thoughts on 2 Kings 5:1-14

 1 Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.  2 Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife.

3 She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”  4 Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said.

 5 “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing.  6 The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”  7 As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!”

 8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”  9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house.  10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”

 11 But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.  12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage.

13 Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!”  14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

I truly believe that churches ought to read this story without comment about once a month.  Don’t preach it.  Don’t wax eloquent about lessons learned.  Don’t say, “Now, aren’t we often like Naaman the Syrian?”  Just put it out there and let it do its work.  It is a powerful statement about God, about God’s servants, and about pilgrims who would approach God.

There are a lot of secondary issues here that could seduce us if we would let them. We could understand and even support this kidnapped servant girl if she had said to herself, “Well, there is a prophet in Israel who could help this leper.  But he has raided my home and taken me captive and pressed me into servitude.  Why should I do anything good for him?”

 The king of Israel is in a bit of a pickle.  Out of the blue a foreign general, and an officer of some repute, shows up at his door with a letter of introduction from a rival king extolling Israel’s king to cure this military man of his leprosy.  We comprehend that the Israelite king believes that this foreigner has come to pick a fight.  We could spend a lot of time reflecting on the king’s conundrum.

There us the conduct of Elisha himself that puzzles us.  We sort of expect our great biblical figures to be kind and accommodating and gentle.  (That is not always accurate, but that is often our anticipation.)  Their door is always open; they are always ready to receive visitors with a pot of hot tea and a tray of biscuits.  “Welcome!  Welcomed!  Come in!  What can I do for you?” is our unspoken attitude.  But Elisha here is curt, even rude.  Are we to infer that this is the recommended attitude for servants of God?

But these are inconsequential concerns.  What is on the front burner is that God is a mighty God, who will exercise power and mercy as God so chooses.  We also come to understand that God will work in whatever manner God wishes, irrespective of our preconceived notions.  I just love the point in this story where Naaman says, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.  Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So, he turned and went off in a rage.  He wants some magic words and grand gestures, maybe a little thunder and lightning.  Instead, Elisha stays indoors and sends him a message to perform the most mundane of acts.

I once heard Zan Holmes talk of visiting a physician’s office after a period of feeling less than vibrant.  The doctor performed all the usual testing and examining.  Then the doctor took out a prescription pad and wrote a little something on it, ripped the page from the pad, and gave it to the patient.  It said, “Walk.”  The patient was irate.  “How much is this examination costing me?”  “Five hundred dollars” was the doctor’s reply.  “Five hundred dollars!” said Holmes.  “For that kind of money, I want some LATIN!”

 Elisha wasn’t asking for grand gestures.  He wasn’t promising cosmic signs.  He was asking Naaman for a humility in which he would merely do what God (through Elisha)) asked him to do. 

I think we ourselves would fast or give or sacrifice in order to receive some blessing we couldn’t acquire otherwise.  But, ordinary acts, acts of humility, are at times the most difficult things to do.  Or we are resistant because they seem common.

Naaman’s servant advises his master, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’ ”

He’s a pretty good theologian.

The peace of the Lord be with you.