Dcn Susan Erickson

Dear Siblings in Christ,

This morning’s lectionary reading from II Kings tells the story of the encounter between the prophet Elijah and the great foreign general Naaman.

Naaman has won a lot of battles but suffers from leprosy. An Israelite maid in his household tells Naaman’s wife about the prophet Elijah; he might have the power to cure Naaman. The king of Aram sends a letter to the king of Israel, along with gifts, asking him to cure Naaman, much to that king’s dismay.

But eventually Naaman tracks down Elijah, who tells him to bathe seven times in the River Jordan. Naaman finds this a very anticlimactic cure (he’s expecting something like divine prestidigitation), and he walks away in a huff. But his servants persuade him to follow Elijah’s directions, and he’s cured. Moreover, he recognizes the power of Elijah’s God. Naaman assures Elijah that he will never again sacrifice to other gods.

But there’s one complication that Naaman hopes the God of Israel will overlook: “‘[W]hen my master goes into the house of Rimmon [a foreign god] to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon, when I do bow down in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant on this one count.’" Elijah appears to appreciate the complexity of Naaman’s situation as a new convert and tells him to go in peace.

I find Naaman a very sympathetic character. Sometimes I, too, wish God would communicate with me in a more dramatic, unmistakable way. But I realize that instead I have to do the equivalent of washing myself seven times in the Jordan: I go to church every Sunday; I try to take part in Morning Prayer on the other days of the week; I attempt to “wash myself” regularly in Scripture. And I have faith that, like Naaman, I will be purified—perhaps not immediately but rather through continued faithfulness and God’s grace.

And I, too, hope God will pardon me when I bow down in the houses of other gods: the gods of consumerism, of mindless digital distraction, of busyness that draws me away both from my innermost self and from God. The “ruler” leaning on my arm is the whole culture in which we swim. So I pray that I will recall Elijah’s words and remember to enter into God’s presence and the peace that passes all understanding.

Faithfully,

—Dcn Susan