Naaman the Syrian commander (Part II)

By Engr. Carlos V. Cornejo

Second lesson from the story of Naaman is that sometimes God humiliates us many times over to uproot our pride.  Remember that the greatest sin is pride, it’s not greed or lust or envy, but pride, because pride makes us replace God and become god of our own.  It is a sin that is hardest to uproot.  That’s why the greatest virtue is humility after charity (love of God).

In this Bible story, Naaman undergoes a series of humiliations before he got cured.  First is when he had to be told by a slave girl to go to a prophet.  Talking to an Israelite slave girl and follow her instructions is a challenge to Naaman’s pride because he is a high-ranking commander.  A slave and at the same time being a girl is the lowest social ranking you could have at that time.  It’s the equivalent of a janitor instructing a president of a company what to do.  Second instance was when he was accused of the king of Israel for instigating a war with them for asking the king about the cure of his leprosy.  Naaman could have blown his top because of the reaction of this king or really started a war with Israel because of the king’s accusation.  But Naaman took it humbly.  And lastly the prophet Elisha did not come in person to tell him what to do but sent a messenger to give Naaman the instruction to bathe in the river Jordan seven times.  But this time Naaman’s pride was hurt and got angry saying, “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?” and he left not wanting to obey the messenger.  But his servants advised him to just obey which is a lesson in listening to others or seeking the advice of others when we are in a dilemma.  His servants told him that had it been a big task asked of Naaman, surely, he would do it, because he badly wanted to be cured, and that he should comply because the requested task is easy by just dipping seven times in the river Jordan.  And so Naaman listened, complied, and got cured.  This represents the Sacrament of Confession that for us to get cured of our spiritual sickness due to sin, we will have to humble ourselves in front of a priest by confessing our sins, and then we too will get cured.

Final spiritual lesson is that our weakness can lead us to God and give him praise.  There are two ways to respond to our weakness: become bitter or better.  God is an expert in turning bad things into good as he allows evil to happen in this world, to get a good out of it with the greatest example of that in Christ’s death on the cross.  With our sins, if we are willing, Christ wants to turn them into good by making us humble, repentant and turn our life around and then follow the path of holiness.  And once we cooperate, we too will end up praising God much like Naaman, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel.”