The Invitation
Last Wednesday, the seven parishes were invited to a celebration of the new ministry. This
special ceremony has been delayed over the two-year period of the complicated Covid-19
lockdowns. There were only twenty persons allowed from each parish to attend that service.
All twenty parishioners arrived at the Cathedral before my arrival through the traffic, even an
hour before the service started.
How can I express in words my grateful heart to you for your enthusiastic support! Thank you
for making a special effort to be there together with me. In that moment of ceremony, I also felt
the presence of other parishioners who couldn’t come. All of you were with me in spirit, and it
was such a blessing I had.
It is not always an easy task to send out an invitation for a special ceremony when the seats are
limited. New couples who prepare for their wedding ceremonies often encounter such a
challenge. Who is invited and who is not, when so many people want to come and share a
moment of joy together?
It reminds me of my own wedding guest list that I made in the past. My wedding guest list was
quickly expanding. Towards the end of the finalizing stage, I added one more person. Upon my
contact, that friend expressed her disappointment by the fact that she was not included in the first
contact group.
Sending out an invitation could be a stressful task. I know that from my personal experience.
Nothing annoys people so much as not receiving invitations, and if they do receive invitations,
not receiving them at the beginning annoys them. This is a human quarrel.
An American writer Shel Silverstein, famous for his poetry with his iconic drawings for young
readers, wrote this:
If you are a dreamer, come in,
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer . . .
If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!
I find this poem very poignant and even theological. The poet’s words invite the good and the
bad, not only to come and sit to listen to a tale but to imagine and create tales as they spin the
tales. Whether you a liar or a pretender, I don’t care, but you just come in and sit by my fire and
tell me your story. Isn’t this so inviting? There is no condition put out in this invitation.
God’s invitation is like that. The interest of the Lord is in you, you alone.
No matter who you are, what you do for living, where you live, how you are dressed, where you
were born, what achievements or challenges you have, what philosophies or political views you
hold, you are invited to the feast of the Lord’s Day, the weekly memorial of the resurrection of
Jesus Christ who has been witnessed alive from the death on the first day of the week.
The flax-golden story
The flax-golden story for today continues from the Book of Kings (2 Kgs 5:1-14). Last week, Prophet Elisha picked up the mantle that his teacher Elijah left as Elijah was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire. The new prophet Elisha succeeded in the role of the old prophet Elijah with the double portion of the Spirit. And, far more miracles were wrought by Elisha.
One of those miracles Elisha did was about curing the Syrian military commander Naaman of
leprosy.
Naaman, at first reluctant, obeyed Elisha, and washed seven times in the Jordan River. Finding
his flesh restored like the flesh of a little child, Naaman was so impressed by the evidence of
God’s power that he expressed his deep conviction, saying, “there is no other God in all the earth
but only in Israel (2 Kgs 5:15).
Naaman was a successful and powerful figure in his country, but at the same time, he was a
leper, having a horrible, incurable disease that was most humiliating and disgraceful with
fingernails and toenails and teeth eventually falling off and the joints going to rot. The victim’s
suffering is beyond description.
In our time this disease is rare, and leprosy is no longer something to fear as it is treatable with
the medical enhancement. But it was different in Naaman’s time. Here was a heavy tax upon his
grandeur.
But this miraculous story of a healing journey of Naaman draws more attention from us.
First, it is the young girl from the land of Israel that the Syrian army had brought back captive.
Nothing much was known about this nameless girl who waited on Naaman’s wife, but it is not
difficult to imagine that she experienced an irreplaceable loss as she was separated from her own
family and brought captive as a servant maid.
This girl cared enough to speak up in faith, believing that Elisha would heal her master. She, in
such a tragic personal situation, played a critical role in this incredible story of God’s saving
grace by introducing the prophet in Israel to Naaman.
Naaman was very disappointed by Elisha at first because Elisha didn’t come out to see him but
sent him a messenger. Not only that, Naaman was even upset when the prophet gave him an
instruction which was simply to dip in the Jordan seven times to cure his leprosy, and Naaman
believed that the rivers back in his homeland were much better than the Jordan.
