THE HEALING POWER OF FAITH AND GRATITUDE

Homily for the Twenty-eight Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch

2 Kgs 5:14-17; 2 Tim 2:8-13; Lk 17:11-19

Two of our readings this Sunday tell the story of the healing of lepers - Naaman by Elisha and the ten by Jesus. To be a leper at the time of Jesus was a terrible fate. Not only was it a disfiguring, disabling condition with no known cure but it was also believed to be highly contagious which meant that those who suffered from it were exiled from society. They were considered to also be spiritually unclean and therefore far from God, and certainly unable to worship in the temple or synagogue. In the eyes of the society, a leper was someone living death.

In the Gospel reading, Jesus was passing through the region between Samaria and Galilee and ten lepers called out to him. Unlike the woman in Luke 8:43-48 who was brave enough to get close to Jesus and touched the hem of his cloak, these ten lepers or as one writer calls them, ‘a small company of misery,’ knew the rules and their limits. They stood at a distance and shouted their request to Jesus: “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” Their cry was not ordinary; it was a humble and desperate prayer of faith. It recalls the prayer of the repentant tax collector in Luke 18:10-14: “God, be merciful to me a sinner.” 

The ten lepers cried out to Jesus because they recognized in Him a power beyond human healing, one who could restore what society and sin had destroyed. Notice what Jesus did: he did not call them closer neither did he touch them. He simply commanded, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” According to Mosaic law, only the priest could officially declare a person cleansed and reintegrate him into community worship. 

The same thing played out in the healing of Naaman the leper in the first reading. When he met Elisha, like Jesus, Elisha told him to go and wash himself in the river Jordan seven times. Naaman was furious that the healing ceremony was not more elaborate - he had wanted hands to be waved around, some binding and casting, speaking in tongues, and for something just a bit more impressive to happen. Eventually, he did what he was told and was cleansed of his condition.

Now, here lies the turning point: as the ten lepers went, they were cleansed. One of them, the Samaritan, a foreigner, an outcast among outcasts, when he noticed he was healed, turned back.  Language is always important in the Bible.  In Greek, to turn back or to turn around is called ‘metanoia.’ It is not just a physical turning around but a change of one’s whole attitude before God - repentance. Before his healing, he was shouting loudly for mercy but now, he was shouting loudly and praising God.  And then, he did what he was not able to do before - he came close to Jesus and prostrated himself at his feet and thanked him - a full metanoia indeed.

Notice what Jesus said to him: “Your faith has made you well.” The Greek word used, sōzō, means not only physical healing but salvation. Ten were healed, but only one was saved. The nine experienced restoration of the body; the Samaritan experienced restoration of the soul. He was saved because of his repentance, his praise, and his attitude of gratitude. Gratitude transformed his healing into relationship, his miracle into communion. Like the Samaritan, Naaman also returned, not just to say thank you, but to profess faith: “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.” Gratitude led him to conversion.

Dear friend, we are not lepers but like lepers, we are unclean in different ways. Each of us needs a kind of metanoia and healing in our lives. Just as leprosy separated the people from the community and made them unclean, sin also separates us from God and makes us unfit to stand before His presence. Like the Samaritan, we too stand at a distance and call on God for mercy. As He heals us and shows us mercy, let us not forget to remember to turn back and give thanks. The Eucharist is our highest act of worship and thanksgiving. Each Mass is our return to the Lord, to fall at his feet in gratitude and repentance, like the Samaritan, and say, “Thank you.”

Let us ask ourselves today: am I among the nine who received and walked away, or among the one who returned in gratitude? When God blesses me, do I see only the gift, or do I recognize the Giver? May our hearts, healed by His mercy, never cease to give thanks. May our lives proclaim, like Naaman and the Samaritan: “There is no God but the Lord who saves.” Amen.