Word to the Wise
Monday, March 9, 2015 - 3rd Week of Lent - Mon
[2 Kgs 5:1-15a and Luke 4:24-30]"Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; and yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." [Luke]
Jesus spoke these words in challenge to the people in the synagogue at Nazareth when he preached there for the first time. They were a tough audience and rejected him. He compared them to the Widow of Zarephath in the time of Elijah and the Syrian general, Naaman, in the time of Elisha the prophet. Those two figures put their trust in those prophets. The Widow received more than enough food to live on when she gave up her last food to Elijah. Naaman was healed when he followed the instructions of the prophet to go and bathe in the Jordan River seven times.
Naaman was not exactly trusting at first! He was insulted when Elisha first told him to go and bathe in the Jordan. He was a very important person and had brought all kinds of gifts, etc. to pay for a cure. Why couldn't he bathe in the BIG rivers of his homeland instead of the muddy little bayou that the Jordan represented? However, Naaman did have one virtue that made all the difference. He was willing to listen to people less important than himself. He listened to his wife's maid and went to Israel, and when he got huffy about Elisha's order, he listened to his servants who gave him an interesting piece of advice. If Elisha had told him to swim an ocean, he would have done it. Why not go and bathe in that little bayou? He swallowed his pride and was rewarded with a cure.
Naaman represents what can happen when we swallow our human pride and pay attention to what the Lord or those who speak in the Lord's name (whether "official" or not). If Naaman had not listened to his servants, he would still be a leper. Elisha gave him the prescription but it took those servants to get him to take his medicine! Perhaps we could look into our own lives and see where our pride gets in the way of the Lord's "prescription," and where we can find wisdom from those who may be unlikely sources of it. The people in the synagogue couldn't believe that a carpenter who had lived there could possibly be something more! Naaman and the Widow have something to teach us! AMEN