The Sánchez Archives TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME Year C

By
Patricia Datchuck Sánchez

It Is Right To Give God Thanks and Praise

2 KINGS 5:14-17
2 TIMOTHY 2:8-13
LUKE 17:11-19

In his best known work, Gulliver’s Travels, Dublin-born poet and satirist, Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) invited his contemporaries to confront the dark, seamy side of human nature. Through the exploits of his featured character, Gulliver, and his travels to four imaginary lands, Swift exposed the malice and venality of society, the frivolity of its intellectual concerns and its repeated failures, both as regards virtue and wisdom. By way of contrast, Swift offered the example of the idyllic society of the Lilliputians, among whom such shortcomings as ingratitude were regarded as criminal. In an description of the law in Lilliput, he wrote: “Ingratitude is reckoned among them as a capital offense; for they reason thus, that whoever makes ill return to his benefactors must needs be a common enemy to the rest of mankind, from whom he had received no obligation. And, therefore, such a man is not fit to live”(sic). Swift admitted in a letter to his friend, Alexander Pope, that he used his pen so harshly in order to “vex the world rather than divert it.” Could it be that the Lucan evangelist wrote the narrative of the nine ungrateful lepers who were healed by Jesus to similarly vex his readers? Inasmuch as many of us are, at times, culpable of such ingratitude, then perhaps a certain degree of vexation, i.e., discomfort, is warranted.

Obviously, however, the Samaritan who returned to Jesus, upon discovering he had been healed, is held forth as exemplary not because he had good manners but because he had faith. By faith he was drawn to retrace his steps and acknowledge the divine power at work in Jesus. The fact that he was motivated more by faith than by etiquette is shown clearly in the gospel wherein he is portrayed as “glorifying God” and “falling at the feet of Jesus.” The fact that there was more at stake than his physical health is affirmed in the statement of Jesus: “your faith has been your salvation!”

In the first reading from 2 Kings, Naaman, the Syrian general had a similar experience. Cured of leprosy in the Jordan river, he gratefully returned and acknowledged to Elisha, “there is no other God in all the earth except in Israel.” A foreigner, like the Samaritan, Naaman was nevertheless saved, i.e., healed, because of his faith; like the Samaritan, he expressed his faith in praise and thanksgiving.

Michael Whelan (Living Strings, E. J. Dwyer Printing Ltd., Newtown, Australia: 1994) has studied the close connection between the dispositions of thanksgiving, praise and faith in the bible; therein these dispositions are presented as three facets of the fundamental religious responses of those who discover the action of God, i.e., grace, within their lives, and accept to be transformed by it. Contemporary usage of the word thanksgiving fails to convey all the nuances and depth of the biblical terms. The Hebrew todah is derived from the root words yad, which means “hand” and yadah, which means “open hand.” Todah, therefore, is that disposition of open-handed admiration and grateful confession of the wonders of God. Another such term, berakah (or blessing) implies an abundance of gratitude and appreciation; its participle, baruck (or blessed) is a spontaneous cry that recognizes and enunciates the outpouring of God’s gifts. Ari Goldman (The Search for God at Harvard, Random House, 1991), a contemporary Jewish author, has suggested that each day in the life of a believer should be punctuated with countless b’rachas or blessings that thankfully acknowledge everyone and everything that God provides, from food to freedom, from family to friends.

Christians, who search the New Testament for similarly grateful expressions, will find that thanksgiving is typically found in the context of confession (homologeo), praise (aineo), glorification (doxazo) and blessing (eulogeo). Nowhere, however, is thanksgiving more eloquently expressed than in the terms eucharistia and eucharisteo. Derived from the words that mean right and proper joy, eucharist is the ultimate expression of God’s saving action in our midst. Therefore, every celebration of Eucharist affords believers an opportunity to experience, express, confess, praise and bless the divine Giver for every good gift. Just as Naaman and the Samaritan were saved in the moment that they returned to praise and thank God, so also, every believer who returns to praise and thank God at the Eucharist will know God’s saving power.

