Deacon Tom Anthony

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 144

Reading 1 2 Kgs 5:14-17

Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times
at the word of Elisha, the man of God.
His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child,
and he was clean of his leprosy.

Naaman returned with his whole retinue to the man of God.
On his arrival he stood before Elisha and said,
"Now I know that there is no God in all the earth,
except in Israel.
Please accept a gift from your servant."

Elisha replied, "As the LORD lives whom I serve, I will not take it;"
and despite Naaman's urging, he still refused.
Naaman said: "If you will not accept,
please let me, your servant, have two mule-loads of earth,
for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice
to any other god except to the LORD."

Responsorial Psalm Ps 98:1, 2-3, 3-4

R. (cf. 2b) The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
his right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands:
break into song; sing praise.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.

Reading 2 2 Tm 2:8-13

Beloved:
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David:
such is my gospel, for which I am suffering,
even to the point of chains, like a criminal.
But the word of God is not chained.
Therefore, I bear with everything for the sake of those who are chosen,
so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus,
together with eternal glory.
This saying is trustworthy:
If we have died with him
we shall also live with him;
if we persevere
we shall also reign with him.
But if we deny him
he will deny us.
If we are unfaithful
he remains faithful,
for he cannot deny himself.

Alleluia 1 Thes 5:18

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
In all circumstances, give thanks,
for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Lk 17:11-19

As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem,
he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.
As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him.
They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying,
"Jesus, Master!  Have pity on us!"
And when he saw them, he said,
"Go show yourselves to the priests."
As they were going they were cleansed.
And one of them, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.
He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply,
"Ten were cleansed, were they not?
Where are the other nine?
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?"
Then he said to him, "Stand up and go;
your faith has saved you."

 MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,

We are encouraged to see Jesus Christ in everyone that we interact with and if we approach all of our encounters with this thought in mind there is so much more that we can learn. Being uncomfortable in the relationships that we have and keeping ourselves from being open-minded about other people and their beliefs prevents us from growing and truly understanding our faith. It is so easy to be complacent in the wisdom that already have and not to make an effort to obtain more from likely and unlikely sources. We tend to be the ones who limit ourselves by our prejudices and pre-conceived notions of the way things are. In the Scripture Reading from the Second Book of Kings we read how Naaman, a pagan and general of a foreign army, came to Elisha seeking to be healed from his leprosy. He did not receive an audience from Elisha and was told to bath seven times in the River Jordan. Naaman saw this solution to his ailment as just too easy to believe and was prejudiced in his opinion. He then became doubtful and conflicted. It was through the simple suggestion of his servants that he actually listen to what Elisha said, as  straightforward as it was, and do what he was told to do. When Naaman ignored his own prejudice and became open to what was being told to him he was then healed.

As human beings we tend to complicate things beyond the reality of what they really are. Obstacles and barriers that we are confronted with appear greater than they really are and in our own arrogance we tend to make the situation more complicated. We then convince ourselves that because something may appear difficult then the solution must be difficult also. A denial is created that the solution can’t be easier than it appears to be. We then become frustrated and lose our faith in God. Through the story of Naaman we are shown that having faith in God tends to simplify even the most difficult problems and the answer is simple when it is built on a foundation of faith. Trusting in God means putting our faith into action and basing our decisions on what we believe.

Just like Naaman, our trust in God at times may be weak and ineffectual in comparison to what is happening to us in our life. This trust, just like trust in any relationship, can become stronger when we focus on our relationship with God and treat it with the importance that it should be treated with. To love God is to know God and to experience Him we need know Him intimately. It was when Naaman became accepting of God and the gifts that He was offering that He became healed. God is always here to protect us and love us regardless of the circumstances that we find ourselves in. Even though some challenges that we encounter may not end up the way that we want them it is with the presence of God and His love that any situation can be endured and we can become better because of it. This realization comes from us trusting Him and loving Him. The more that we trust and love him then the more that we say and do will be defined and interpreted through His presence. In other words, anything that happens will happen with God in our lives if we let Him in and let Him do His work.

Jesus Christ is always faithful to us. He first demonstrated this by dying on the cross. There were no preconditions for this sacrifice that He made and there are no preconditions to a relationship with Him now. He set the conditions of a relationship with Him by giving up everything for us and now He awaits a response. The response that we give to Jesus in relation to what He did for us will then define our relationship with Him. He is waiting for us to invite Him into our lives and give Him permission to begin the work that He wants to do for us: to love us and heal us through that love. Inviting Him in is described as a dying to the self and an accepting of His will above ours. The Apostle Paul tells us that when this happens we will indeed live with Him in this life and the next. Christ served as the example for us to follow and when it is followed we will receive everything in return. Ultimately, we are embarking on a new life that is defined primarily by our relationship with Jesus Christ. This means that He will always be with us if we allow Him to be and He will exert a profound influence over our entire existence from all the choices that we make to all of the experiences that we all have.

We when die with Christ a new life will be opened to us that will diminish all of the influences of what we knew before and the previous experiences that we have had. They will be replaced by Jesus Christ. Through this simplification of our thoughts and perceptions a new joy and a new way will be revealed with Christ at its core. Jesus shows us through the healing of  the 10 lepers how accepting Him and defining our lives through Him brings about a transformative experience. It was the 10 lepers who were healed through their faith. They were all healed but it was the Samaritan, the one who was an outcast regardless of having leprosy or not, who recognized who Jesus was and came back to give Him thanks and to praise God.  All came forward ready to be healed and only the Samaritan came back ready to be transformed by an experience through Jesus Christ. To do this he only had to recognize who Jesus was, and to recognize that the experience he was having was coming from God. He dismissed all of the influences and experiences he had before. If he still hung on to his old beliefs he would have never approached Jesus to ask to be healed and he would never have approached Him and fell at His feet afterwards: Jewish and Samaritan Tradition would not have permitted it.

To know everything we have to forget everything. To fully experience the love of God we have to put our relationship with Him first and foremost in our lives. When this is done then a new life through our spiritual rebirth will be revealed. We are told that this brings about a life and a relationship that will be built upon a foundation created and defined by Jesus Christ who created us in the first place. The old ways forgotten, a new way will be revealed. This way will be the perfect way offered through a by Jesus Christ.

Deacon Tom