[Salvation]

He fell at the feet of Jesus

28th Sunday - "Where are the other nine?"

The other day I joined my brother priests along the beautiful Oregon coast for our annual Convocation. This time of year, the weather can be sunny, foggy, rain, wind, cold but rarely very warm. Well, the weather these past three days was nothing short of spectacular. The sun was shining every day and you could see about as far west on the Pacific as possible. With blue skies, shimmering seas gently rolling towards shore and little wind, the coast was at its best. Now and then, as we met each other, everyone would take a break and step outside in the fresh sea air as we enjoyed the view. “What a beautiful day! Can you believe this weather? We really lucked out this year,” was the commentary.

However, never once did I hear, “Thanks be to God for this beautiful day.” Or, as St. Francis would have said, “Brother Sun who is beautiful, radiant with great splendor.” I found myself grateful for the weather but not particularly moved to respond in praise of God and joined the chorus of usual positive commentary on the great scene before us. I stand guilty of failing to thank the Creator for his creation so lavishly shared with us.

An attitude of gratitude might do us well now and then. Though it may sound somewhat cliché, gratitude, giving thanks or saying “thank you,” is not only good manners it is also a way to approach God.

This Sunday, our Gospel relates a well known story about those who were grateful and those who simply went on their way – the ten lepers healed, only one returned to give thanks to God.

When is the last time you said “Praise God” or “Thanks be to God” for the beauty of nature? The little daily blessings? The food we eat? The homes we live in? If we never thank God for the small things, we surely will forget to say “Thanks” for the big things.

As you read the Gospel from Luke, imagine you are among the lepers. Or, maybe imagine you are standing at a distance, because you fear the contagion of leprosy, but you notice and overhear the man who was healed and who fell at the feet of Jesus. How do you feel about what you see and hear?

God provides so much for us but, just as I failed to thank God for the spectacular Ocean view, we often take these things for granted. If we see everything as gift – we will never fail to give thanks. And, isn't that the very foundation of our Eucharist? To gather, praise,rejoice, reflect, receive and "give thanks" for God's gift of his own Son among us.

Like the leper, we fall at the feet of Jesus for without him, there would be no life. Like the leper, in a kind of resurrection image, we stand and go to love and serve the Lord in great thanksgiving.

Luke 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."

[Salvation]

Insight Scoop

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Washed and Healed of the Leprosy of Sin

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, October 10, 2010 | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• 2 Kgs 5:14-17
• Ps 98:1, 2-3, 3-4
• 2 Tm 2:8-13
• Lk 17:11-19

Recently, while preparing to teach a Bible study, I was reading the story of Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4). I was struck again by how difficult it is for modern-day Americans to appreciate how radical it was for Jesus to have had a conversation with a woman who was a Samaritan and who was living a life of dubious moral quality, to put it mildly. After all, an ancient rabbinic saying declared that it was better to drink the blood of a pig than to accept Samaritan water! Thus, many ancient Jews often went out of their way to avoid contact with non-Jewish people, often for fear of embracing pagan practices, but sometimes because of the belief that they alone were meant to be God’s covenantal people.

This exclusive attitude is addressed in varying ways in today’s readings. The Old Testament reading describes the plight of Naaman, the army commander for the king of Aram, who was both a pagan and a leper. With these two strikes against him, it was understandable that the king of Israel would view with distressed suspicion the king of Aram’s request for Naaman to be cured by Elisha, “the prophet in Samaria” (2 Kgs 5:1-7).

Elisha, however, intervened and directed Naaman to wash in the muddy waters of Jordan, which elicited a cranky response from the impatient warrior: “Are not the rivers of Damascus … better than all the waters of Israel?” That response is a fitting metaphor for how many people today, used to the seemingly neatly packaged answers of modernity, are perplexed by the apparent dustiness of the teachings of the Catholic Church. How can something that seems so muddied by human weakness offer forgiveness of sins?

But Naaman, at the urging of his servants, finally relented and was “plunged into the Jordan seven times.” Here, too, is an appropriate reminder of how the lowly—the “servants” of society—often have a more clear and reasonable understanding of what God is doing. The number of plunges symbolizes the complete nature of the cleansing, for seven is the biblical number of perfection and of the covenant. Thus, Naaman’s washing in the Jordan River foreshadowed the waters of baptism, which wash away the leprosy of sin and make a new creation—“a little child” of God. For, the Catechism states, “just as the gestation of our first birth took place in water, so the water of Baptism truly signifies that our birth into the divine life is given to us in the Holy Spirit” (par 694).

Namaan, who was not a Jew, represents those countless peoples and nations who will finally be drawn into the new and everlasting covenant established by the greatest prophet, Jesus Christ, who not only utters the words of God, but is the Word of God. This same truth was proclaimed by Jesus at numerous times, including in the actions described in today’s Gospel.

In this story, which is unique to Luke, Jesus encounters ten lepers. Unclean and shunned by society (cf., Num 5:2-3), they call to him from a distance. Apparently they had heard something about this mysterious traveling teacher, for they address him as “Master,” the only time Jesus is called such by a non-disciple. Also remarkable is their faith. Having been told to go to the priests, who would see if they were clean and able to rejoin society, they obeyed—and were healed. Yet only one, a Samaritan, returned to offer thanks to the one who had delivered him from a living death. “By this,” writes Cyril of Jerusalem in his commentary on Luke’s Gospel, Jesus “shows that Israel is hard of heart and utterly unthankful.”

Like the Samaritans, the pagans, and the lepers, we also were once outcasts in need of God’s mercy. Through the waters of baptism and the saving work of the Master, we have been cleansed. May we present ourselves daily at the feet of Jesus, glorifying God and giving thanks for His gift of faith.

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in a slightly different form in the October 14, 2007, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

Posted by Carl Olson on Sunday, October 10, 2010 at 12:01 AM