2 Kings 5;14-17

Given the prior circumstances of the healing of Naaman, today’s first reading could have very appropriately been entitled, “The Cure That Almost Did Not Happen.” As the commander of his country’s army, Naaman the Aramean (Syrian), was a loyal patriot and, understandably, he was disinclined to offer his allegiance to any authority other than his king, Benhadad II (2 Kings 8:7), or to worship at any other temple than that of the god Rimmon (2 Kings 5:18). Therefore, when it was suggested to him that he seek a cure for his leprosy from the prophet Elisha in Samaria, and when he was instructed by the prophet to wash in Jordan river, Naaman was less than convinced of the outcome. Indeed, he was incensed that Elisha did not greet him in the manner to which he was accustomed or treat his disease as he expected. Just as he was about to turn on his heel and depart for home, Naaman’s servants prevailed upon him to cooperate with Elisha, reasoning that if he had been asked to do something extraordinary, he would have willingly done so in order to be cured (2 Kings 5:13). When he finally agreed to the prophet’s simple directive, Naaman emerged from the Jordan completely cured.

Physically saved from a condition that could have ended his military career and ostracized him from society, Naaman also came to believe in the God by whose power he was saved. His experience of salvation and his expression of faith prefigure and complement that of the Samaritan leper in today’s gospel.

Through the healing of both men, the universal extent of God’s power and the universal scope of God’s saving concerns were illustrated. The fact that Elisha refused a gift for his services (v. 16) further illustrates the gratuitous nature of salvation. God can neither be bought or manipulated. The only fitting response to God’s wondrous gifts is a grateful, trusting faith.

The story of Naaman is one of a collection of stories (2 Kings 2:1-8:29) featuring Elisha and his extraordinary accomplishments, all of which serve to affirm the basic message pervading the entire Deuteronomic history (all the books from Deuteronomy to 2 Kings), viz., that God is one over all the earth and its peoples; that God’s word and promises are to be trusted because they will inevitably be fulfilled; and that those who believe in God’s word and live accordingly, will know salvation. With this message, the Deuteronomic authors hoped to encourage their readers and provide them with some direction for the future at a moment in Israel’s history when the future seemed to be overshadowed with doubt. Writing shortly after 587 B.C.E. when it appeared that everyone of their institutions (monarchy, prophets, priests, temple, liturgy) had failed to save their land from destruction and themselves from exile (in Babylonia), the Deuteronomists called their readers to learn from their experiences of loss and to return to God for healing. From Naaman, they were to learn that religious fidelity does not necessarily require extraordinary feats but rather an attentiveness to the simple, loving overtures of God, whenever, wherever and through whomever these overtures are extended.

2 Timothy 2:8-13

Within a few years of Jesus’ death and resurrection, the deacon Stephen was stoned to death and persecution against the Christian community increased. Nevertheless, the gospel continued to be preached. During his reign, the emperor Nero made a formidable effort to rid the empire of Jesus’ followers even to the extent of executing Peter and Paul. Nevertheless, the gospel continued to be proclaimed. About a generation later, Domitian launched an attack on the church that made Nero’s pale by comparison. Still the good news was preached without stinting. Until the fourth century, Christianity was outlawed by the prevailing political authorities but the gospel continued to be heard, heeded and lived. Nearer to our times, a variety of hostile regimes have forced believers in Europe, Asia, Africa, Central and South America to go underground in order to survive. Despite all efforts to repress it, the good news continues to speak its message of salvation to the world, thus proving the truth enunciated in today’s second reading: “there is no chaining the word of God” (v. 9).

Writing under a Pauline pseudonym, the author of 2 Timothy was probably a disciple of the great apostle, who handed on his mentor’s teachings in an effort to help his contemporaries apply their message to the changing and evolving circumstances in which they lived.

