THE HEAVEN WAS SHUT…

2 Kings 5:1-15

1 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. 2 Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little maid from the land of Israel, and she waited on Naaman’s wife.
3 She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”4 So Naaman went in and told his lord, “Thus and so spoke the maiden from the land of Israel.”
5 And the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten festal garments.
6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.”
7 And when the king of Israel read the letter, he rent his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”
8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you rent your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the door of Elisha’s house.
10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.”
11 But Naaman was angry, and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper.
12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.13 But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, if the prophet had commanded you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much rather, then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”
14 So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.15 Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him; and he said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; so accept now a present from your servant.”

Luke 4:24-30

24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country.
25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land;
26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.
29 And they rose up and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong.
30 But passing through the midst of them he went away.  

MEDITATION

THE FIRST READING recount the story of an Israely maid who offered hope to her mistress’ suggesting that her husband; a highly favored non Jewish military commander Naaman, can be healed by a Hebrew prophet. Whilst the proposition of the maid was accepted by Naaman, it required the permission of both the Syrian and the Israely political leadership to agree to any cross border humanitarian assistance. 

Naaman was initially angered that Elisha did not personally attend to him and walked away from his offer, but after careful consideration he submitted to the prophets instructions that brought about his complete cleansing and restoration! 

THE GOSPEL READING: After reading the prophecy of Isaiah (chapters 59 & 61), Jesus begin His homily by reflecting and highlighting the negative experience of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, who were rejected by their own people, such that they did not benefit from the healing graces of God. 

Our Lord did not engraciate Himself when He recalled the historical occasion when the heavens were shut for the Galileans, because they rejected the teachings of the prophets, whereas God was mercyful to heathens such as the widow of Zarephath and Naaman, who gracefully assented to the instructions of the prophets that brought about their blessings and healing. Our close mindedness; a disposition that deny the efficacy and supernatural healing properties of the Holy Sacraments that Christ instituted, can be said to be akin to the Galilean revolt whereby they attempted to throw Jesus off a cliff!  

LET US PRAY: Psalms 42:2-343:3-4

2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me continually, “Where is your God?”
3 Oh send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me, let them bring me to thy holy hill and to thy dwelling!
4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and I will praise thee with the lyre, O God, my God.

Commentary. Henry R SYLVESTER Note: The daily scripture readings are taken from the Roman Missal which the Catholic Church use in the daily Celebration of the Holy Eucharist throughout the world.Some weekly readings may differ because of the celebration of local feast days.