. Catholics are the only people in the world who truly respect “girls” who “serve” God.
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2 Kings 5:1-12 tells Catholics about a “little servant girl” who gave advice to a King’s most important subject!
“Naaman, the army commander of the king of Aram, was highly esteemed and respected by his master, for through him the LORD had brought victory to Aram.”
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This “army commander” was his nation’s military equivalent of Alexander the Great or Napoleon. Naaman had a Big Problem! “But valiant as he was, the man was a leper.”
Then, The Miracle of “a little servant girl”!
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“Now the Arameans had captured in a raid on the land of Israel a little girl, who became the servant of Naaman’s wife. The little girl said to her Mistress: ‘If only my master would present himself to the prophet in Samaria, he would cure him of his leprosy.’”
Naaman, and his wife, and The King were desperate to have the brilliant Commander cured! “Naaman went and told his lord just what the slave girl from the land of Israel had said.” The King needed to have his empire-winning leader cured! The King followed advice from a “a little servant girl”.
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“’Go,’ said the King of Aram. ‘I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.’” So Naaman set out, taking along ten silver talents, six thousand gold pieces, and ten festal garments.” That’s 7,200 ounces of silver, lots of gold, and expensive fabric worth around half a million dollars in today’s money! “To the King of Israel he brought the letter, which read: ‘With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy.”
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The King of Israel was suspicious! He thought Naaman was planning a way for The King of Aram to invade his Kingdom.
“When he read the letter, the King of Israel tore his garments and exclaimed: ‘Am I a god with power over life and death, that this man should send someone to me to be cured of leprosy? Take note! You can see he is only looking for a quarrel with me!’”
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Then, God entered the Story! “When Elisha, the man of God, heard that the King of Israel had torn his garments, he sent word to the King: ‘Why have you torn your garments? Let him come to me and find out that there is a prophet in Israel.” The King of Israel listened to The Prophet of God!
“Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. The prophet sent him the message: ‘Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will heal, and you will be clean.’”
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Naaman didn’t want to do that! “But Naaman went away angry, saying, ‘I thought that he would surely come out and stand there to invoke the LORD his God, and would move his hand over the spot, and thus cure the leprosy. Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?’ With this, he turned about in anger and left.”
Once again, servants saved the day! “But his servants came up and reasoned with him. ‘My father,’ they said, ‘if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary, would you not have done it? All the more now, since he said to you, ‘Wash and be clean,’ should you do as he said.’”
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Just as Naaman listened to advice from “a little girl”, he listened to his older servants! “So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. He returned with his whole retinue to the man of God. On his arrival he stood before him and said, ‘Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel.’”
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About 800 years later, a slightly older “servant girl” from Israel had an even greater influence on the Whole World! That “servant girl” told The Angel Gabriel, “I will be the handmaid of the Lord.”
Her obedience to God let His Son give us these “keys”! “And I say unto you thou art Peter and on this rock I build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I give you the keys to The Kingdom of Heaven.”
Good Catholics are blessed to honor and respect “servant girls” who obey God.
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Simple reasons to be Catholic. catholicfundamentalism.com
