In yesterday’s (Third Sunday of Lent, B) Second Reading (1 Corinthians 1:22-25), we read these words of Paul:
For
the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is
stronger than human strength (v.25).
In connection to the Gospel Reading for yesterday
(John 2:13-25), the foolishness of God is referred to the fact that the Messiah
had to be killed and the weakness of God is projected to the fact that the
Messiah did not fight back those who tried to arrest and kill him. The above
words of Paul on “God’s foolishness and God’s weakness” paradoxically reflect
God’s wisdom and power, both of which are in Jesus. Also, these words point to
human foolishness, which misinterpret God’s wisdom in His love as “foolishness”
and the power in His love as “weakness”. In other words, this human foolishness
makes us blind to the truth in what God offers us. And, this is reflected in
today’s Scripture Readings (2 Kings 5:1-15; Luke 4:24-30 ).
In the First Reading (2 Kings 5:1-15), the human
foolishness is represented king of Israel, who reacted with his indignation to
a letter from king of Aram (Syria) to cure the leprosy of Naaman, the general
of Aramean army (vv.6-7).
Israel and Aram fought wars so many times. They were
enemies to each other. In the last battle, Aram won and took so many things
fromIsrael. One of the spoils of war that Arameans took away from Israel was a
girl, and she was made to be a servant of Naaman’s wife (v.2).
Though Naaman, as the general of his king’s army, is
so powerful, he suffered from leprosy, which was a progressive disease to
death. Though she was captured by her nation’s enemy and made as a servant to
her enemy’s household, she cared about husband of her mistress, saying to her, “If only my master would present himself to
the prophet in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy”(v.3), suggesting
wife of Naaman to refer him to Elisha, the prophet in Samaria. Samaria was the
capitol of Israel, while Jerusalem was the capitol of Judah.
This Jewish girl taken away from Israel to her enemy nation, Aram, and made as
a servant to Naaman’s household did not want her captor’s general, Naaman, to
suffer and die from leprosy. At the same time, she might have thought to let
this pagan enemy man to experience the power of her God’s compassion to suggest
her mistress to send him to the prophet of her nation. In this regard, she served
as God’s missionary to her enemies.
So, Naaman went to his king, and the king sent him
to Israel with a letter of referral to king of Israel and an extravagant amount
of money out of diplomatic courtesy (v.6). But king of Israel took this gesture
of his rival king, king of Aram, as an instigation, thus, reacted with his
anger by tearing his cloths (v.7).
The king of Israel did not know and could not even think
that it was an opportunity to let his enemy, Naaman, recognize how powerful his
God, the God of Israel, could be, even to enemies of Israel. The foolishness of
the king of Israel not only reacted to such a mission opportunity for God with
anger and misunderstood it as a threat to him.
Fortunately, this came to the attention of Elisha, the
very prophet that the Jewish girl mentioned to Naaman’s wife, so he was able to
avert his king’s foolishness turning an opportunity of God’s mission into
another war with Aram. Therefore, Naaman was able to meet Elisha.
Perhaps, Naaman had thought Elisha was a Jewish shaman.
So, he must have thought that Elisha would lay his hands over him and pray in
the name of his God (v.11). But, Elisha simply told Naaman to go wash himself
in the Jordan River seven times (v.10). So, Naaman became angry, thinking, if
all he needed to cure his leprosy was to wash in a river for seven times, there
was no point to do so in the river of Israel, as he thought rivers in Aram were
much better, thinking to return to Aram (vv.11-12). But, luckily, his
accompanying servants persuaded Naaman to do exactly as told by Elisha, and so
he did and was cured (vv.13-14). After this, Naaman came back to Elisha with his
accompanying servants, and said, “Now I
know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel. Please accept a
gift from your servant”(v.15).
Thus, the power of God and His mercy was made known
to an enemy of God’s people. The girl who was taken as a war loot to this enemy’s
household and Elisha served God on this mission. But, the king of Israel failed
to cooperate, because of his foolishness.
This kind of human foolishness that disables us to
understand and appreciate God’s power and wisdom in His love and mercy is also
reflected in how people of Capernaum rejected Jesus, as addressed in today’s
Gospel Reading (Luke 4:24-30).
After his Baptism and spending 40 days in the
wilderness (Luke 3:21-4:13), Jesus returned to the town where he grew up,
Nazareth, and began preaching the Good News, citing from Isaiah 61, in the
synagogue (Luke 4:14-22). People of Nazareth, who listened to Jesus in the
synagogue were amazed at his teaching (v.22a). But, they also questioned: Isn’t this the son of Joseph? (v. 22b)
And this changed their attitude toward Jesus 180 degrees!
Jesus recognized this change. So, he said to them:
Surely
you will quote me this proverb, “Physician, cure yourself,” and say, “Do here
in your native place the things that we heard were done in Capernaum”(v.23).
Immediately following this, today’s Gospel Reading (Luke
4:24-30) begins with these words that Jesus continued on:
Amen,
I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell
you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was
closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire
land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in
Zarephathp in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during
the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only
Naaman the Syrian (vv. 24-27).
“No prophet is
accepted in his own native place”, said Jesus. But, why no prophet is
accepted in his own hometown?
As in the First Reading (2 Kings 5:1-15), Elisha was like an outsider in his
own nation. King of Israel (Jehoram) had no regard to him. And, a foreigner to
Israel, an enemy, Naaman, benefited from Elisha.
As in 1 Kings 17:1-24, Elijah was rejected by his
king, Ahab, but accepted by a foreigner, and this foreigner, Zarephath, was
benefited from God of Israel through Elijah.
Basically, Jesus, through the above words, sent a
message to people of Nazareth, where he grew up, that their foolishness
prevents them from seeing the Messianic truth in him but makes them regard him
only as “son of Joseph” and reject him.
Because of their foolishness, the people of
Nazareth, who were amazed by Jesus’
preaching a few minutes ago, grew angry at him, as the king of Israel (Jehoram)
in the First Reading reacted angrily to his God’s mission out of his own
foolishness, and violently rejected Jesus (vv. 28-30).
Why did the king of Israel in the First Reading and
the people of Nazareth in the Gospel Reading rejected God’s plan – Naaman sent
to Elisha and Jesus sent by God the Father to the people of Nazareth ? Because
in their own human foolishness, God’s power and wisdom in His love and
compassion for salvation sound make no sense to them. To their foolish minds
and hearts, God’s great power means nothing, God’s great wisdom means nothing
but foolishness.
Their foolishness prevents them from recognizing
their own foolishness, which prevents them from seeing the truth about God’s
power and wisdom. That is why Paul said:
For
the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is
stronger than human strength (1 Corinthians 1:25).
And this is why Jesus said, referring to God’s
wisdom:
I
give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have
hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the
childlike (Matthew 11:25).
During this Lent, we must work on removing whatever
makes us like the king of Israel in today’s First Reading and the Nazareans in
today’s Gospel, whatever makes us regard God’s wisdom as “foolishness” and His
power as “weakness” based on our own foolishness. Otherwise, we would only see
Jesus on the Cross as God’s foolishness and weakness. For those who have such a
view, there is no Resurrection.
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