Monday of the Third Week of Lent

Lectionary: 237

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.

We can admire much about the Syrian general Naaman. Not only is he a well-respected military man, he listens to the advice of a slave child, and allows himself to be guided by his subordinates when his temper flares.

Obedient to his king, he had come to Israel to be healed of his leprosy. He wasn’t in the best of moods when he finally arrived at Elisha’s shack by the Jordan River. He expected a more promising medical facility, with some evidence that people come here to be healed and go home recovered. When the prophet refused to come out of his house to see the Very Important Person and his magnificent entourage; and then a slave told him to bathe in the river --- which might be interpreted as “Go jump in a lake!” -- the long-suffering patient exploded.

As sins go, it’s rather forgivable; and he went home healed of his leprosy.

His objection to washing in the Jordan River, however, has a familiar ring about it. The question is often asked of religious persons and our customs, “Why do you have to do it that way? Wouldn’t it be more reasonable if you did it this way?”

I can think of many questions I have heard: Why burial in a blessed cemetery? Why not use donuts and coffee instead of bread and wine for Mass? Why do you have to confess your sins to a priest? Can’t you just talk to God? Why go to church on Sunday, can’t you worship God at your breakfast table? Why? Why? Why? They never run out of questions.

If they ask in the right spirit, they are ready to hear the gospel. But if they only want to be critical, we’re wasting time when we respond.

Although he knew nothing of Israel’s God and the Jewish religion, Naaman had come under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Very often, more often than we might suppose, the Spirit of God is shaping and moving events and subtly encouraging Christians and non-Christians alike to seek the Lord. Who knows but stock markets, economies, civil unrest, and war might be shaped more by the Holy Spirit than by the dunderheads who think they can manage such things. Was it by accident that a courageous Hebrew child, a slave, happened to be in Naaman's household and told her mistress about the healing prophet? 

The initiator of our salvation is the Lord; in this case, the Holy Spirit. Without the Spirit, there is no Good News; it can be neither announced nor heard. 

Those who think they are clever enough to come to the Lord out of their own initiative disinvite themselves! They might as well, to paraphrase Saint Paul, circumcise themselves! They have failed to give God his due for the mercy they have found.

Finally, as my own temper settles, perhaps the Spirit will use me to speak a word to the cynic, a word not of my choosing or genius, that will explode in the skeptical mind and reveal the Gospel.