Seven Washings for Seven Sacraments

 

Deacon Dave · Seven Washings for Seven Sacraments

Homily for the 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Oct. 12, 2025. 2 Kings 5:14-17 (for the full story read 5:1-19). Theme: Seven Washings for Seven Sacraments 

Today’s first reading from the Old Testament about Naaman the Syrian took place around 850 years before the birth of Christ. Unfortunately, for some reason our Liturgy has us dropping into the story almost at its end! But if we don’t know the whole story then we’ll miss out on some extremely important details that enable us to better appreciate how Naaman’s cure, through the seven washings in the Jordan River, has meaning for us today. So, let’s take a quick look at the missing back-story. 

 Naaman was the prestigious commander of the great and powerful Syrian army. In one of his many raids upon Israel, he had captured a young girl whom he gave as a slave to his wife. After he contracted leprosy, this slave-girl told him about Elisha, a powerful prophet of the One True God back in her homeland. She assured him that through this holy man he could be healed. So, Naaman, filled with hope, set off for the land of the Hebrews seeking the cure. 

 Being a pagan he was used to a lot of fanfare and frenzy in religious rituals. And so, Naaman imagined that the God of Israel would manifest himself by means of dazzling displays of power and might! However, no such spiritual fireworks were connected with his instructions for a cure. Elisha simply told Naaman to go and immerse himself seven times in the Jordan River if he wished to be healed. This high and mighty soldier was insulted by such a lack of attention to what he thought should be a proper religious ceremony! He grew furious because he felt like he'd been treated disrespectfully and made to look like a fool. In his wounded pride, Naaman refused the offer, packed up his things and intended to head back to Syria. 

 However, Naaman’s servants convinced him to at least give it a try. They reasoned that if Elisha had told him to do some bizarre things, such as jumping up and down and chanting magic incantations, he would have surely done so. Then why not do as the prophet said and wash seven times in the Jordan River? What did he have to lose? What harm could that do, they reasoned? They encouraged him to at least give it a try and to see what happens. It’s at this point that we enter into the story in our first reading. And as we now know Naaman was indeed healed of leprosy and through this miracle was converted to faith in the One True God. 

 So, why do we Catholics bother to remember this story of an ancient Syrian and include it in our sacred Liturgy? Well, because it was foreshadowing, a prophecy in actions rather than in words, about how God’s healing presence and power enters into our own lives today. We see Naaman’s experience of God’s presence reflected in our seven sacraments that make use of ordinary things to bring the divine into our lives. Like Naaman, it’s easy for us to doubt that Heaven can touch earth through such seemingly ordinary things as the water of baptism, the oils of Confirmation and Anointing, the bread and wine of the Eucharist, the laying on of hands at Ordination, or the words of mutual love exchanged by bride and groom at Matrimony. 

 We understand Naaman’s initial doubt because at times we also find it in ourselves. I mean, it takes faith to imagine that simply through the pouring of water in baptism, we are healed of our spiritual emptiness and put into a right relationship with God. And it sounds incredible to say that ordinary bread and wine at Mass are truly transformed into the very Body and Blood of the Risen Lord Jesus! And we might even balk at the thought that through our simple apology to God in Confession our deepest sins are completely erased and our darkest past is totally forgiven. And yet this is precisely what happens to us and for us through the celebration of the Sacraments. They become the ways by which we share in the miraculous seven washings of Naaman in the Jordan River. 

 And so Naaman's story teaches us how we should approach the Sacraments if we hope to benefit from their blessings. He wasn’t cured by simply going through the action of seven washings. Naaman was healed because along with “the doing” he had “the believing” even if it wasn't a totally perfect belief. But it was enough to show God that he was humble and sincere. And it’s the same for each one of us in regards to the Sacraments. We know that their spiritual power doesn’t depend solely upon saying the right words or doing the right actions. That would be a superstitious pagan approach to religious ceremony every bit as much as Naaman did in the beginning. But if we receive the Sacraments with faith then God will surely reach out to us and touch us through these sacred rituals, just as surely as he once reached out to touch and heal Naaman through the seven washings in the Jordan River.