written by Jesse Kleingardner

Naaman would not have been my first choice as a candidate for healing. Sure, he’s a successful commander of the army and might be a very visible witness to the God of Israel’s healing power. But he’s a commander of the wrong army—not Israel’s, but Aram’s—an army that is periodically at war with Israel. Not only that, he worships some other god named Rimmon. And then when he’s told to go wash in the Jordan, he complains that the water isn’t good enough for him! “Forget it, Naaman,” is what I would want to tell him. “If you want healing you better straighten out a few things first, buddy!” But, like the king of Israel, it looks like I would be really missing the boat on what this story conveys about our God. A little servant girl from Israel gets that God would want to show kindness to an army commander from Aram, while the king of Israel doesn’t see how it could ever happen. And Naaman’s servants have faith in the good news of healing spoken by God’s prophet, while Naaman himself doesn’t see how just simple obedience could bring about such a great healing. Kings and commanders miss it, while servants understand the prophet’s message of hope to those that seem the least deserving. Elisha the prophet hammers the point home even further when he refuses to take Naaman’s gifts. The point is that God’s kindness to us is free and undeserved. At the end Naaman finally gets the unparalleled kindness of Israel’s God, saying “I only want to worship your God!”

Although it’s hard to imagine, I suppose that if God could find compassion for an enemy of His people, he could find compassion for me as well. And maybe for you, too. But let me not be blind to God’s message here, that He wants to extend His kindness beyond those who He already calls “His people,” who go to church and seem to have things all together. He wants to show kindness to those who are undeserving. After all, none of us really deserve God’s kindness, and people who have really been mucking up their life might be more likely to understand how undeserving they are and be truly grateful for God’s kindness. I’ve never healed anyone of leprosy, but there are many ways from day to day that I can be someone who, like Elisha, shows kindness and gives grace to those who deserve it least and need it most.

Your fellow traveler,
Jesse