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| “The Prophet Elisha and Naaman” by Lambert Jacobsz, c. 1615 |
Commentary:
Reading I: 2 Kings 5:1-15ab
Commentary on 2 Kgs 5:1-15ab
This story of the conversion of Naaman through Elisha’s office as Prophet has some interesting historical and ritual material. First, it is ironic that the King of Aram, which was an antagonist of Israel, would send one of his key advisers to Israel. That is why the King of Israel tore his garments. He assumed that Aram was making an unreasonable request in order to provoke physical hostilities between the two countries.
Next we see Elisha not coming out of his house to instruct Naaman, but sending word to him. He did so in part because to come into the presence of one with leprosy could have caused him ritual impurity (see Leviticus 13-14). Clearly Naaman did not know this, since he complained about it. Finally, the Jordan River, from a hygienic perspective, is not as clean as the clear springs of Damascus. It is, at the best of times, muddy. The requirement that Naaman plunge himself into the water seven times is significant in that the number seven is, in Hebrew numerology, the perfect number, symbolic of completeness. This would also be in line with the ritual cleansing prescribed in Leviticus 14:8. The lesson taught was that Naaman, washed clean of his transgressions (outwardly expressed as leprosy) was given the salvation only the God of Israel could provide (not some magical ritual performed by the prophet himself). The healing accomplished was to bring Naaman to confess that there is no god but God (in Israel).
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 42:2, 3; 43:3, 4
R. (see 42:3) Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
Commentary on Ps 42:2, 3; 43:3, 4
Psalm 42 and 43 form a single continuous song. It is an individual lament for a return to Jerusalem where God may be encountered in the temple. The hind (female red deer) longing for water is used to provide the allusion to Baptism, bringing belief out of unbelief.
CCC: Ps 42:3 2112
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Gospel: Luke 4:24-30
Commentary on Lk 4:24-30
This Gospel passage places Jesus at his home town speaking in the synagogue. The people there were questioning his authority, since they knew him as a child and knew his family. These verses give his response to their challenge to his status and authority.
We understand why the people were upset when we consider that, in his analogy explaining why he could accomplish no works from God to satisfy them, he used Elijah going to a widow in Sidon (not in Israel, see 1 Kings 17:9ff), and Elisha curing Naaman (a Syrian not an Israelite, see 2 Kings 5:1ff). This would have placed Jesus on a par with the great prophets, blasphemy in the eyes of his old neighbors. Perhaps even more upsetting to the people would have been that their God would not reveal himself because of their lack of faith. (Ironically, Jesus, who we know is God, was revealing himself. The people just could not see it.)
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Reflection:
As we hear Jesus speak to his friends and relatives in the synagogue at Nazareth, it is easy for us to understand why Jesus is frustrated at their lack of faith. Here they are, people that had the honor of growing up with him, knowing him as youth and man, yet they did not understand his divine nature. They scoffed and rejected his attempted revelation. In fact, many of them probably thought he had, as they say, “Gone off his nut.” His experience with his eccentric cousin John (the Baptist), and his sabbatical in the desert immediately following, must have caused him to come “unhinged.”
Jesus, of course, saw all of this in their faces and heard what was behind their words. He would have felt intense sorrow, knowing that because of this familiarity and presumed understanding, his own friends and family would not be able to accept the great gift God had offered them. An analogy might be if we were able to invent a treatment that would cure any disease somehow, and then offered it freely to those in our community hospital, but they would not accept it because we did not have credentials as a pharmacist.
And what lesson do we take away from the Gospel? Don’t we fall into the same trap? Do we listen to those around us with the attention we would pay to a prestigious expert on the subject at hand? We commonly miss God’s revelation because we do two things. First, we judge the source, and if, in our opinion, that source is less credible than the wisdom we suppose we have already amassed, we tune it out. We ignore it. Second, we just plain don’t listen. Our own voice gets in the way of our auditory canals and we don’t hear what we should. This is especially true in, of all places, prayer. We are so busy telling God what we want that we don’t listen to his answers.
In the very truest sense, this is exactly the sin those ancient Hebrews committed when Jesus spoke to them in the Synagogue. They were not really listening. This then is the lesson we take with us today. It is rather complex and very difficult. First we must surrender our own pride and sense of superiority and listen intently to those with whom we communicate (even our children). The word we hear may be life changing. Second, as a people of prayer, we must listen to God’s response with our hearts, not simply bombard the Lord with our words. Let that be our prayer today, that our ears will be open that we might hear.
Pax
[1] The picture is “The Prophet Elisha and Naaman” by Lambert Jacobsz, c. 1615
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