In II kings 5 we read about Naaman the commander-in-chief of Aram’s (modern day Syria) army, who was a military giant but afflicted with leprosy. Although Aram had frequently been at war with Israel. They were now officially at peace except that there were frequent border skirmishes between the two countries. This kept the tension level high just as it is today between Israel and Syria as well as other Arab nations (it seems that some things never really change). So when Naaman showed up on the door step of Northern Israel’s capital, Samaria, with a letter of introduction from Aram’s king, it seemed like storm clouds were forming especially when the King of Northern Israel was asked to cure Naaman. Joram, Northern Israel’s king (see II Kings 1:17), smelled a rat, a new kind of provocation for starting another costly war. He was no healer, and he was at best estranged from The Great Physician. It may be that Joram knew what was really expected of him, namely, that he do what other kings like the king of Aram did. He probably was expected to order Israel’s prophet to do his thing and heal Naaman; but what foreigners didn’t know or, perhaps, did not appreciate, is that Israel’s true prophets were rather independent and only answered to the Highest Authority. So Joram was really on the spot. He barely spoke with Elisha, Israel’s “prophet-in-chief” and so he was in a real fix.
Elisha, however, didn’t let his king stew for very long because after he got wind of what was brewing, he sent word to king Joram to send Naaman to him. Notice, he was not going to Naaman. In Naaman’s eyes, Elisha was a mere civil service worker, but here he is going with his whole entourage and a massive amount of booty to reward the man who could heal him. While already feeling put out, but also feeling desperate, Naaman at least expected that Elisha meet him face to face and exchange the usual greeting appropriate for a man of the highest military rank and his “lowly” host. He also expected what today would amount to proper media coverage, at least a photo opportunity, and the usual pomp that goes with such an event. What he got was an invitation from a servant, not Elisha himself, to take a dip in the muddy waters of the Jordan River which wasn’t exactly around the corner (about twenty miles away as I read my map). That was the straw that broke the Arab’s back. Naaman stormed out of Elisha’s “office” with bloody war in his eyes until he was calmed by his wise and solicitous subordinates.
There is much that Naaman had to learn about the God of Israel and to his credit he passed with flying colors. He obediently did his dip seven times in the Jordan away from the public eye and without the usual fanfare. But he returned a cured and very grateful man. He also “saluted” a new God who became his Commander-in-Chief. He learned his lessons well in the loneliness of the uninviting waters of the Jordan (see 5:12). We, too, learn our deepest lessons in muddy waters that bring humiliation and even a sense of abandonment but only for a season. For then comes cleansing from our own leprous pride as we are baptized in God’s healing waters. Are you ready for a dip in your own Jordan River?
No comments:
Post a Comment