“Go In Peace!”

“Go In Peace!”(II Kgs. 6:9-19a).
Namaan finally went to Elisha. Elisha sent a messenger to tell him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”
Namaan was slighted. He had expected Elisha to come out to him, invoke God to heal him. He wondered if the riverss of Damascus were not better enough than the waters of Israel. “So he turned and went off in rage.”
Again, it was servants who put some sense in him. They asked him if the prophet had asked him to perform a difficult task he wouldn’t have done it? What was so difficult to do as the prophet asked him to?
He went and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan “and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.”
The top brass of today still behave like Namaan when they are sick. They want the best and most expensive hospitals, the best doctors to attend to them and to be put in expensive private wards. However, doctors may administer treatment but it is God who heals. And his healing comes through some of the commonest ways and things – ways and things too common for our liking!
In his old age my father was suffering from a terminal illness. Each time he went to Acha-Tugi hospital they did not give him drugs above 2000frs CFA. The transport to Acha was more expensive than the cost of treatment. The story use to circulate of a wealthy Bamilikee who carried a lot of cash to Acha hospital then, expecting even an operation. They prescribed drugs to him not worth four thousand frs CFA. The man was so disappointed as he had expected to be charged highly.
We may not be totally wrong to assume that the long and expensive prescriptions today are due to lack of proper diagnosis.
Besides, healing through natural means is often downplayed. It worked in the hands of Elisha and the Lord Jesus Christ himself, and it still works today! We minimize or ignore them to our loss!
Again we note that those whose healing powers through ordinary plants come from God do not charge exorbitant amounts. A small chicken or a log of fire wood or a bottle of red oil was the charge. The strong belief is that when you charge anything more than that, the medicine will lose its potency.
Another phenomenon that is common in the spiritual healing ministry of the body of Christ – particularly among tele-evangelist healers – is that healing concentrates on displaying the power of the healer, rather than seeking to convert the healed.
Namaan was converted through his healing. He offered gifts as payment but Elisha refused.
Hear Namaan’s confession of faith after he was converted, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel.” He now considered himself a servant of Elisha and vowed that he “will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the LORD.
Namaan’s next words to Elisha can be helpful in the domain of inculturation.
Namaan told Elisha: “But may the LORD forgive your servant for this one thing: When my Master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I bow there also – when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD forgive your servant for this.”
The text says, Elisha told him, “Go in peace.”
Many people come to me asking whether it is right to be Christian and be members of dance groups of their communities? Of course, “Yes, it is right!” Apart from the fact that their presence in such groups fills the place with Christ – the new content – while inside there they still have unwavering devotion to the gospel. While humans regard the act and pass judgment, God sees the intention and makes his conclusions!
And you my friend, what conclusions have you drawn from this meditation?
Prayer: Holy Spirit help me to right conclusions, right decisions and right judgments. Amen!
Have a blessed day! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang