Loving God of peace, pour out Your joy upon this dear reader; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Our text for today comes from 2 Kings 5: 1 Naaman was general of the army under the king of Aram. He was important to his master, who held him in the highest esteem because it was by him that God had given victory to Aram: a truly great man, but afflicted with a grievous skin disease. 2 It so happened that Aram, on one of its raiding expeditions against Israel, captured a young girl who became a maid to Naaman's wife. 3 One day she said to her mistress, "Oh, if only my master could meet the prophet of Samaria, he would be healed of his skin disease." 4 Naaman went straight to his master and reported what the girl from Israel had said. 5 "Well then, go," said the king of Aram. "And I'll send a letter of introduction to the king of Israel." So he went off, taking with him about 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and ten sets of clothes. 6 Naaman delivered the letter to the king of Israel. The letter read, "When you get this letter, you'll know that I've personally sent my servant Naaman to you; heal him of his skin disease." 7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he was terribly upset, ripping his robe to pieces. He said, "Am I a god with the power to bring death or life that I get orders to heal this man from his disease? What's going on here? That king's trying to pick a fight, that's what!" 8 Elisha the man of God heard what had happened, that the king of Israel was so distressed that he'd ripped his robe to shreds. He sent word to the king, "Why are you so upset, ripping your robe like this? Send him to me so he'll learn that there's a prophet in Israel." 9 So Naaman with his horses and chariots arrived in style and stopped at Elisha's door. 10 Elisha sent out a servant to meet him with this message: "Go to the River Jordan and immerse yourself seven times. Your skin will be healed and you'll be as good as new." 11 Naaman lost his temper. He turned on his heel saying, "I thought he'd personally come out and meet me, call on the name of God, wave his hand over the diseased spot, and get rid of the disease. 12 The Damascus rivers, Abana and Pharpar, are cleaner by far than any of the rivers in Israel. Why not bathe in them? I'd at least get clean." He stomped off, mad as a hornet. 13 But his servants caught up with him and said, "Father, if the prophet had asked you to do something hard and heroic, wouldn't you have done it? So why not this simple 'wash and be clean'?" 14 So he did it. He went down and immersed himself in the Jordan seven times, following the orders of the Holy Man. His skin was healed; it was like the skin of a little baby. He was as good as new. (The Message)
We can only imagine the actual timeline in this story. We read it as if all of these things occurred on the same day. They didn't. Even had they had planes and cars, cell phones and internet, it would have taken several days. Add to the reality the personalities that peak out at us in this story, and we begin to see it was an act of God and one that took some time to finally happen. We know the characters; Naaman, important military figure, well-loved and respected by Aram, his king. Aram, king, victor over Israel. The unnamed girl, prisoner of war, captive, who lived in the household of Naaman. The unnamed wife of Naaman. The king of Israel, unnamed for this story, and Elisha, the prophet. The scenario: Naaman has leprosy. It bothers him. He probably kept it hidden for his complaining took place at home. The wife is told by the unnamed girl of a man in Israel, who can heal Naaman of this dreaded disease. The wife tells Naaman, Naaman tells Aram. Aram says, "By all means, let's get the proper papers in order, a proper gift (and what a gift it was!) for this holy man, and let's get a caravan ready to take you there!"
The story gets good in that after that long trip, the king of Israel freaks out, tears his clothes and somehow, word of this frustration and fear of Israel's king gets to Elisha, and Elisha sends word to the king, "Don't fret my king, send him to me; I"ll deal with him!" So, the king of Israel sends Naaman to Samaria where Elisha lives. Upon arrival, Naaman does not even get to see Elisha. Protocol was broken. Here is a man of his king, with orders from his king, and the word from Israel's king to come and see the prophet and the prophet does not even come out. A servant comes out and tells Naaman to dip himself seven times in the Jordan river. This insults the general in two ways. The prophet does not come to see him and he is given the task to go to what Naaman perceives to be a dirty river. Naaman's servant calms him down and says, "Think of how easy this really is, all you have to do is go down to the river and dip. Try it! He finally does it and he is healed. His skin is made new, like that of a baby.
This is a story of faith and patience, sacrifice and obedience. God provided a way of healing, through a long process. Healing came eventually, unlike Monday's healing through Jesus. Both healing of this terrible disease came through faith and both required faith in God's servants, Jesus and Elisha. Both required the sick to ask for the healing. Neither was disappointed once it arrived. In the Naaman story, if you keep reading, Naaman declares his faith in God. What he did after that, we do not know.
What would you have done? How would you have lived?
PRAYER: Living God of healing and wholeness, you know my needs and I entrust them to Your care. Let my heart be grateful for Your love and presence in my life. May I bet a witness to the most important healings that can occur in one's life, namely the healing of my heart, from sin-scarred and heavy, to a new heart, clean from sin. Let that heart pour out love for all people. I ask this in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
