C Cycle – 28^th Sunday in Ordinary Time 25

Lk.17:11-19

Leprosy is rare in the United States, but it remains an issue in other parts of the world impacting roughly two hundred thousand people a day.   It was obviously common in biblical times, so much so there were laws which were strictly enforced and followed.  The disease was horrific as it isolated those who contracted the disease. That is exactly why Jesus went out of His way to teach us about God’s desire for all of us never to isolate ourselves from His presence. 

Like all scripture, this story is about us and how we can be restored.  Yes, even if you never miss a Sunday and actively participate in mass, we easily overlook how past and current sins impact us.  Sin creates a barrier between us and God because sin destroys our image of ourselves. We are unclean and although we do not cry out “unclean, unclean” like the lepers did in ancient time, our inner voice condemns us.    

What we fail to understand is how liturgy is designed to bring us back into the community.  We gather as a body of sinners to do exactly what that one leper did and that is to give thanks.  We gather to remember and celebrate how the death of Jesus did more than free us from the penalty of our sin, it cleansed us. Yes, cleansed us, in addition to freeing us from the penalty o four sin. We know how we will continually fall short of what God desires of us.  But because of the cross, we can stand before Christ and give thanks. Because like the woman with the hemorrhage, our faith in Christ wholeness possible.    

But we are also there to do more than give thanks we are there to acknowledge a single truth about God.  His love for us is relentless, constant, and always seeking to break through that barrier of doubt and unworthiness.  Naman taws a foreigner who fought against Israel and took Israelites as captives.  One of those captives, a girl servant in his household, told him about Elijan and his power to heal. Naman, did not worship the God is Israel and yet he wanted what God could do for him.

That is the key to giving thanks, a belief God can and will make us clean.  No, it is more than a belief He can, it is a belief He has already made us clean, and we have failed to appropriate the grace of Christ’s sacrifice. Naman was taught that lesson when he attempted to give Elijah a gift for cleansing him. There only offering God wants is our hearts and for us to acknowledge God is the source of all we seek.  We do that by doing exactly what Naman did and that was to pay homage to God every day Beyond that we need to learn the lesson of the one leper who returned to give thanks to Christ.  It is necessary for us to stop depending on the law for our righteousness and turn to the Holy Spirit to grow as disciples.

It all begins with us embracing what Jesus did by His death and resurrection.  Then it becomes a journey of growing as disciples through daily prayer, reading the scriptures to deepen our understanding of God’s mercy.  To learn from the scriptures how we are to respond and like Nathan become a witness to others who are seeking wholeness.