There he goes again! That Jesus is always making trouble! Riling up the feelings and the passions of the people!
Of all things, he tells the Jews that “no prophet is accepted in his own native place,” then tells them about the events surrounding the cleansing of Gentile lepers — only Gentile lepers.
+ Their reaction ? Fury! They sought to throw him over a cliff to his death.
+ But while he does refer to the story of Naaman, we get a chance to hear about the direct story from 2 Kings.
Naaman, the army commander and a well respected man, had leprosy. A captive girl servant to Naaman’s wife told her that God could heal her husband.
All Naaman had to do was to go and see “the prophet” in Samaria. He does. And he is healed.
But the way he is healed is the real story.
+ First, he goes to the king of Israel with many gifts and asks for the healing, to which the king presumes he is trying to make problems, maybe battle, maybe war, maybe the demise of Israel; and so he tears his garments.
Oy vey!
The prophet hears about the torn garment of the king (which meant the king had gone into hopeless penance, mourning, and panic), and the prophet comes to the rescue.
He tells Naaman to go wash seven (yes, I know, the perfect number) times in the River Jordan.
“I don’t think so,” says Naaman, crying that that was a dumpy old river; almost any river was better than that!
To which we turn to the little servant girl who was wise beyond her years.
“If the prophet had asked you to do something extraordinary, wouldn’t you have done it?”
So GROW UP! Do what the prophet has asked. Humble yourself. Be open to God, working extraordinary things in ordinary ways. And is not that exactly the same for us?
We should humble ourselves.
And be open to God doing many, many, many extraordinary things in ordinary ways in our lives!
Father Perry D. Leiker is the 14th pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church. Reach him at (323) 255-6142. Email Father Perry at pleiker@stbernard-church.com. Follow Father Perry on Twitter: @MrDeano76.
