Let us become vessels sanctified and purified for the Master’s use.

By virtue of having been placed in a position obtained at the moment of conversion.

Since God is holy, he has made a way for clean, holy people to serve him!

Thus, I’m a clean vessel, “ for the Master’s use."

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

2 Kings 5:1-15b*

Naaman was the army commander

Of the king of Aram. This man was highly regarded and enjoyed the king's favor,

for the Lord had helped him lead the army of the Arameans to victory. But this valiant man was sick with leprosy.

One day some Aramean soldiers raided the land of Israel and took a young girl captive who became a servant to the wife of Naaman.

She said to her mistress, “If my master would only present himself to the prophet in Samaria, he would surely cure him of his leprosy.”

 

Naaman went to tell the king what the young Israelite maidservant had said. The king of Aram said to him,

"Go to the prophet, and I shall also send a letter to the king of Israel."

So Naaman went and took with him ten silver talents, six thousand gold pieces and ten festal garments.

 

On his arrival, he delivered the letter to the king of Israel. It said, “I present my servant Naaman to you that you may heal him of his leprosy.

When the king read the letter, he tore his clothes to show his indignation, "I am not God to give life or death.

And the king of Aram sends me this man to be healed! You see, he is just looking for an excuse for war.”

Elisha, the man of God, came to know that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, so he sent this message to him:

“Why have you torn your clothes? Let the man come to me, that he may

know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

 

So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and stopped before the house of Elisha.

Elisha then sent a messenger to tell him, “Go to the river Jordan and wash seven times, and

your flesh shall be as it was before, and you shall be cleansed.”

 

Naaman was angry, so he went away. He thought: “On my arrival, he should have personally come out,

and then paused and called on the name of Yahweh, his God. And he should have touched with his hand the infected part,

and I would have been healed. Are the rivers of  Damascus, Abana and Pharpar not better than all the rivers of the land of Israel?

 

Could I not wash there to be healed?”

His servants approached him and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had ordered you to do something difficult,

would you not have done it? But how much easier when he said: 'Take a bath and you will be cleansed.

 

"So Naaman went down to the Jordan where he washed himself seven times as Elisha had ordered.

His skin became soft like that of a child and he was cleansed.

Then Naaman returned to the man of God with all his men. He entered and said to him,

"Now I know that there is no other God anywhere in the world but in Israel.

 

Ps 42:2, 3; 43:3, 4 A thirst is my soul for the living God. When shall I go and behold the face of God?

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊      

Luke 4:24-30

Jesus added, "No prophet is honored in his own country. Truly, I say to you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah,

when the heavens withheld rain for three years and six months and a great famine came over the whole land. Yet,

Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow of Zarephath, in the country of Sidon.

There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha, the prophet; and no one was healed except Naaman, the Syrian."

On hearing these words, the whole assembly became indignant. They rose up and brought him out of the town,

to the edge of the hill on which Nazareth is built, intending to throw him down the cliff. But he passed through their midst and went his way.

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"Why are we slow to believe?"

Both readings point to an expectation that God will act in an extraordinary way when we seek his help.

We are disappointed if there are no flashing lights and drama. Naaman is furious that Elisha, God's prophet,

doesn't come to him in person and call on the name of the Lord. Instead, he is sent a message to do something ordinary,

to go and bathe in the river Jordan. The people of Nazareth are also suspicious of Jesus because he is one of them,

 

and so they refuse to believe that he is a servant of God, let alone God himself. The only people with wisdom in today's readin

gs are Naaman's servants, who challenge him to cooperate with Elisha's instruction and do the simple thing that he has been asked to do.

The servants speak to us, too. If we are willing to believe that God can act in the extraordinary,

why are we slow to believe that he can act in the ordinary things of life, too?