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The next four meditations will discuss the encounter of Naaman of Aram with the prophet Elisha. The story is found in 2 Kings 5. It has relevance for our times and circumstances.
Naaman had two identities. He was the commander-in-chief of the army of Aram, a hero with great victories to his account. Naaman was a favorite of Ben Hadad II, the king of Aram-Damascus, for whom he had delivered military dominance in the region.
Naaman was also a leper–the disease that blights and eats away the flesh and causes its victim to be shunned in isolation because of loathsome appearance, foul smell and contagion. (2 Kgs 5:1)
The disease was in its early stages which allowed Naaman to keep his diagnosis from becoming public knowledge. For the time being, he could maintain his rank and command, but he would lose respect with career-shortening consequences when it became known.
Have you ever had an “If they only knew…” problem like that with shame eating you up on the inside even as you carefully maintain appearances on the outside? The dread is as corrosive to the soul as leprosy is to the body.
Soon Naaman would have only one identity, “leper,” a stigmatized pariah– powerless, excluded and isolated.
Naaman’s wife had a little Hebrew girl slave serving her as a maid. The girl had been captured in an Aramean raid on Israel.
The girl told her mistress, “I wish my master would go see the prophet in Israel. He would heal him of his leprosy.”
Desperation forced the great general to take seriously this remark of a little slave girl from a culture he considered inferior. Naaman shared the remark with King Ben Hadad. The king told him, “Go with my blessing. I’ll write a letter of introduction to the king of Israel for you.”
So Naaman went to Israel with a large quantity of gold, silver and clothing. He sent the letter of his king ahead of him to Joram, king of Israel. Joram proved to be a faithless wimp who saw only political calculation in Ben Hadad’s request for the healing of his favorite general.
Joram tore his clothes in despair and said with exasperation, “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.”
The prophet Elisha heard of King Joram’s angst and doubt. Elisha sent a message to the king: “Why are you carrying on like this? Let Naaman come to me, that he may learn that there is a true prophet in Israel.”
Naaman showed up with his convoy of horses and chariots at the door of Elisha’s house. Elisha didn’t even talk to him one on one. He sent a messenger out to Naaman, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan River seven times, and your flesh will be restored and you shall be clean.”
This infuriated Naaman who was expecting a quick and dramatic miracle cure. “I thought that for me the prophet would 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 the Abana and Pharphar Rivers back home in Damascus better than all the muddy creeks and rivers of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?”
Naaman turned and stomped off in a rage. He clearly inspired love and loyalty in his subordinates, first the little Hebrew girl and now the officers who accompanied him on his journey. They loved Naaman enough to reach out for his good past his anger and his ego and that is true love. His officers said, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said was, ‘Wash, and be clean?'”
I was blessed to grow up in a Christian home with parents who believed the Gospel was truly good news. They taught my siblings and me that God loved us because that was his nature. God the Father sent Jesus to earth where he died for the complete pardon of our guilt for sin and was restored to life by the love of the Father. Jesus’ blood was shed on the cross to relieve us of the guilt and shame of sin. We who believe and accept this love are raised up with Jesus into new and eternal life. “Wash and be clean” is as succinct a summary of the Gospel as we will ever hear.
It is always bemusing to me how much people want to complicate this cleansing with soap formulas, time-lines, fine-print, rules, exceptions and caveats. Others think that nothing has happened unless there are strobe lights and fainting spells. It is as if our status in the kingdom depends on the intricacy or drama of our personal salvation story.
This is not to say that following Christ doesn’t require daily surrender and obedience. “The devil is in the details,” but grace has its application to heal, restore and maintain us in the details of our everyday, walk-around lives.
Naaman was a “VIP” and the serious trouble he was in was equal to his stature. He wanted a solution that was just as big a deal as he was.
I know I have shunned healing grace before because I didn’t find a miracle big enough to match my pride and perception of the magnitude of my problem. Working around a major academic medical center, I have learned that there are some patients who will travel the world searching for the most expensive and esoteric cure rather than patiently submit their jaded bodies to a regimen of rest, fresh air, clean water, and simple natural diet. They feel that anything less than the most complex treatment will diminish their importance.
Naaman’s servants loved him as children love their father. Their love brought Naaman to surrender. This is the way of grace. Either love wins with us or we are lost and on our way to destruction.
Naaman immersed himself seven times in the Jordan and just as Elisha prophesied, he emerged with skin as soft and supple as a young boy and he was clean.
The healing convinced Naaman that the Lord God of Israel was the one, living God. Naaman determined to never worship another god again. He went with his whole retinue to Elisha’s house and announced his conversion.
Naaman tried to show his gratitude with a lavish present to Elisha, but the prophet refused to take credit or reward for what God alone had done. A humble man and a humbled man met in Elisha’s door yard.
Next week, I will write about the challenge of worship and witness that Naaman discussed with Elisha. Until then, I invite you to think if you’ve been holding out on doing the small and simple thing that the Holy Spirit has been instructing you to do for cleansing and healing.
Perhaps someone in your life who loves you, but you take for granted has been telling you to do the small thing. Perhaps it is even a child or someone with the faith of a child who has been telling you do it. Maybe it is a lack of forgiveness for something that is eating up your heart with the leprosy of resentment.
Your assigned importance has not lifted you out of your need. Your rage has not swept it out of your life. Access to better-appearing and more congenial places has not cured your condition. God’s way stands as the rejection of everything you are and the hope of everything that you will be. “The river of God is full of water” (Ps. 65:9). “Wash, and be clean” is his elegantly brief invitation to eternal life and peace.
“O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him” (Ps 34:8).
Under the mercy of Christ,
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Kent Hansen is a Christian attorney, author and speaker. He practices corporate law and is the managing attorney of the firm of Clayson, Mann, Yaeger & Hansen in Corona, California. Kent also serves as the general counsel of Loma Linda University and Medical Center in Loma Linda, California.