000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

Naaman arrives at Elisha’s house “with his horses and chariots,” only
to be told by Elisha’s messenger: “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and
your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean” (vv. 9–10). Naaman
was insulted that Elisha did not “come out” and pull off what Naaman
would regard as a miracle—a waving of the hand, a calling on the name
of “his God,” and an instantaneous curing of his leprosy (v. 11). Why, he
wants to know, are the waters of Jordan any better than those of the rivers
of Damascus (v. 12)?
Naaman misunderstands. Elisha is a prophet who speaks the word
of God, a word of promise and command. The promise is well-being in
the form of healing; the command is to wash in the Jordan. Its waters are
not the bearers of supernatural power or superior to any of God’s waters
anywhere; the cure is available through God’s grace and obedience to
God’s word.
When Naaman’s servants convinced him to do what the prophet said
(v. 13), he “immersed himself seven times in the Jordan.” “His flesh was
restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean” (v. 14). He then
confesses that “there is no God in all the earth except in Israel” (v. 15), a
confession that strikes the two notes of particularity (in Israel) and universality
(in all the earth).
Naaman tries to express his appreciation by offering a present to Elisha
(v. 15), but it is not accepted—God’s gift of well-being is graciously available.
Accepting Naaman’s gift would obscure that point, a point that
Elisha’s servant Gehazi later misses and lives to regret when Naaman’s
leprosy clings to him (v. 27). The Gentile Naaman receives God’s gracious
healing and the Israelite Gehazi suffers God’s judgment. Who is the outsider
and who the insider?
Isaiah 66:10–14* (Paired)
Proper 9 [14]/Year C 249
Today’s promise that Jerusalem and Judea shall prosper follows a description
of the worship that is appropriate to offer to YHWH. The chapter
opens with the Lord’s definition of “the one to whom I will look, to the
humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at my word” (66:2). What this
means is made clear by statements about those whom the Lord will “mock”
(v. 4a). Who are they? “Whoever slaughters an ox is like one who kills a
human being” (v. 3) is the answer. Third Isaiah reflects Torah teachings concerning
which animals could be eaten and which could not; killing any animal
not on the list of the few that could be eaten was equivalent to the killing
of a human being (Lev. 17:3–4). 72 Violence and killing are to be curbed and