In the healings of Naaman the Syrian and the Samaritan leper, we witness two profound acts of faith both of which tell us three things.
From what we know about Naaman and the Samaritan we might at first be surprised that they are the recipients of healing from Elisha and Jesus. Naaman is a pagan Gentile who goes to Elisha on the promptings of an Israeli servant girl in his retinue and completes Elisha’s ritual because other servants essentially tell him “what’s the harm in trying, what do you have to lose?” The Samaritan is, well, a Samaritan. They may both have a small seed of hope that they can be cured, but neither profess faith in God before their healing experience. Consider in contrast the centurion whose profession of faith occurs before Jesus heals his daughter. However, God’s mercy is universal, and He can work with what we give Him. The meagreness of our faith is no obstacle to God who wants to develop a deeper relationship with us.
We also note that it is not the rituals that are ultimately the cure. Naaman is right when he asks why he can’t wash in Syrian rivers instead (which happens just before the first reading comes in), for the river doesn’t necessarily matter but rather that he was interiorly open to God’s healing. The ten lepers are instructed by Jesus to follow a precept of the Law, to present themselves before the priest, but are healed before they even arrive (and what a conversation that would have been between the Samaritan and the priest too!). Their hope for healing and their faith that Christ can heal them is what cures them. Being bound up in external rituals is exactly what the Pharisees did, and we should not place our faith in the efficacy of ritual action over our faith in God Himself. There must be an interior disposition to receive God’s grace, whether in the sacraments or prayer.
Finally, there is no material thing we can give to God, what do you give to God who creates and rules all things? Our gratitude to God must be an act of faith, of self-gift, of desire to be in a relationship with him. Elisha turns down Naaman’s attempt to pay for his healing, which prompts Naaman instead to profess faith in God and promise to worship Him (I had to look it up, but his request for dirt is so that he can worship God on Israeli soil). The Samaritan’s gratitude and praise of God does something even more – it provides interior healing and right relationship with God; “your faith has saved you.” It is this kind of faith that St. Paul talks about when he says “if we remain firm in him then we shall reign with him,” it is a faith that unites us with Christ. Our gratitude to God should not simply be an empty platitude of thanks, but rather a desire for deeper love with Him.
Daniel Salé – St. Joseph Seminary, Edmonton, Alberta
Fot. Umit Bulut/Unsplash.com