(Optional Memorial for Saint John of God, Religious)
“The Prophet Elisha and Naaman” by Lambert Jacobsz, c. 1615 |
During the Third Week of Lent (especially in cycles B and C when the Gospel of the man born blind is not read on the Fourth Sunday of Lent) optional Mass Texts are offered.
was highly esteemed and respected by his master,
for through him the LORD had brought victory to
But valiant as he was, the man was a leper.
Now the Arameans had captured in a raid on the
“If only my master would present himself to the prophet in
she said to her mistress, “he would cure him of his leprosy.”
Naaman went and told his lord
just what the slave girl from the
“Go,” said the king of
“I will send along a letter to the king of
So Naaman set out, taking along ten silver talents,
six thousand gold pieces, and ten festal garments.
To the king of Israel he brought the letter, which read:
“With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you,
that you may cure him of his leprosy.”
the king of
“Am I a god with power over life and death,
that this man should send someone to me to be cured of leprosy?
Take note! You can see he is only looking for a quarrel with me!”
When Elisha, the man of God,
heard that the king of
he sent word to the king:
“Why have you torn your garments?
Let him come to me and find out
that there is a prophet in
and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house.
The prophet sent him the message:
“Go and wash seven times in the
and your flesh will heal, and you will be clean.”
But Naaman went away angry, saying,
“I thought that he would surely come out and stand there
to invoke the LORD his God,
and would move his hand over the spot,
and thus cure the leprosy.
Are not the rivers of
better than all the waters of
Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?”
With this, he turned about in anger and left.
“My father,” they said,
“if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary,
would you not have done it?
All the more now, since he said to you,
‘Wash and be clean,’ should you do as he said.”
So Naaman went down and plunged into the
at the word of the man of God.
His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
On his arrival he stood before him and said,
“Now I know that there is no God in all the earth,
except in
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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).
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 42:2, 3; 43:3, 4
As the hind longs for the running waters,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
Send forth your light and your fidelity;
they shall lead me on
And bring me to your holy mountain,
to your dwelling-place.
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
the God of my gladness and joy;
Then will I give you thanks upon the harp,
O God, my God!
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
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Commentary on Ps 42:2, 3; 43:3, 4
Psalms 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
“Amen, I say to you,
no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in
when the sky was closed for three and a half years
and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the
Again, there were many lepers in
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built,
to hurl him down headlong.
But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
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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.)
Reflection:
[1] The picture is “The Prophet Elisha and Naaman” by Lambert Jacobsz, c. 1615.
[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
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