What can be learned
from this story of Namaan in relation to the covenant bearing Gospel message
that Jesus is the crucified and resurrected Messiah and Lord of all? One of
the most significant parts of this story, upon which can be seized to make an
important analogy in relation to the plans and purposes of the Creator God and
the effects of Jesus’ Resurrection, is Namaan’s request for some of the dirt of
the land. As has been said, and can be appropriately extrapolated, Namaan
expressed a desire to return to Syria with a small part of the land of
Israel.
He intended to return
to his nation with a very small part of that which had been promised to the
Creator God’s covenant people. The
land---the very ground of Israel, as was and would be understood by all members
of the covenant people that would be exposed to this portion of Israel’s
narrative, was that which served to mark out the Creator God’s power to perform
His promises and prove His faithfulness to those that are called by His
Name.
Effectively, Namaan,
with what could appear to be a nod to a knowledge and understanding of the
significance of the land to Israel and of what it said about its relationship
with their God. Whether or not he was
fully apprised of the situation would not necessarily be relevant to an
outside-covenant observer, as the story indicates that Namaan wanted to make
his way back home with a measure of the very ground to be found in the land of
promise that the Creator God had promised to Abraham and his descendants as the
first-to-be-redeemed component of a once-good creation that would eventually
fully redeem through the messiah by the death-defeating power of the
Resurrection. Presumably, he did this so that even though he was
physically walking in one world---that being the land of Syria, he would be
able to possess a portion of the land of promise. Through that, he could count himself as one
of the Creator God’s covenant people, enjoying the Lord’s faithfulness in a way
that extended beyond his military prowess.
This can certainly
apply to believers in this day, for as one is in union with Christ, believing
in His Gospel by the faith that is said to be exercised by those that hear and
respond to the Gospel message which mysteriously contains the very power of
God, the believers finds himself in a position similar to that of Namaan.
Though he or she walks in this world in which they still find death and
corruption, and though their allegiances appear to be divided and their feet
become dirty as they walk the dusty paths of this world, through the mysterious
gift of the Spirit which somehow fosters a trusting allegiance in Jesus as the
powerful ruler of this world through the kingdom of God that was inaugurated at
His Resurrection, they carry the power of kingdom of heaven into this world as
vessels for God’s glory, being used to carry and exercise their God’s
transformative power, through compassionate acts of love and self-sacrifice, into
a still-fallen and groaning creation that awaits the final putting-down of an
already defeated foe named death.
As the Gospel is
proclaimed in both word and deed, and as those that make that proclamation and
live according to its demands embody the Creator God’s covenant faithfulness,
as the new creation that is the kingdom of heaven on earth breaks in upon this
present age, they figuratively carry two mule-loads of the dirt of the fully
restored creation---the consummated kingdom of God to which we look in hopeful
and trusting expectation---into this very world.
