2nd book of Kings 5,1-15.
Naaman, the army commander of the king of Aram, was highly esteemed and respected by his master, for through him the LORD had brought victory to Aram. But valiant as he was, the man was a leper. Now the Arameans had captured from the land of Israel in a raid a little girl, who became the servant of Naaman's wife. "If only my master would present himself to the prophet in Samaria," she said to her mistress, "he would cure him of his leprosy." Naaman went and told his lord just what the slave girl from the land of Israel had said. "Go," said the king of Aram. "I will send along a letter to the king of Israel." So Naaman set out, taking along ten silver talents, six thousand gold pieces, and ten festal garments. To the king of Israel he brought the letter, which read: "With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy." When he read the letter, the king of Israel tore his garments and exclaimed: "Am I a god with power over life and death, that this man should send someone to me to be cured of leprosy? Take note! You can see he is only looking for a quarrel with me!" When Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his garments, he sent word to the king: "Why have you torn your garments? Let him come to me and find out that there is a prophet in Israel." Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. The prophet sent him the message: "Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will heal, and you will be clean." But Naaman went away angry, saying, "I thought that he would surely come out and stand there to invoke the LORD his God, and would move his hand over the spot, and thus cure the leprosy. Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?" With this, he turned about in anger and left. But his servants came up and reasoned with him. "My father," they said, "if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary, would you not have done it? All the more now, since he said to you, 'Wash and be clean,' should you do as he said." So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. He returned with his whole retinue to the man of God. On his arrival he stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel. Please accept a gift from your servant."
Psalms 42,2.3.43,3.4.
As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God.
My being thirsts for God, the living God. When can I go and see the face of God?
Send your light and fidelity, that they may be my guide And bring me to your holy mountain, to the place of your dwelling,
That I may come to the altar of God, to God, my joy, my delight. Then I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 4,24-30.
And he said, "Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
"Now I know..." –2 Kings 5:15
As sovereign ruler of the nation, King Joram of Israel was in the right position to know God's power. He had access to any information he needed. Maybe he had too much information: when Naaman approached him to find God's healing, Joram presumed the king of Aram wanted to provoke him (2 Kgs 5:7). As a captured slave, the little orphaned, pre-teen girl was seemingly not in a position to know the power and strength of God. Guess which of the two knew that there was a healing prophet in the land of Israel? God reveals to the childlike what He hides from the wise and the learned (Lk 10:21).
As commander of the Aramean army, Naaman had the intellect and resources to understand the regional geography and the probability of pure water in Aram and Israel (2 Kgs 5:12). Naaman's servants probably knew only what they needed to know to perform menial tasks. Guess who understood the relationship between humility and healing?
Certainly God wants our minds to develop and be renewed (Rm 12:2), since He wants us to love Him with all our mind (Lk 10:27). However, God's ways are not our ways (Is 55:8-9). If a person with terminal cancer or AIDS asked you to pray with them for God's healing today, how would you react? Would you be flustered and threatened like Joram, angered like Naaman, or would you be as ready as Naaman's servants? Get humble. Get ready. Receive "the mind of Christ" (1 Cor 2:16).
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