The story of the healing of
Naaman the Syrian is one of my favorites. You can read it in 2 Kings 5:1-15 or
perhaps you heard it at Mass today.
There are several pivotal
points in the story where one of the characters has to overcome doubts and
lack of faith and take a course of action that (s)he never would have taken on his/her
own.
I’ll give a quick synopsis, but
it would be most helpful if you read the story along with my commentary.
·
The slave girl had to overcome her fear and
speak up about a possible cure in Samaria
·
Naaman had to agree to go, and the King of Aram
had to give him permission to go.
·
The King of Israel had to overcome his dismay
and listen to the prophet Elijah rather than giving in to despair or believe
his own suspicion that the entire situation was set up as a provocation for
war.
·
Then the King of Israel had to agree to send the
leper to Elijah.
·
The Naaman went to Elijah but had to overcome
his anger and dismay about (1) that the prophet didn’t even come out of his
house to greet him and (b) that the prophet told him to do something that didn’t
make any sense at all (to wash seven times in the Jordan).
·
Finally, Naaman had to listen to his servants
and go and do what the prophet had told him to do.
God often works through unexpected
and contradictory means to an end. He challenges our fear, our doubts and our
lack of faith. There often seems to be something we have to overcome in order
to walk the path He has indicated for us, and in some cases this means that we
have to swallow our pride and do so.
SO: Watch out for situations
like that. Silence your mind’s objections. Open up a bit and be willing to make
a change. And sometimes the things that don’t seem to make any sense to us make
a great deal of sense if we can consider them in the light of our developing
faith. Finally, listen to the people who love you. Sometimes their advice and
encouragement are pointing you in the right direction.
God bless you.
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