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 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.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

This intriguing story tells us of Naaman who is an enemy of Israel, and the Commander of the Aramaean army. He is also a leper - a disease that would begin to rot away his limbs until his eventual death. The servant girl has been torn from her family in a raid by the Arameans, but bravely witnesses to God's work. Her faith is strong enough to speak up, knowing that Elisha can heal Naaman.

The Commander takes the equivalent of over a million pounds worth of gifts with him, but Elisha merely instructs him to wash in the river Jordan, which offends this powerful man. God isn't working in the way he expects, and he goes off in a rage. His pride is being humbled, but when he gives in, his faith grows stronger with each dip into the Jordan, and God offers him healing in return for this faith.

So we might think of this story in this way:

• Faith (of the servant girl) leads to
• Witness of God, (by the servant girl) which leads to
• Pride being humbled (by Naaman), which leads to
• Healing (of Naaman), which leads to
• Belief in God (by Naaman).

I wonder, have we enough faith and courage to be a witness to God's work in our life or our world today, allowing His Holy Spirit to work through us?

Heavenly Father,
give us the courage to acknowledge our belief
and our faith in You,
and to witness to others to Your work
in our life and in the world.
Amen.