for His good deeds, and thank men also for their good will-Amen!

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