Naaman had some fixed expectations and took pride in himself. God’s instructions are simple.
You just have to follow such simple instructions. That’s all.
Naaman listened to his servant girl’s advice, eventually. It was such a humbling experience to
him, and his response of obedience to God’s instruction through Elisha was rewarded. The
simple method of this miracle, performed without the prophet on site, gave God the credit.
It is the act of faith, a complete trust and submission to the Almighty, the Maker of heaven and
earth, that allowed this foreigner to experience God’s presence and miracle.
After being healed, Naaman, being a man of integrity, returned to Elisha to display gratitude, like
the one leper out of the ten Jesus healed who came back to thank Jesus (Lk 17:12-19). Naaman
presented a gift, but Elisha insisted that he would receive nothing from him.
Elisha said, “Go in peace,” and Naaman departed with a new faith in God as well as his restored
health, going back to his home country. Naaman had to continue to serve his own king who
worshiped a pagan god, but he said that he would not worship any other god. God saw his heart.
The Act of Faith
Perhaps, many of us can relate ourselves to the image of Naaman who took pride in himself yet
who needed God’s healing touch so desperately.
As in the story of Naaman, we are invited to experience God and to be transformed by His power
of healing. It was not only Naaman’s skin that was changed, but his whole being inside, being
born again as a new person, acknowledging God’s sovereign power in the world.
We have a mission to go to a place where people don’t know God and be a messenger of the
Good News. Also, we have a call to fulfill like Naaman’s servant maid who told her master to
follow God’s instruction.
But, here we are left with a question. Many people pray so fervently for healing upon those who
are battling with terrible illnesses. When things hit the bottom rock, their hopes seem to fade
away, and they will ask: “Where is God when it hurts?”
Actually, that question is a book title by Philip Yancey.
Yancy replies, “He is in us – not in the things that hurt – helping to transform bad into good. We
can safely say that God can bring good out of evil; we cannot say that God brings about the evil
in hopes of producing good.”
Still this answer may sound too simplistic to those who undergo a health crisis or any kind of crisis
in life.
My brother has been battling with a very complicated immune disorder for so many years. I pray
to God, “Please heal my dear brother. Show him Your mercy and grace.” Yet, the problem of
pain continues, and there is no sign of improving his health.
Certainly, pain and suffering are part of life, which all of us stand alongside. What I can say is
this: The low points in our lives have meanings, that is, to experience God. Pain and suffering are
something that we need to experience, something that brings us close to God. Neither baptism
nor confirmation removes pain and suffering.
Jesus came to earth and suffered. He participated in the earthly suffering, and He became one of
us.
Since the time we were born, the suffering has begun, and as we age, most of us encounter many
issues with physical health which may isolate us from social activities and, as a result, affect our
emotional wellbeing. But, true health is a spiritual thing: the strength to live and the strength to
suffer.
In juxtaposition of the story of Naaman, Jesus, in Luke’s Gospel (ch. 10), appointed the seventy other disciples, empowering them to go out to the world to do God’s work and see His glory in action as they served and represented Him, like lambs into the midst of wolves.
Jesus equipped those lambs with His instructions, and they followed His instructions to trust
God, to give peace to the house they enter, to cure the sick, and not to abuse or manipulate
others. They witnessed the power of God’s Spirit. We don’t know who they were, but “[their]
names are written in heaven” (Lk 10:21).
Like those seventy followers of Jesus, we are also called in this world that is imperfect. Like
Naaman who went back to his country where the worshiping of pagan gods was spread, we are
also called to go boldly with a renewed faith.
Brothers and sisters . . .
Let us share the Good News with the unchurched and those who are seeking God. And, have a
good fight, whatever fight you have to face, as the Kingdom of God has come near. We are
labourers into God’s harvest in His Kingdom where we are invited by Him.
God bless!
Image credit:
Elisha refusing the gifts of Naaman by Pieter de Grebber, 1637