Dissed
2 Kings 5:1-14
Sometimes we expect the task to be harder than it is.
Photo by Wendi Wells on Unsplash
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, "If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. And the king of Aram said, "Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel." He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy." When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me." But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel." So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha's house. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean." But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" He turned and went away in a rage. But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, `Wash, and be clean'?" So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean. - 2 Kings 5:1-14
Why did Naaman get angry with Elisha?
It wasn't that the solution to his problem was easy. It was that his ego was bruised.
He had come prepared to be treated with respect, bringing his fancy clothes and money, and instead, he was met by a messenger of the Prophet. How demeaning.
He was prepared to go home without being cured rather than to do what the messenger said.
Now, I will admit that when I first read this, I felt that Elisha should have come out himself. Not coming to meet him was disrespectful.
We want to be respected. We even demand it. We would rather walk away than be cured.
The ego is a powerful force. It leads us away from what can help us and save us. We don't need the devil to cause us to stray; we do it to ourselves, all for the sake of our pride.
Is it worth it? What do we gain by reacting to what we believe is someone being disrespectful?
We follow a man who was shown no respect by the authority figures of his day. They ridiculed him and called him a heretic. And yet, he was not deterred. He kept to the program.
Jesus set an example for us on how to evaluate threats against us and deal with them.
When you are dealing with people trying to kill you, someone showing you too little respect is minor, insignificant.
In the greater scheme of things, what is truly important? Would you choose to miss out on a great opportunity because your ego was bruised?
Luckily, Naaman's servants were smart enough to tell him to listen.