Homily for 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
28th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Oct. 12, 2025
2 Kgs 5: 14-17
Luke 17: 11-17
The Fountains, Tuckahoe
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx

Naaman bathing in the Jordan

“I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the Lord” (2 Kgs 5: 17).

Thus says Naaman, a Syrian general, a pagan, after he’s been cleansed of leprosy by washing in the Jordan River as instructed by Elisha, prophet of the Lord.  When you get home, go to your Bible and read the whole story in 2 Kings 5.  Just now, you’ve heard only the end.

Did you notice that Naaman asked to be allowed to load 2 mules with Israelite dirt?  In the ancient world, people believed that each nation had its own gods—the Philistines, the Syrians, the Egyptians, the Babylonians, etc.  Gods ruled particular territory but were powerless outside their own boundaries.  Thus the Israelite God, who revealed his name YHWH to Moses, usually rendered simply as “Lord” in caps in our English translations, governed and protected the tribes of Israel in their own land.  By taking Israelite dirt back to Damascus with him, Naaman will have some of that land that belongs to the God of Israel, and he can worship him properly.

It would take a long time for people to understand that there’s only one God who created everything and rules everywhere.  Even when the prophets foretold the day when all the nations would seek YHWH, the Jews were slow to believe that the Lord cared about those others, the goyim.  In the gospels, we see Jesus gradually reaching out to those nations—to Samaritans, to Romans, to Greeks outside the boundaries of Galilee and Judea.

Naaman’s story links to that of the 10 lepers healed by Jesus, not only because both involve the healing of lepers and not only because both involve non-Jewish foreigners.

Jesus healing 10 lepers
(Fresco by Grisopolo, baptistery of Parma)

The 10 lepers realize they’ve been healed while they’re on their way to find the nearest priest.  Priests could live anywhere in Jewish territory, not only near the Temple in Jerusalem.  We see one prominent example of that in Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist (Luke 1).  The priest will certify that they’re clean of leprosy, as Torah commands (17:14), and thus can return to their families and their communities.

One of the 10 goes back to Jesus; we’re not told whether he’s already presented himself to a priest, only that he’s the only one to come to Jesus to say thank you.  Jesus seems displeased that only one returns to give God public praise and thanks (17:15-18).  “Where are the other 9?” he asks.

Dear friends of God, that’s one reason why we come publicly every week to celebrate the Eucharist.  Eucharist means “thanksgiving.”  We thank God for cleansing us of our sins thru Christ our Lord.  This is the mystery of faith that we acclaim.  It’s our faith in Jesus that saves us, and we need to give God credit for that.

All 10 lepers were cleansed.  Only the one who came back to Jesus was blessed to hear, “Your faith has saved you” (17:19).  We aren’t to suppose that the 9 cleansed lepers were un-healed because they didn’t return.  Rather, Jesus’ words suggest a deeper level of healing, a more profound salvation.  Jesus heals bodies thruout his public ministry, overcoming paralysis, blindness, leprosy, and other illnesses, and even death in 3 recorded instances.  “Your faith has saved you” means more than that.  Jesus offers us more than physical health.

Jesus is the sacred soil of Israel, more sacred than what Naaman hauled to Damascus.  Grounded on Jesus, we can truly worship YHWH.  “Thru him, with him, and in him,” we give all glory to God our Father, and this faith saves us for eternal life.