Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.” As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!” When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.” But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage. Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”

A little bit longer passage today, but God put it on my heart for a particular reason. We find here the prophet Elisha coming to the aid of the King of Israel. The king of Israel was faced with an insurmountable task — healing a man from leprosy. In Jewish society it was thought that this disease was contagious and so lepers were to live outside the city. They were considered “unclean”. So here we have a leper, a commander of the army of the King of Aram, who heard about Elisha the prophet through his Jewish slave girl. As we see the story unfold, we have a slave girl taken by a band of raiders who decides to be kind to her captors and tell them of a healer in Israel. We have a king, whose faith in comparison to this slave girl is weak, who must be coaxed into sending the commander, Naaman, from Aram to Elisha. And we have Naaman, who is used to being in charge and is angry when a servant is sent to him. He thought he deserved more consideration. I can find myself fitting into each of these roles at one time of my life or another. And at the end of the day, we have an “unclean” leper foreigner who decides to obey the prophet and wash in the Jordan river seven times. Why seven? I was thinking about this today: seven is the number of perfection in the Bible. And we see that an “unclean” pagan is given his skin back and made clean by washing in a river. It made me think of how God works. He takes unclean hearts and heals them and brings them back to him. Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice, died for our sins and so we are redeemed. When God see followers of Jesus, he sees us as perfect in Jesus Christ!

And this transforms our relationship with him and with each other. We can “measure up” because Jesus was perfect. Naaman was made clean because God’s servant knew and had a personal relationship with The Healer. Do you have a relationship with Jesus that you can rely on? Do you believe his sacrifice will make you clean and purify your heart?

Lord, thank you for the story of Naaman. He is a prideful man who you brought down and humbled, before he saw your glory. Thank you for taking an unclean man like me and making me perfect in your eyes through Jesus Christ!