Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
2 KINGS 5:14-17
In those days, Naaman the Syrian went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, as Elisha, in the name of God, had commanded him, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean of his leprosy. He returned to the man of God with his retinue and stood before him, saying:
– Now I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel. So please accept a present from your servant.
Elisha answered:
– As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none.
And when Naaman urged him to accept, he refused. Then Naaman said:
– If not, please let two mule loads of earth be given to your servant; for your servant will no longer offer burnt offerings or sacrifices to any god but the Lord.
The two Books of Kings recount the history of the People of Israel from the death of David (971 BC) to the destruction of Jerusalem (587 BC).
These books are considered “historical” books. However, we know well that Israel did not write these books out of historical interest. For that, there were other books, frequently cited in these, such as Annals and court chronicles.
The authors of the Books of Kings (the Deuteronomistic school) use these other books as material for their work, and in it, they make a “theological reading” of the history of Israel, showing how the people prosper when they keep the Covenant, and suffer when they turn away from God.
For this reason, these books were originally called “the former prophets,” because their intention is the same as that of the “latter prophets” (those we now know as prophetic books, Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc.), that is: to read history in the light of the Word and to make the People, and the kings, fulfill the Covenant.
It is even thought that Deuteronomy and the “historical” books that follow it (Joshua-Judges-Samuel-Kings) are a single work, in which Deuteronomy is a great theological prologue that gives the basic theological guidelines and the other books apply them to the development of the people’s history.
In these two books, many “prophets” appear, men of God who announce the Word, threaten the People with punishments from God if they stray from the Law, and encourage them to trust only in God in threatening historical moments.
Among these prophets, two are especially important: Elijah and his disciple Elisha, who occupy entire chapters, so it is common to speak of the “cycle of Elijah” and the “cycle of Elisha” as fundamental parts of these books.
In the passage we read today, Elisha, one of the most miracle-working prophets of the entire Old Testament, cures a Syrian character, a general and an important man of the court, of a skin condition (which is not leprosy proper, because if it were, he would be excluded from any public function).
The narrative is literarily very complex, full of symbols that today go almost unnoticed by us. The essence of the story, however, is clear: the presence in Israel of the power of the only God, who heals anyone through the action of his servant the prophet. It is an incitement to the people to recognize that the power of God is much greater than the power of the false foreign gods and, therefore, an exhortation to trust in Him.
2 TIMOTHY 2:8-13
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I suffer even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained.
Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with Him, we will also live with Him.
If we persevere, we will also reign with Him.
If we deny Him, He will also deny us.
If we are faithless, He remains faithful,
for He cannot deny Himself.
Assuming what we explained on the previous Sundays about this letter, we see in this passage a beautiful exhortation from Paul (rather, put in the mouth of Paul by the author) to maintain fidelity to Christ in very difficult times.
Today’s text offers a minimal but dense synthesis of faith in the Risen One, the source and reason for all hope. Paul evokes it while chained, in prison, remembering the wonderful fruits that have followed from that imprisonment and manifesting again his unshakeable confidence.
The final hymn presents a series of oppositions that are broken in the last verse, and it is an act of faith in Christ above our own fidelity: even if we are unfaithful to Him, He must be faithful to Himself. Our trust does not lie in our own righteousness, but in the very being of God the Savior.
José Enrique Galarreta, S.J.