First Reading
Reading from the second book of Kings
2 Kings 5:1-15
In those days, Naaman, the army commander of Syria, was held in respect and favor by his master, for through him the Lord had given victory to Syria. But this great warrior was a leper.
It happened that a band of Syrians, during one of their raids, had brought back a little girl who fell into the service of Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress: «If only my master would go to the prophet who is in Samaria, he would surely cure him of his leprosy.»
Then Naaman went and told his lord: «This is what the Israelite girl said.» The king of Syria replied: «Go, then, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.» Naaman set out, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten festal garments, and a letter for the king of Israel which said: «When you receive this letter, know that I am sending my servant Naaman to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy.»
When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his garments and exclaimed: «Am I God, to give life or to take it away, that this man sends me a request to cure a man of his leprosy? It is clear that he is looking for a pretext to start a war with me.»
When Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king had torn his garments, he sent him this message: «Why have you torn your garments? Let him come to me and he will learn that there is a prophet in Israel.» So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to say to him: «Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be clean.» Naaman left in a rage, saying: «I thought that he would surely come out to me, and standing there, invoke the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the infected part and cure the leprosy. Are not the rivers of Damascus, like the Abana and the Pharpar, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?» He turned and went away in a fury. But his servants approached him and said: «Father, if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, you would surely have done it. How much more now, when he only tells you to wash and you will be healed.»
So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of the man of God; his flesh became like that of a little child, and he was clean. He returned with his whole retinue to the man of God, and standing before him, said: «Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel.»
Gospel
Luke 4:24-30
At that time, Jesus came to Nazareth and said to the people in the synagogue: «Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. There were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.»
They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away.