[stephenkhoo]

BAPTISM A GIFT FOR ALL WHO HAVE HUMILITY IN FAITH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ 2 Kings 5:1-15; Psalm 42:2-3, 42:3-4; Luke 4:24-30]

What made the people turn against Jesus when He was initially received with praises? After proclaiming the scriptures, Jesus said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” The evangelist noted, “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.” (Lk 4:21f) From being amazed at how Jesus had grown in wisdom, they became skeptical and envious of Him. They rejected Him because He was one of them. But what angered them was Jesus’ comparison of their refusal to accept Him to the rejection of the prophets in the Old Testament. He said, “I tell you solemnly, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country.”

But the last straw was when He included the Gentiles when he spoke of the gospel. Jesus cited two examples of Elijah and Elisha, both of whom were great prophets of reformation. But the people did not accept them. So both went over to Syria. After commanding a drought in Palestine, Elijah took refuge in Sidon and performed miracles to sustain a widow and her son who was in famine, and revived the son who died. (cf 1 Kg 17) Elisha too healed the Syrian commander, Naaman, from leprosy, which we read in today’s first reading. Even though they were Gentiles, their prayers were answered because of their faith in God. When the Jews heard how Jesus considered the Gentiles as being embraced by God, they were furious because they saw themselves as being the people of the Covenant. Only they deserved to be saved, whereas all the Gentiles were destined for hell.

However, Jesus was clear that the gospel was meant not just for the Jews but for all. Indeed, this is the theme of Luke the evangelist. Already at the birth of our Lord, Luke presented the story of the Magi who came from Persia (Iran) to worship the Infant Baby. They were astrologers and of course Gentiles, whereas the Jews in the person of Herod, the priests, and the scribes did not welcome Jesus the infant king. Like the villagers of Jesus, they saw Him as a threat to their status quo. Herod even went to the extent of exterminating children of Jesus’ age. But for Luke, Jesus’ Inauguration message which kicked off His public ministry, spoke of proclaiming the Good News to the poor. This is the context of today’s gospel. But the Jews could not accept that the Gentiles would be welcomed. Hence, “when they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They sprang to their feet and hustled him out of the town; and they took him up the brow of the hill their town was built on, intending to throw him down the cliff, but he slipped through the crowd and walked.”

Indeed, this is the Good News – the gift of baptism, which the season of Lent is preparing us for, is given to all those who have faith in Him. It is not the privilege of a few or some special group of people. Naaman who washed himself in the river Jordan anticipated the baptism of John the Baptist and Christian baptism. Naaman “went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, as Elisha had told him to do. And his flesh became clean once more like the flesh of a little child.” He was made new again. This is what baptism does for us. We become a new creation and a child of God. We are purified of our sins and become a new person in Christ. Cleansed of leprosy caused by sin, we are now re-integrated into the community of Christ.

But faith is a pre-requisite. Baptism is a Sacrament of faith. Sacrament means a sign of an invisible grace. Baptism is administered to those who already have faith in the Lord. It is an external sign of their desire to belong to the Lord and be identified with Him. This is why a candidate for baptism is baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity so that he or she belongs to God. Without faith, there is no baptism. For the child, it is the faith of the parents.

This explains why Jesus refused to perform miracles in His hometown because they did not have faith in Him. They were seeking for proofs and spectacular signs. Naaman initially did not have faith in the God of Israel although he had faith in the power of Elisha to heal him. He came with the confidence that Elisha would perform a great miracle before him. However, the prophet refused even to meet him but instead sent a messenger to tell him “to bathe seven times in the Jordan”, and his “flesh will become clean once more.” But Naaman was indignant because his faith was not founded on the God of Israel but simply on Elisha. He went off saying, “Here was I thinking he would be sure to come out to me, and stand there, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the spot and cure the leprous part. Surely Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, are better than any water in Israel? Could I not bathe in them and become clean?’ And he turned round and went off in a rage.”

Humility is the gateway to faith. “Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten festal robes.” He was somebody after all. Even the King wrote a letter on his behalf. He thought with power, honour and position, Elisha would bow down to him. He thought money and power could buy the gift of God. Little did he know that the Lord only heals one who is humble. But where do we acquire such humble faith?

We need the help of others who have faith. This is why baptism requires a sponsor or a god-parent. We cannot grow in faith by ourselves. We need people to lead us to Jesus, to show us the way to grow in faith. In the case of Naaman, it was the little girl, the servant of Naaman’s wife that actually inspired him. She said to her mistress, “If only my master would approach the prophet of Samaria. He would cure him of his leprosy.” Later on, when his pride made him rebellious, “his servants approached him and said, ‘My father, if the prophet had asked you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? All the more reason, then, when he says to you, ‘Bathe and you will become clean.'” So, for faith to grow, we need others to journey with us, before baptism and after baptism. We never travel in faith alone but with others who have faith.

It is also significant that Elisha did not come out to perform a miracle before the eyes of Naaman. This is because he wanted Naaman to know that the healing power did not come from him but from the God of Israel. Elisha had no intention of drawing Naaman, a great army commander to him. He knew that his task was to lead Naaman to know the true God of the earth. This is an important reminder for us all as ministers of healing, preaching and sacraments. We must be careful that we do not draw people away from God and to ourselves when we minister to them. We must be clear that our task is to be a channel for them to encounter God personally. Once that is done, like John the Baptist, we must decrease and let God increase.

This is perhaps the greatest temptation of ministers when we are concerned more about ourselves than about God. Not only do we focus on ourselves, but sometimes we have self-interests. We perform God’s works to benefit ourselves. Elisha, after healing Naaman, refused to accept the gifts from him. Naaman said to Elisha, “‘Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant.’ But he said, ‘As the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will accept nothing!’ He urged him to accept, but he refused.” (2 Kg 5:15-16) St Paul too refused to accept any payment for his service in the proclamation of the gospel. “But I have made no use of any of these rights, what then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.” (1 Cor 9:15,18) This is the sincerity of the preacher or the minister, so that no one can accuse him of making profits out of his ministry. In contrast, his servant, Gehazi was greedy. When Elisha rejected his gifts, he went after Naaman to ask for money using the name of Elisha. As a consequence, he was struck with leprosy himself for lying and for being greedy. (cf 2 Kg 5:19-27) The one who conveyed the Good News himself was blinded by greed and did not see God’s power.

It is a very important lesson for all of us who are already baptized. Let us not be too confident of our faith, as if we know everything, or our spiritual life is very mature. We could fall into sin like the servant of Elisha, be tempted to greed, lust and power. Although we might know about God and our faith, it does not mean that we will always live in the truth. So we must always keep our faith alive by deepening it and in humility to learn from others because we are all growing in faith together as a community.