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From: 2 Kings 5:1-15ab

Naaman Is Cured of Leprosy

[1] Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with
his master and in high favour, because by him the LORD had given victory to Sy-
ria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. [2] Now the Syrians on
one of their raids had carried off a little maid from the land of Israel, and she wai-
ted on Naaman’s wife. [3] She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were
with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him his leprosy.” [4] So Naa-
man went in and told his lord, “Thus and so spoke the maiden from the land of
Israel.” [5] And the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the
king of Israel.”

So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold,
and ten festal garments. [6] And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which
read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my
servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” [7] And when the king of Israel
read the letter, he rent his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive,
that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider,
and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”

[8] But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had rent his
clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you rent your clothes? Let him
come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.” [9] So Naa-
man came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the door of Elisha’s house.
[10] And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan
seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” [11] But
Naaman was angry, and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would sur-
ely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and
wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper. [12] Are not Abanae and Phar-
par, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash
in them, and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. [13] But his ser-
vants came near and said to him, “My father, if the prophet had commanded you
to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much rather, then,
when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’ ?” [14] So he went down and dipped
himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and
his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

[15] Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came
and stood before him; and he said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all
the earth but in Israel.”

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Commentary:

5:1-8. The king of Syria would have been Ben-hadad II, and Joram or Jehoram,
the king of Israel. From the very start of the account we can see that it is the one
God, the Lord, who guides events even outside Israel (v. 1). And the circumstan-
ces which continue to bring Naaman news of the prophet are also of the Lord’s
making. The reaction of the king of Israel is understandable because everyone
should know that God alone is the Lord of life and death, of health and sickness
(cf. Deut 3 2:39; Job 5-18).

5:9-14. The scene of Naaman’s arrival at the house of Elisha is full of significance.
Before obtaining a cure for his physical ailment, Naaman needs to learn to obey
the prophet’s word. The pomp surrounding Naaman contrasts sharply with the sim-
ple message conveyed by Elisha’s servant; the Syrian is expecting some magical
rite to be performed on his behalf, whereas in fact he is ordered simply to bathe in
the Jordan. Naaman needs to see that the prophet of the Lord is not a magician
or a kind of witch-doctor who cleanses him when he does what he is told.

Naaman will come to see that it is not the waters that cure him, but God him-
self. His obedience needs to be put to the test: he has to dip in the water seven
times. A similar command to Elisha’s and an obedience like Naaman’s, are to
be found in the cure Jesus works for the man blind from birth (cf. Jn 9:6-7). Both
these episodes are rightly seen a prefigurement of baptism, the sacrament in
which, through water and obedience to Christ’s word, man is cleansed from the
leprosy of sin and is given the gift of faith: “The crossing of the Red Sea by the
Hebrews was a figure of holy Baptism, for the Egyptians died but the Hebrews
escaped. This is what the sacrament daily teaches us—that in it sin is drowned
and error destroyed, whereas devotion and innocence cross unscathed. [...] Fi-
nally, learn the lesson provided by the book of Kings. Naaman was a Syrian,
and a leper, and there was no one who could cure him [...]; he bathed and, fin-
ding he was cured, he realized immediately that it was not the water that cured
him but the gift of God. He doubted prior to being cured; but you who are alrea-
dy cured, should not have any doubts” (St Ambrose, “De Mysteriis”, 12, 19).

5:15-19. Naaman’s profession of faith (v. 15) is the climax of this episode, the
true miracle. In the history of the king of Israel, their idolatry is denounced time
and time again; Naaman, by contrast, is an example that all Israelites should
imitate. The fact that he takes away with him heaps of soil (land) from Israel is
explained by the prevalent idea that a god could only be worshipped in the land
where he manifested himself, and any land where idolatry was practised was on
that account desecrated (cf. Amos 7:17).

Naaman’s act of thanksgiving (vv. 15-17) is reminiscent of the Gospel passage
(cf. Lk 17:11-19) where Jesus cures ten lepers, but only one, a stranger, returns
to thank him. Jesus had good reason to complain (cf. Lk 4:20-27) of our impu-
dence in daring to think that we have in some way merited the gifts God gives
us.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Luke 4:24-30

Jesus Preaches in Nazareth (Continuation)

[24] And He (Jesus) said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his
own country. [25] But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the
days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when
there came a great famine over all the land; [26] and Elijah was sent to none of
them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
[27] And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha; and
none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” [28] When they heard
this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. [29] And they rose up and put
Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow on the hill on which their city was
built, that they might throw Him down headlong. [30] But passing through the
midst of them He went away.

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Commentary:

22-29. At first the people of Nazareth listened readily to the wisdom of Jesus’
words. But they were very superficial; in their narrow-minded pride they felt hurt
that Jesus, their fellow-townsman, had not worked in Nazareth the wonders He
had worked elsewhere. They presume they have a special entitlement and they
insolently demand that He perform miracles to satisfy their vanity, not to change
their hearts. In view of their attitude, Jesus performs no miracle (His normal res-
ponse to lack of faith: cf., for example, His meeting with Herod in Luke 23:7-11);
He actually reproaches them, using two examples taken from the Old Testament
(cf. 1 Kings 17:9 and 2 Kings 5:14), which show that one needs to be well-dis-
posed if miracles are to lead to faith. His attitude so wounds their pride that they
are ready to kill Him. This whole episode is a good lesson about understanding
Jesus. We can understand Him only if we are humble and are genuinely resolved
to make ourselves available to Him.

30. Jesus does not take flight but withdraws majestically, leaving the crowd para-
lyzed. As on other occasions men do Him no harm; it was by God’s decree that
He died on a cross (cf. John 18:32) when His hour had come.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.