Reflection for the Twenty-Eight Sunday in Ordinary time of the Year C Theme: Giving

Thanks by Rev. Fr. Ephraim Ibekwe

“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”
1 Thessalonians 5: 18
Have we learnt to give thanks? Have we learnt to express our gratitude to God for his numerous
blessings, seen and unseen? Gratitude as an attitude is flexible—we can consciously cultivate
gratitude at any moment, even in the midst of suffering, and in doing so the experience of
gratitude can create a sense of meaning and purpose. How often do we say thank you? Does our
life communicate gratitude to God or even to our neighbors whom God had made instrument of
blessings to us?
In the first instance this Sunday, we are presented with a story of despair and restoration of hope
from 2 Kings 5:14-17. Leprosy is a dreadful thing anywhere, anytime.  But in the ancient Near
East, it was particularly heavy burden to bear since it meant complete social isolation.  You
could, of course, hang out with other lepers.  But you were bound to stay as far away from the
healthy as possible lest they be contaminated with your disease.  To be a leper was to be an
outcast. The leper was considered unclean. He had to tear his clothes as a sign of mourning and
to cry “Unclean, Unclean”! (Lev. 13:45), the leper stayed outside the camp because of his
uncleanness. The leper was not cured by a physician, but was cleansed in the presence of the
priest. No wonder, then, that Naaman would travel all the way from his native Syria to Israel
when told that there was hope of finding a cure there. This was the hopeless situation every leper
found himself in. This situation accounts for Naaman’s immediate response at once he was
healed instantly and completely.  He was obliged to express his gratitude by offering a
gift.  Elisha refused to accept it because the healing had not come from Elisha.  It had come from
God.  When Naaman recognized this, he loaded up a cart with soil from the Holy Land so that he
could erect an altar at home to the God of Israel.  And he pledged to worship no other god from
that day forward. He realized he owed a debt of gratitude to this God that could never fully be
repaid, but he was bound to try anyway.  None of the other “gods” had been able to give him his
life back.  They had no power to do so and he owed them nothing.  We see a similar irony in
Luke’s story of the 10 lepers (Luke 17:11-19).  An encounter with Jesus brings these ten outcasts
total healing and restoration to society.  Yet none of the Israelites among them takes the time to
return to thank Jesus.  Only one man does –and he just happens to be a Samaritan heretic.

My dear brothers and sisters, worship of God first and foremost is a strict obligation of
justice.  We were created out of nothing, through no effort of our own.   We were saved by
grace; it was not our own doing (Ephesians 2:4).  On both counts, we owe God everything.  We
can never adequately repay him, and so owe him a lifetime of gratitude. Eucharist, by the way,
means thanksgiving.  In the ancient dialogue between priest and people that introduces the
Eucharistic (thanksgiving) prayer, the priest says “let us give thanks to the Lord, our God.”  The
people respond “it is right and just.” Why must we discharge this obligation at Mass rather than
in the comfort of our own homes? Because our sacrifice of thanksgiving is weak and insufficient
on its own.  There was only One who has ever offered perfect worship to the Father, and His
sacrifice is made present again at every Eucharist.  Our inadequate “thanks” is absorbed into the
perfect sacrifice of praise offered by the Son much like the drop of insipid water the priest puts in
the chalice is absorbed into the rich wine that becomes Christ’s blood. But thanksgiving cannot
be limited to Sunday Eucharist.   We are called to develop a lifestyle of thanksgiving.  We are
called to become a Eucharistic people.

This Sunday, we are also reminded to be thankful to God for all that He had done for us, just as
how Naaman and the Samaritan man thanked the Lord for all that had been done to them. Often
times, we do not even remember and his goodness. We only remember the Lord when we want
Him to do something for us, to help us and to grant us our petitions and wishes, and otherwise, in
good times, we ignore Him and forget about Him. The Lord has done so many things for us,
giving us life, providing for us, protecting from us from harm’s path and helping us when we fall
astray. Yet, we often ignore all these or do not realize them because we are often too preoccupied
with ourselves and our many attachments in life. And God is also often not a priority in our lives.
We have to remember all that God has so lovingly done upon us, and St. Paul in his Epistle to St.
Timothy in our second reading today had made clear how through Christ, all of us have been
brought to freedom, liberated from the tyranny and chains of sin and evil, and through Him and
His willingness to bear the burdens of our sins upon His Cross, we have been made sharers of
His death, in dying to our past life of sinfulness and evil, and thereafter, sharing in His glorious
Resurrection by which He had conquered death. All of us have received this assurance of eternal
life and glory through Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, Who has come upon us and bestowed on us
such great joy and hope.

Our gratitude to God must be lived out by our commitment in getting rid of Sin. This is the surest
way we can show gratitude to God. Naaman was a great man. He was a powerful general, highly
respected, and wealthy. He was even used by God to accomplish His will (2 Kings 5:1). In the
Bible leprosy is often a picture of sin. Lepers were shunned and disgraced. Apart from a miracle
of God, there was no cure or hope for lepers. Despite all of his good qualities, riches, and works,
Naaman was a leper. His leprosy could not be healed by anything he or anyone else could do.
Only an act of God could heal Naaman. Therefore, when we look at Naaman the leper, we really
see a picture of ourselves. We may have all kinds of talents. We may be successful. People may
appreciate us. Yet, in everyone’s life there is a serious “but”, i.e. the problem of sin. The
“sickness of sin” affects us all and ruins us. We ourselves cannot solve the deadly problem that
ruins our lives. But what is impossible with men is possible with God. The Bible clearly teaches
us that we are all sinners – all spiritual lepers in need of cleansing: “For all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). “There is none righteous, not even one” (Ro. 3:10).
There is no human cure or remedy for our sin. Only an act of God can heal and deliver us. What
was Naaman’s reaction to his healing and cleansing? He returned to Elisha in order to express his
gratitude. In this respect, he showed great resemblance to the Samaritan in Luke 17, a stranger
who also returned to thank God after being cleansed from his leprosy. We should also do that as
the redeemed of the Lord. We should fall at our Saviour’s feet and honour Him for our salvation.
After our conversion we should also show a new obedience. Naaman had come to know the true
God, the God of Israel, Creator of heaven and earth. He recognized that all other gods were idols,
and were entirely powerless to save (cf. Isa. 45:20). He wanted to show his thankfulness to the
true God, and therefore offered a gift to the man of God. It was done with good intentions, but he
had to learn the lesson of free grace. That principle holds true for us as well. We cannot pay
anything for our salvation. Salvation in Christ is entirely free. Do we serve our God with a
thankful heart, personally and together with others? Do we draw near to Him as priests? Do we
offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name? Do
we pay tribute to Him for His great salvation? Do we realize that we owe our cleansing to Him
alone?