Sermon for Proper 23C: The Final Healing

Proper 23C: The Final Healing

2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c; 2 Timothy 2:8-15; Luke 17:11-19

The Rev. Paul D. Allick, Church of the Advent, October 12, 2025

Whenever I go to Walgreens to pick up my supply of healing

agents, I look at the row after row of options. Sometimes I

get curious and look at cures for ailments I don’t even have.

People actually suffer from all of these things?

It occurs to me, none of these products will ultimately heal

us. They will mask symptoms of ongoing wounds and the

wounds to come. There will always be a need for healing.

I have seen faith healers on television, and I wonder if it is

real. Does it really need to be that dramatic? Are people

actually being healed for good or are they finding hope to

feel better for a time?

In the Episcopal Church, as in all Catholic traditions, we

have a sacrament for healing. It is called Holy Unction. The

outward sign of the sacrament is anointing with oil and/or the

laying on of hands. It is the sacrament “by which God’s grace

is given for the healing of spirit, mind, and body.”

(Book of Common Prayer, p.861)

Notice the order of healing: spirit first, mind second and body

last. We need health in our souls and minds in order to face

the challenges of physical ailments. Healing starts from

within, and this makes it somewhat mysterious.

I’ve seldom seen or experienced a healing that went as

expected. In fact, I have seldom seen or experienced any

answered prayers which have turned out the way I expected.

We tend to seek resolutions carried out on our timelines.

Scripture and tradition tell us that God does not operate that

way.

Today we hear of Naaman the great Syrian warrior: A

powerful man plagued by leprosy. Of all people a slave girl

from Israel tells him where to find a cure. There is a Prophet

in Israel who can heal him.

Naaman writes a letter to the King of Israel to ask for the

healing. He creates this triangle because he only knows how

deal with political and military power.

The King of Israel thinks that it is a trick. He can’t heal

anyone; and when he fails to heal this mighty warrior he will

be attacked. He tears his clothes in anguish.

It all becomes a political fire storm because Naaman has

already decided how this is all going to work. He will order

up his healing the way he orders everyone else around.

When Elisha tells Naaman how to be healed, Naaman flies

into a rage. He could have washed himself in a river at

home!

Again, God uses the unimportant servants to convince him to

do as Elisha says.

Naaman washes himself seven times in the river Jordan: a

perfect number of times in a river that has been integral in

the salvation story of God’s people.

Naaman is healed beyond his imagination. His skin is like

that of a young child. And then this powerful conquering

foreigner makes a startling confession, “Now I know that

there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.”

The road to healing can be protracted and mysterious.

Naaman had to listen closely to the people around him even

those who had no power.

He had to trust others. Notice, Elisha never even touches

him. Naaman had to participate in his own healing. He was

the driver, and it led him to faith in God.

In the Gospel today, Jesus never touches the ten lepers.

They simply had to follow his instructions. They had to go in

faith that by the time they reached the priests they would be

made clean and readmitted to Temple worship.

Only one leper, the foreigner, returns to give thanks. The

other nine have been healed in their bodies but they have no

concept of who did it for them or how it came about. The

Samaritan leper knows. He has been healed in spirit, mind,

and body. Jesus tells him, “Get up and go on your way; your

faith has made you well.”

Naaman the Syrian and the Samaritan Leper found wholistic

healing. They found salvation. They took the narrow gate

and the hard road. Their surrender to the seemingly strange

instructions of others led them to faith in God. Now any

physical ailments they may encounter will be matched by

their spiritual and mental healing.

When I am with dying people and their families, we still do

Holy Unction. I tell them that sometimes death is the only

healing left. We are all heading there.

In the meantime, we are going to need all kinds of spiritual,

mental, and physical healing. We must know how to

participate in our own healing. We cannot wait for God to fix

it.

First ask the Lord to heal us inside so that we can handle all

of the ravages we encounter in our fallen state. When we are

healed inside all the stuff on the outside is easier to bear.

When we are healed on the inside we are finding a form of

salvation.

I once heard of a dying man whose last words were, “My last

breath on earth will be my first breath in heaven.” He knew

that he was heading toward his ultimate healing. From that

moment on, the only medicine needed was his eternal

salvation.