If, as some have suggested, the Pastorals (i.e., 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus) have preserved some Pauline sayings verbatim, then today’s second reading is probably one of them. By sharing with his readers the thoughts and convictions of Paul, near what he thought to be the end of his life, he hoped to strength them in their own struggles for the sake of their faith. The early Christian author knew that his suffering brothers and sisters would remain firm and steadfast if they were reminded of what Paul and others had endured for the faith. To that end, he exhorted: “Remember Jesus, who was raised from the dead” (v. 8). Such remembrances kept Paul strong through many trials and remained his support even during those occasions when he was imprisoned, i.e., when he was made to “suffer as a criminal, even to the point of being thrown into chains” (v. 9). Not only was Paul willing to suffer for his ministry, he seemed to have welcomed his share in the passion of Christ. His testimony exudes an identifiable and contagious gratitude that continues to edify and encourage his brothers and sisters in the faith.

Most scholars agree that the concluding verses (vv. 11-12) of this pericope represent a portion of an early baptismal hymn. As Robert A. Wild (“The Pastoral Letters,” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs: 1990) has explained, the formula with which the hymn is introduced, i.e., “you can depend on this,” has been referred to by scholars as the “Reliable Saying.” This same formula appears several times in the Pastorals (1 Timothy 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; Titus 3:8) and functions as a guarantee that the tradition in question is authentic.

As grateful heirs of this tradition, contemporary believers in Jesus are called to remember Jesus and to depend on his promise that those who die with him and who hold out to the end will also live to reign with him forever.

Luke 17:11-19

Considering the enormity of the gift Jesus bestowed when he healed the 10 lepers, the ingratitude of the nine who did not return to acknowledge Jesus seems all the more shocking. Like the victims of A.I.D.S., those who contracted leprosy became doubly victimized. Isolated from family and friends and ostracized from a fearful and suspicious society, lepers were forbidden to enter any private homes or public buildings (Leviticus 13:45-46; Numbers 12:15; 2 Kings 7:3-4). Finding no welcome save in the company of one another, lepers banded together, taking refuge in caves or other such shelters on the outskirts of cities and villages. As with A.I.D.S., many regarded lepers as deserving of their plight since the disease was thought to be a punishment from God for sin (Numbers 12:10-15; 2 Kings 5:27; 15:5; 2 Chronicles 26:20-21). Deprived of the freedom to support themselves, lepers were compelled to rely on the mercy of others for survival. The mercy with which Jesus responded to the lepers and the compassion with which he met their needs offers a timely lesson to a society which continues to grapple with the disease that could be called the leprosy of the twentieth century.

When Jesus, in his mercy, cured the lepers, he was, in effect, offering them the gift of rebirth. Whereas formerly, they had been written off as dead, their healing enabled them to resume their places in society, to rejoin their families, to return to their jobs, to shop in the market and to pray in the synagogue. Jesus had restored not only their physical health but also their social, political, and moral well-being. For nine of the lepers, this was the extent of their healing encounter with Jesus; for the tenth who returned to Jesus, with a heart full of faith, gratitude and praise, there was an even greater gift, viz., salvation.

In contrast to the nine Jewish lepers, the sole Samaritan acknowledged the power of God at work in Jesus.; therefore, his healing issued forth in salvation. As Charles H. Talbert (Reading Luke, A Literary and Theological Commentary on the Third Gospel, Crossroad Pub. Co., New York: 1984) has explained, the Samaritan looked beyond the gift of healing to its giver and responded appropriately. By this narrative, which is unique to Luke’s gospel, the evangelist has affirmed that even the most unlikely people (the Samaritans of the northern territories were considered heretical and unclean by their fellow Jews in the southern kingdom of Judah) can recognize the overtures of God and respond to them in faith.

Scholars suggest that the story of the unlikely Samaritan believer points back to Jesus’ instructions to his disciples as regards the importance of authentic faith (17:5-6). Because the Samaritan had faith, he was saved from a sure death sentence. This story also points ahead and prepares for Jesus/ confrontation with the Pharisees (17:20-37). Upon inquiring as to when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus could readily answer, “the kingdom of God is among you” (v. 21). Indeed, the healing of the lepers and the salvation of the Samaritan had signaled that the kingdom had become present in the person and mission of Jesus. It was and is only right and fitting then to give him thanks and praise.

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