WORDS OF LIVING WATER DAILY INSPIRATION (by: Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew)

JESUS OUR MIGHTY HEALER

(2 Kings 5: 14-17, Psalm 98, 2 Timothy 2: 8-13, Luke 17:11-19)

My dear people of God, today’s readings present to us another human condition which has its answer in Christ. Leprosy was a disgraceful human condition in the good old days and it is the case today. People still find it difficult to mingle with lepers because of misconceptions that we have about the sickness. Jesus came to proclaim liberty to the poor and the outcasts in order to bring them back into the life of the community. And the healing of lepers was one of His preoccupations because they were totally neglected as a result of their condition. He came to heal us from all forms of leprosy including sin which has made all of us lepers in the sight of God, needing His mercy and cleansing at all times. All human conditions including leprosy can be overcome through Jesus who came to set us free from their power.

The first reading presents to us the case of Naaman, the Syrian Commander, who was healed of leprosy through the recommendation of the prophet Elisha. Leprosy was a pathetic and a disgraceful condition among the Israelites and their neighbours. Among the Israelites it was even worse (Lev. 13: 1-2, 44-46). The person became totally an outcast until he or she recovers from this disgraceful condition according to their religious customs. The chief priest examines the individual to confirm the disease and now pronounce the person unclean to the entire Israelite’s community. The individual must appear publicly as an unclean person by wearing torn clothes and let their hair hang loose. On top of this, the leper must cry out unclean, unclean when they come into public so that no one will come into contact with them. Your movements were really restricted and until you are cleansed you remained an outcast. This was really a difficult situation that any human being can find himself or herself. Even your family cannot come closer to you because of your condition. It was really a very pathetic human situation which needed the necessary attention to liberate people from such conditions. Jesus came to provide the antidote to this virus of leprosy. His healing of this condition was once and for all, which makes the person totally free from the predicaments of leprosy. No wonder Naaman was ready to do everything possible to express his gratitude to the man of God. After washing himself in the river Jordan and was cleansed, he returned to show appreciation. Of course, his gifts were rejected.

The case is not different in the gospel reading. Ten lepers were healed by Jesus but only one of them came to thank God. In fact, he came praising God with a loud voice; and he fell at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Understanding the nature of this condition among the Israelites, will let you appreciate what this man did to thank Jesus. Even if he rolled on the ground to express this joy, it would still be understood by those who know the disgraceful nature of this condition. But surprisingly, only one person came to show appreciation out of the ten. He was even a Samaritan, a foreigner. Which implies the other nine were Jews, who did not see the need to come back and thank Jesus. When they needed His help, they cried out to Him but easily forgot to come back and thank Him. Maybe they thought because they were Jews it was the duty of Jesus to take care of them. Their prophets were called to minister to them and since they considered Jesus as a great prophet, then it was their right to receive such an attention from Him. Hence there was no need to come back and thank Him, because he had only performed His duty.

The Samaritan could not hide his joy for being set free as a leper. He publicly sang the goodness of God to express his appreciation. Naaman who was also a non- Jew saw the need to come and thank the man of God. He knew what it meant to be healed from leprosy. We should be full of joy and be witnesses to the great things that Jesus does in our lives. There are a lot of spiritual and physical healings which goes on in our lives but sometimes we fail to acknowledge and appreciate these happenings. Some of us even think that it is the duty of God to take care of us. Hence, when He does something for us, we fail to thank Him. Even if it is the duty of God, He still deserves our appreciation. The most important thing we should be thankful to God always is the gift of life. If you have life then there is hope. We don’t need to have so much before we know that God has been gracious to us. In the same vein, we should be appreciative to our fellow human beings, when they do something for us. Some of us there is nothing that people will do for us that we will appreciate. Nothing seems to be anything to us, apart from what we do for people. For that we want appreciation, but we don’t want to appreciate others. Please, this is not a good Christian spirit.

My dear friends sin also puts us in the condition as lepers, needing the touch of Jesus to be healed and cleansed from its power. This is the spiritual leprosy that we all fall victim to. Sin kept us in a very deplorable state which caused Him to sacrifice His life on the cross for us to be set free. Sin also separates us from God and our neighbours just like the physical leprosy does by making us outcast. Until we are cleansed through the power of His forgiveness, we continue to be outcast. We need to acknowledge this fact and come to Jesus our Healer. The more we continue to live in the life of sin the more we stray away from God. Come to Jesus and He will cleanse you.

Again, any disgraceful human condition can also be considered a form of leprosy which needs the touch of Jesus for freedom to prevail. He has the power to heal us from these unpleasant situations. Let us make a step and a journey of faith, and come to Him with all our worries and He will deliver us from them. Just as the ten lepers cried out and He heard them, we too should cry out to Him and He will answer us.

May God strengthen us to always know that no human condition is greater than Jesus. AMEN. 

JESUS CAN HEAL. BE APPRECIATIVE ALWAYS. HAVE A BLESSED SUNDAY AND A HAPPY WEEK AHEAD!

REV. FR. AKAKPO MATTHEW