In today’s readings we have two people who’ve received healing from God and recognize the need to thank him, and nine who should know better and don’t. Naaman is so grateful for being healed of his leprosy that he wants to take some of the Promised Land back home to Syria with him. Before we were baptized we too were spiritually unclean. It was not our fault, like all lepers, but we were spiritually sick and rotting nonetheless. Just as Naaman washed himself in the Jordan we washed ourselves at the Baptismal fount and were made spiritually clean, our sins washed away. Just as Naaman took a little of the Promised Land with him to always remember to whom he owed his healing, our Promised Land, the seed of eternal life, is sown in Baptism and remains with us as long as we don’t forget and act against the gift we received.
The Samaritan in today’s Gospel went back to Our Lord when he realized he was clean. The fact that he is a Samaritan makes it even more astounding: Jews wanted nothing to do with Samaritans, and vice versa. They had their own worship and he would have probably returned to his own people to be certified clean, just as the other nine, if they were Jews, would go to the Temple so that the priests, as required by Mosaic Law, certified their healing. Yet the nine, despite all they’d received, didn’t thank Our Lord. Ingratitude hurts, and these men has as much for which to be thankful as the Samaritan and Naaman did. Just as the Rich Young Man turned away from Our Lord and drifted from anonymity to oblivion in the Gospel account, so these nine are only remembered for what the Lord did for them, for their lack of gratitude, and for the grace of God that they let pass by: friendship with Christ.
Every one of us has been healed in Baptism. Are we grateful? Like Naaman our gratitude should not be a one-time thing. It should become an attitude that we translated into unceasing praise and worship. Let’s recall the wonders Our Lord has worked today and renew our gratitude and praise for all he has done for each one of us.
Readings: 2 Kings 5:14–17; Psalm 98:1–4; 2 Timothy 2:8–13; Luke 17:11–19. See also 32nd Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday.