Thoughts for the Day

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favour 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.

Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, ‘Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant.’

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Another theme found in Lent is one of Listening out for the unexpected. In our daily readings we revisit the story of Naaman, who is the Commander of the army for Aram a neighbouring kingdom. He has contracted leprosy. Look at who speaks, and who listens or doesn't listen, and how God's message (that there is one God) is finally conveyed to this Gentile man from a hostile nation.

The message starts from a captured slave girl from Israel who says that the prophet Elisha can cure her master Naaman's leprosy, and is received by her mistress who passes the news to Naaman her husband. He shares the message with the King of Aram, who sends a letter to the King of Israel who gets in a panic thinking his enemy is wanting to cause a war, and does nothing. However, God's message is not blocked at this point, for news of what has happened has been received by Elisha and he intervenes, telling the King to send Naaman to him, before instructing Naaman to wash himself in the Jordan seven times. Naaman has a tantrum and God's message seems blocked again, until Naaman's servants persuade him to obey Elisha's command, and he is finally cured. Naaman ends by saying "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel." God's message has finally escaped into the Gentile world.

In our Bible, both in the Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament we see how God intervenes to call people, often through unlikely messengers, as we saw yesterday with the account of the unknown woman at the well (John 4.1-42). This Lent may we be open to listening for the unexpected - for the times that God is trying to speak to us - and may we question whether we are the ones blocking his message to others?

God of the unexpected,
open our ears to hear Your messages.
All too often we dismiss Your messages because
they come from an unexpected source.
Help us to realise that sometimes Your wisdom
can come in strange guises,
and that it may require us to have an open mind
backed up by checking things out with You!
Amen.