Psalm 80; 2 Kings 5:1-19; 1 Cor. 4:8-21; Matt. 5:21-26
Naaman, the Syrian, is healed by washing in the Jordan at the instruction of Elisha. This foreign soldier has a female Jewish slave who thinks highly enough of her master to tell him about the prophet in Israel who could heal him. Elisha refuses to even come out and meet Naaman, sending his own servant to give the instructions. Naaman is unimpressed with the prescription, believing that the prophet will act as one of the prophets of his own land, performing some sort of magical ritual. He is right, the curative powers of the river Jordan are no different from any other and yet God used these waters to effect the cure for the leprosy. Naaman knows that neither Elisha nor the washing itself cured him, but the Lord Himself who receives all the glory.
Reconciliation with our brothers and sisters is more important than sacrifice? John will take up this theme in his first epistle and say that we can’t truly be reconciled to God unless we are reconciled with one another and the Lord’s Prayer will also predicate forgiveness of our own sins on our forgiving others. In our worship, we make our confession of sin to God and then offer one another the “peace” which should be a gesture that says whatever we had against one another is forgiven, we are at peace with the Lord through confession of sin and faith in Jesus’ sacrifice for sin, and we are also at peace with one another. If we all confessed our sins to the Lord and received forgiveness from Him, how can we hold any of those same things against one another? It is important, however, that we deal with that interpersonal sin via confession to one another when we sin against each other. The basis of forgiveness, however, like the cure for Naaman’s leprosy, is the work of God. His love for us is meant to change us into loving, forgiving people, healing our hearts of unforgiveness.
“The kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.” For someone who loves words as much as I do, that is a difficult saying but I know it is true. Many come with plausible words that coax us astray from truth. The true prophets of God have always been men and women whose prophecy came to pass or through whom God did great work of healing or upset the natural order in drought, flood, famine, the plagues, etc. The church seems to have forgotten this truth and we have little power in our midst. We need to depend more on the power of God and less on our own craftiness and cleverness. We need to be a people of prayer, listening prayer, so that we might see the power of God move among us.
Where streams of living water flow
My ransomed soul He leadeth,
And where the verdant pastures grow,
With food celestial feedeth.
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