Frederick, Maryland,
United States - Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Monday, 24 March 2014 -
Catholic Meditations
Meditations: 2 Kings
5:1 Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with
his master, and honorable, because by him Yahweh had given victory to Syria: he
was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. 2 The Syrians had gone out
in bands, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little
maiden; and she waited on Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “I wish
that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would heal him of
his leprosy.”
4 Someone went in, and
told his lord, saying, “The maiden who is from the land of Israel said this.”
5 The king of Syria
said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.”
He departed, and took
with him ten talents[a] of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten
changes of clothing. 6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying,
“Now when this letter has come to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to
you, that you may heal him of his leprosy.”
7 When the king of Israel
had read the letter, he tore his clothes, and said, “Am I God, to kill and to
make alive, that this man sends to me to heal a man of his leprosy? But please
consider and see how he seeks a quarrel against me.”
8 It was so, when
Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that
he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now
to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
9 So Naaman came with
his horses and with his chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.
10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven
times, and your flesh shall come again to you, and you shall be clean.”
11 But Naaman was
angry, and went away, and said, “Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to
me, and stand, and call on the name of Yahweh his God, and wave his hand over
the place, and heal the leper.’ 12 Aren’t Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of
Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them, and be
clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.
13 His servants came
near, and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had asked you do
some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? How much rather then, when he says
to you, ‘Wash, and be clean?’”
14 Then went he down,
and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the
man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he
was clean. 15 He returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came,
and stood before him; and he said, “See now, I know that there is no God in all
the earth, but in Israel. Now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.”
Footnotes:
a. 2 Kings 5:5 A talent
is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds
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V Naaman hears of
Elisha, ver. 1-4. The king of Syria sends him to the king of Israel, ver. 5-7.
He goes to Elisha and is healed, ver. 8-14. His grateful acknowledgment to
Elisha, ver. 15-19. Gehazi follows him, and receives gifts from him, ver.
20-24. The leprosy of Naaman entailed on Gehazi's family, ver. 25-27.
Verse 5. Go to, &c.
- It was very natural for a king to suppose, that the king of Israel could do
more than any of his subjects.
Verse 10. Elisha sent -
Which he did, partly, to exercise Naaman's faith and obedience: partly, for the
honour of his religion, that it might appear he sought not his own glory and
profit, but only God's honour, and the good of men.
Verse 11. Was wroth -
Supposing himself despised by the prophet.
Verse 12. Are not,
&c. - Is there not as great a virtue in them to this purpose? But he should
have considered, that the cure was not to be wrought by the water, but by the
power of God.
Verse 13. My father -
Or, our father. So they call him, to shew their reverence and affection to him.
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3rd Week of Lent
I thought that he would
surely come out and stand there to invoke the Lord his God. (2 Kings 5:11)
Poor Naaman! He has
carefully planned his journey in search of healing, but he keeps having to
adjust his expectations. Fortunately, God puts his agents in the right place at
the right time to help Naaman accept these changes.
First is the slave girl
who tells Naaman that there may be a cure for the leprosy he has assumed would
always plague him. When the king of Israel expresses alarm at Naaman’s request,
Elisha hears about it and sends a messenger to invite Naaman to come discover
that there is indeed a prophet in Israel. But Naaman has already played the
scene of his cure in his imagination, and it doesn’t include plunging into a
dirty river. Offended by what Elisha tells him to do, Naaman is ready to go
home without being healed. Again, his servants act as God’s agents. They
persuade him that he might as well give it a try. As a result, not only is
Naaman healed; he comes to know the one true God.
Naaman shows us how we
can start off in good faith but find ourselves limited or even led astray by
our past experiences. Our notions of how things are or how they should be can
blind us to what God wants to do for us now, in this new moment.
Fortunately, God has
many agents who can help us correct our course. It may be a character from
Scripture whose situation seems familiar. It may be a present-day hero of the
faith whose triumph speaks to our lives. It may be a wise friend who prays with
us at just the right time or a spiritual director who listens to us and asks
questions that help us get unstuck. It may even happen in a “chance” encounter,
a “God-incidence.”
If you are facing a
challenge or an important decision, lay it before the Lord, and ask him to
direct you. Then open your eyes and ears! He has already placed his agents in
strategic locations, ready to move you along his path.
“Lord, I want to do
things your way and not on my own. Send your messengers to shine light on my
path.” Amen.
Psalm 42: 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my
food day and night,
while they continually ask me, “Where is
your God?”
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Verse 2. Thirsteth -
Not after vain useless idols, but after the only true and living God. Appear -
In the place of his special presence and publick worship.
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Psalm 43: 3 Oh, send out your light and your truth.
Let them lead me.
Let them bring me to your holy hill,
To your tents.
4 Then I will go to the
altar of God,
to God, my exceeding joy.
I will praise you on
the harp, God, my God.
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Verse 3. Send out -
That is, actually discover them. Truth - Thy favour, or the light of thy
countenance, and the truth of thy promises made to me; or the true-light, the
illumination of thy spirit, and the direction of thy gracious providence,
whereby I may be led in the right way, to thy holy hill. Hill - Of Zion, the
place of God's presence and worship.
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Luke 4: 24 He said, “Most certainly I tell you, no prophet
is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But truly I tell you, there were many widows
in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six
months, when a great famine came over all the land. 26 Elijah was sent to none
of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
27 There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not
one of them was cleansed, except Naaman, the Syrian.”
28 They were all filled
with wrath in the synagogue, as they heard these things. 29 They rose up, threw
him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill that their city was
built on, that they might throw him off the cliff. 30 But he, passing through
the middle of them, went his way.
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Verse 24. No prophet is
acceptable in his own country - That is, in his own neighbourhood. It generally
holds, that a teacher sent from God is not so acceptable to his neighbours as
he is to strangers. The meanness of his family, or lowness of his
circumstances, bring his office into contempt: nor can they suffer that he, who
was before equal with, or below themselves, should now bear a superior
character.
Verse 25. When the
heaven was shut up three years and six months - Such a proof had they that God
had sent him. In 1 Kings xviii, 1, it is said, The word of the Lord came to
Elijah in the third year: namely, reckoning not from the beginning of the
drought, but from the time when he began to sojourn with the widow of Sarepta.
A year of drought had preceded this, while he dwelt at the brook Cherith. So
that the whole time of the drought was (as St. James likewise observes) three
years and six months. 1 Kings xvii, 19; xviii, 44.
Verse 27. 2 Kings v,
14.
28. And all in the
synagogue were filled with fury - Perceiving the purport of his discourse,
namely, that the blessing which they despised, would be offered to, and
accepted by, the Gentiles. So changeable are the hearts of wicked men! So
little are their starts of love to be depended on! So unable are they to bear
the close application, even of a discourse which they most admire!
Verse 30. Passing
through the midst of them - Perhaps invisibly; or perhaps they were overawed;
so that though they saw, they could not touch him.
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