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Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. 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. She said to her mistress, "If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. 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. 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." 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." 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."So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha's house. 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." 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! 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. 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'?" 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. (2 Kings 5:1-14 NRSV)
A most joyous of Wednesdays to you, dear Reader. I pray this finds you and yours doing well. For many this may be the last work day of this week! Tomorrow we celebrate our nation's Independence and whatever plans you may have I pray they are safe and joyous. As we pray let us remember to pray for one another, and for ourselves.
One of my first PimplesandWrinkles.org podcasts was on this very story, and I will connect a link below for you to hear that if you haven't already. It's such a powerful story I don't mind writing on it again and again. The Bible is such that any person who reads it over and over will find again and again new insights and truths not seen before. The insight I had on this reading was noticing the level of wealth and privilege in which this story takes place. We're talking the homes and palaces of kings and generals. And to make it even more interesting, the kings and generals of enemy states. The first person we meet in this story is a general. But not just any general; his troops had routed the armies of Israel and carried off many prisoners of war, including the little girl who served in his own household. She was a slave. The raid on her village led by this general ended that little girl's freedom and even her identity. Yet all was not well in this home of a general. He had contracted leprosy and if left untreated it could ruin his social and political life. The general served at the pleasure of the king and for him to have a disease considered to be highly contagious in those days would mean the end of his opulent lifestyle. It would take the little slave girl that to indeed save this general's life. She knew of the prophet in Israel who was known for doing unexplainable things known as miracles. If you remember the story not long ago of the farewell between Elijah and Elisha, this is the protégé of the great prophet. He had a double portion of the Holy Spirit and as such had allowed some great things to be done by his hand. The little girl had heard of that power and might, and so she says that the general should visit the prophet who lived in Samaria. This prompts the general to visit the king. He makes the request to visit an enemy state to seek his healing. This sets in motion royalty to visit royalty. The king of Aram sets up gifts fit for a king for the general to present to the king of Israel with the hope this would open the doors for him to receive his health. The king in Israel misreads the letter and believes the king of Aram wants him to heal his general. Elisha, being a servant of God hears of this dilemma of the king and sent a message to the king offering to receive the general with the promise "that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel."
The royal entourage comes to the prophet's home. This might have set all eyes in the prophet's neighborhood to peek out their windows at all the black Suburbans and Tahoes with countless men with earpieces and submachine guns guarding each vehicle and their occupants. The general waited to see the prophet but instead gets one of the prophet's servants who comes with a message for this important man; "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean." Not what the general expected. He expected smoke and mirrors and the intrigue of liturgy as the man of God would come out and preach, or at least read from a book calling God down to heal this man. "He could have waved his hands over me at least!" the general gripes. "At the very least he could have come out to say hello. And why would I want to wash in the Rio Grande River when the Guadalupe, Blanco and Colorado rivers are much more cleaner?" He orders the cars started and the red and blue lights begin to flash. But one of the general's servants, after having observed the general's behavior, offers, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? Why would such a simple thing as washing to become clean be so difficult for you?" It was a valid point, and the general goes down and washes seven times as ordered by the prophet and he is not only healed, his skin becomes like that of a young boy. His miracle had arrived. And all this in a simple neighborhood, far from the trappings of wealth and power. Even the expected high church ritual of healing was not needed, just simple obedience. A miracle had occurred.
The truth is that God works in all settings and among all people. God does not favor the victors nor losers. Naaman was the winning general; Elisha was the prophet of the conquered nation of Israel. The general gets life-saving information from a little slave girl who would probably get nothing special in return, certainly not her freedom. The lesson is that God is in control, and does what He wants and when He wants. He has the power to heal and yet can require further obedience from those seeking healing like asking for a river bath to take seven times in the water versus a simple dip. And rather than having the prophet waving his hands, it was the water of the Jordan River not known for its cleanliness that brought new skin to the diseased general. We serve the God of the unexpected and the unexplained. Most of what the Lord God does to a certain degree remains a mystery of wonder and grace. There was no God in Aram that could do for Naaman what our God did. And God did not recognize the differences in nationalities. A person in need was healed. Was he a deserving person or not? That's not for us to answer. We praise Him. You and I have been the undeserving person with the miracle. We received mercy for things we thought we never would do and probably that we would never confess. We received salvation and grace. We have had our names recorded in the Book of Life. And we have the joy of looking forward to eternal life. And we have the task of obediently sharing this for others. And all are invited and expected.
PRAYER: Loving God, thank You. We stand in awe and wonder of the many favors that have come from You to us. We can't make sense of them, but we know we just want us to enjoy them. Help us to better tell Your story to others. Give us Your eyes to see Your presence in all people. This we pray in Christ Jesus, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Be like the prophet Elijah who served God with joy and wonder.
Blessings of love,
Eradio Valverde
Here is the link to "God Knows Your Name" the podcast on 2 Kings 5:
