Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times
at the word of Elisha, the man of God.
His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child,
and he was clean of his leprosy.
Naaman returned with his whole retinue to the man of God.
On his arrival he stood before Elisha and said,
“Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel.
Please accept a gift from your servant.”
Elisha replied, “As the LORD lives whom I serve, I will not take it;”
and despite Naaman’s urging, he still refused.
Naaman said: “If you will not accept,
please let me, your servant, have two mule-loads of earth,
for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice
to any other god except to the LORD.” (2 Kgs 5:14-17)
An unfinished homily….there are times when you get half a homily and then the Holy Spirit leads you in a different direction. Last Sunday we heard in our first reading this small part of the story of the prophet Elisha and the Assyrian general Naaman. The Church gives us the end of the story but it is important to know the whole story to get the sense of fear and danger the King of Israel must have felt as Naaman came to visit. Naaman was not a simple visitor or even and peaceful envoy, he was a general of an army that had devastated surrounding nations and conquered many peoples and nations. He is only coming as a last resort and the urging of his underlings and slaves.
Why did God grant him the gift of healing? Just like we often see in the Gospels Jesus healings are often surprising and don’t always fit the mold. Elisha’s command in strange, to plunge seven times in the Jordan and Naaman isn’t quite sure and once more needs to be convinced to do this.
My homily thoughts were going to focus on “please accept a gift from your servant.” Now the gift wasn’t a gift card for dinner, it was silver, fine linen and other precious gifts. In other words it was a lot of stuff. My point in Elisha’s refusal was…You can’t buy or pay off God! Sometimes we think that we can purchase a favor from God with a promise of some type of payment or after we receive a blessing from God to buy our way out of continued conversion.
Elisha reminds the newly believing Naaman; God doesn’t want something, He wants some one…He wants you. Just as God offers himself to us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are called to offer ourselves fully to Him.
Give thanks to God for the many blessings and share them in the sacrificial service of our brothers and sisters.
Just half a homily.
God Bless
Fr. Mark.