15 October 201328th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Catechetical Sunday
Could the man of the Gospel be any more of an outcast? As a leper he would have been shunned by society. As a Samaritan he would have been unwelcome anywhere Jews were living. But that man, the one who “realizes he has been healed,” is the one who returns to give thanks. He is the foreigner. Presumably Jesus’ own Jewish neighbors didn’t even bother.
Is this a story about mere physical healing? No. Jesus’ unprecedented acceptance of the foreigner does more for the foreigner than simply heal his skin. Jesus gives the man a renewed sense of worth and dignity that may be even more valuable to him than the disappearance of his pockmarks. He has been made whole in body and spirit. Gratitude is his response.Similarly, in 2 Kings, Naaman, the foreigner, realizes that his healing has come not from the hands of Elisha the prophet, but from Elisha’s God, Yahweh. Naaman’s immediate response is one of gratitude as he collects soil from Israel. According to ancient custom, gods were worshiped on their own "turf," the land claimed for their own worshipers. So when he vowed to worship only the LORD, Naaman thought he needed to bring some of the soil of Yahweh's land with him when he returned home.
Is gratitude instinctive to us in our daily lives, as much a part of our prayer as our litany of needs? Do Do we return regularly to God to give thanks? Do we even recognize that our own healing and wholeness come from God?
And what about the outcast? Who is the foreigner among us? Whom do we label as outcast? Do we need to examine our own attitudes toward the stranger among us?And is God a stranger in our families? Do we welcome into our hearts and homes those whom the world sees as “least,” including the strange, the lonely and the neglected--in whom Christ taught us to see himself?
Lord Jesus, remind us to welcome with open hospitality each person we meet each day, even when it might be uncomfortable for us to do so.
