Don’t Settle for the Miracle
Julián Carrón - Returning to the story of Naaman, commander of the Syrian king's army, is always moving. He was a leper, and his healing required a long journey.
In him, we see how awareness of one's own need makes it possible for a person to open up to something beyond their imagination, to something unpredictable. This process unfolds in stages: from accepting the suggestion of a "newcomer"—an Israelite servant in the king's service who tells him, "If my lord would only go to the prophet in Samaria, he would surely cure him of his leprosy!"; to setting out for Elisha’s house and being told by the prophet's messenger, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be healed," which provokes his indignation (since Syria had rivers more important and larger than the Jordan); to finally surrendering, ever more aware of his need, and accepting Elisha’s word: "So he went down and washed 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 young boy; he was healed."
Any link in this chain of trust could have broken, and he would not have been healed. Only the urgency of his need made Naaman overcome all his preconceptions about how the healing should happen, enabling him to achieve true healing.
Aware of the gift he had received, Naaman returned to Elisha to thank him, but he still had to understand the most important thing: the source of the gift. When Naaman asked him to accept a gift as a sign of gratitude, Elisha surprised him once again by refusing: "As the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not take it." Naaman insisted, but the prophet refused. In this way, Elisha makes it clear to Naaman that he was only an intermediary and that the true author of the gift is Another. Naaman’s response shows he finally understands: "If you refuse, at least let your servant be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will no longer offer burnt offerings or sacrifices to other gods, but only to the Lord." The healing is only a sign of Another: the Lord. Naaman understands whom to thank.
This is the method through which God makes Himself present, close, and visible, facilitating our understanding and introducing us to the truth, which is always beyond appearances, since we often have a short-sighted way of thinking. But we often do not realize this, as the Gospel story shows us, despite the many passages from the Old Testament read in the synagogue.
"On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus was passing through Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten lepers came to meet Him... and they cried out in a loud voice, 'Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!' As soon as He saw them, Jesus said to them, 'Go and show yourselves to the priests.' And as they went, they were cleansed."
They were all cleansed, but only one truly understood the significance. You can tell by his actions: "When he saw that he was healed," the Gospel continues, "he returned, praising God in a loud voice, and fell at Jesus' feet to thank him. He was a Samaritan." Jesus is amazed: "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?" For the other nine, the gift of healing was enough. They did not perceive that the greater gift was "beyond" and that healing was only a sign of it. Jesus immediately reveals what the healing is a sign of: "Has no one been found to return and give glory to God except this foreigner?"
Returning to "give glory to God" meant returning to Jesus, in whom the glory of God shone before them in His flesh. But those nine did not realize this, and so, unfortunately, they missed the greatest gift.
The best part is not the healing.
There are many people who do not have leprosy, yet they are not happy or fulfilled, because freedom from a disease is not enough to guarantee the fullness of life. What Jesus recognizes in the tenth leper, the Samaritan, is that he has understood. He is the only one who realizes that the true gift that makes life full is the presence of Jesus before him.
That is why Jesus says to him, "Get up and go; your faith has saved you!" The salvation that Jesus brings, even through the sign of healing, is something more: it is His presence. We see this clearly when Jesus, without healing him of any illness, says to Zacchaeus, who welcomed Him into his home: "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost" (Luke 19:9-10).
How can we know that we have truly understood, like Naaman or the tenth leper? By the fact that we are not satisfied with anything less than Jesus.
28th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C Notes from the homily by Fr. Julián Carrón October 12, 2025 (First Reading: 2 Kings 5:14-17; Psalm 97 (98); Second Reading: 2 Timothy 2:8-13; Gospel: Luke 17:11-19)
