19th Sunday after Trinity 14th October 2007
Collect
O God, forasmuch as without you we are not able to please you; mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
First reading - 2 Kings 5.1-3,7-15c
1) Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favour with his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy.
2) Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife.
3) She said to her mistress, ‘If only 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 just what the girl from the land of Israel had said.
5) And the king of Aram said, ‘Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.’ He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments.
6) He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, ‘When this letter
reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.’
7) When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, ‘Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.’
8) But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, ‘Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.’
9) So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house.
10) Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.’
11) But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, ‘I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!
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?’ He turned and went away in a rage.
13) But his servants approached and said to him, ‘Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, “Wash, and be clean”?’
14) So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.
15) Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; Naaman came and stood before him and said, ‘Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.’
Please join in the Psalm refrain:
O God, you are my God,
for you my soul is athirst
Second reading - 2 Timothy 2.8-15
8) Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David – that is my gospel,
9) for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained.
10) Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
11) The saying is sure:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
12) if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us;
13) if we are faithless, he remains faithful –
for he cannot deny himself.
14) Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. 15Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.
The Gospel
Gospel - Luke 17.11-19
On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him – and he was a Samaritan.
Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no-one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”