NOTES for Ki2 5:13

Naaman's reaction is very understandable in human terms. He had been sent to a great prophet and expected great and fearsome deeds from him. Naaman supposed that so great an event as healing from leprosy would be attended by fitting pomp and solemnity. Elisha requires something almost impossible from Naaman: complete trust and complete humility. He does not even come out to meet Naaman himself, but sends a servant. And Naaman storms off in a rage. Interestingly, he agrees to follow Elisha's advice on the principle that "it can do no harm." In other words, at the moment when he immerses himself in the waters of the Jordan, there is not the slightest trace of either trust or humility. Nevertheless, the Lord acts and grants healing, and it is then that Naaman receives God into his heart—the God who does not stage spectacles where they are not needed, but simply shows mercy and saves those who turn to Him.

When speaking and thinking about God and spiritual life, we almost always immediately associate both with religion. But are we right to think so? If a connection between spiritual life and religion really does exist, what is it? There is no denying that a religious person always thinks about God and keeps Him in mind (in the case of the Syrians of Elisha’s time, it would be more appropriate to speak of gods, but that does not change the essence of the matter: in any event, these are the higher powers before which a person feels the sacred awe that underlies every religion). But how does religious consciousness see God?

Judging by Naaman’s reaction to the information he received about the prophet who could heal him, he was undoubtedly a religious man. He reveals faith not only in gods (and the God of Israel was most likely for him one of the many gods he knew about), but also in miracles (otherwise he would never have gone to Israel to be healed), and even in the existence of special people who have a special relationship with the gods and therefore possess a special power capable of healing any illness.

Yet Naaman’s conception of this power, like his conception of the gods, is still highly naturalistic. He thinks that it is somehow physically connected with the prophet’s hands, which must touch his sores in order to heal them. For him, God is not will or spirit but power, energy, in short, nature: a nature higher than the one of which we are part, perhaps, but nature nonetheless, and one shares in it according to the laws of nature rather than the logic of spiritual action. He tries to understand where the instrument that sets this supernatural energy in motion is, and he is indignant, thinking himself deceived, when he does not see it.

He returns to wash only on the advice of his servant, reasoning simply that he has nothing to lose anyway and that a prophet is a prophet and will not speak idly. It is then, quite unexpectedly and illogically from Naaman’s point of view, that the miracle occurs: by a single act of His will and without any instrument, God heals a man who could not believe that God needed no magic wand. He does not need one because He is not a magician but a loving Creator, whose creation is absolutely obedient to His love.

People have different attitudes toward their illnesses: some think about them all the time, while others try to forget about them. Some complain, while others keep silent and pretend they are not sick. But almost everyone still wants to be healed. True, that desire also takes different forms. Naaman was deeply eager for healing. He longed for it and believed it was possible. It was this faith that opened his ears to the words of a young servant girl. He not only heard her words about the prophet; he believed them and dared to speak about it with the king.

Yes, he was "a great man before his master." But the higher you stand, the more frightening it is to make yourself look ridiculous, to be disgraced. And when he reached Elisha, Elisha did not even come out to the threshold to meet Naaman, but sent instructions through a servant. Naaman was disappointed, became angry, and refused to accept the way the Lord had decided to act in this situation.

How often we have a similar reaction when our carefully thought-out plans do not come to pass. But, fortunately, God gave Naaman the gift of listening to the people around him. Even though they were only servants, the desire to be healed and trust in God lead Naaman farther. And the Lord rewards the trust of His children with healing of body and soul.