Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy” (2 Kings 5:2-3).

When the show Lost aired its final episode in 2010, reactions were mixed. Some felt that, after a meandering few middle seasons, the writers managed to land the plane nicely. Others found the ending unsatisfying and hokey. What was shared among almost all fans of the show was a frustration at how many plot points had been left unresolved. So many questions went unanswered!

This week’s passage is best remembered as “Naaman’s Healing.” The military commander from the kingdom of Aram (modern-day Syria) is afflicted with a skin disease. He has not found relief among the healers of his own people and is directed to the prophet Elisha in the kingdom of Israel. Aram and Israel are peoples in conflict, and those tensions are on display in the interactions between Naaman and Elisha.

Though Elisha and Naaman are the protagonists of this story, one could argue that the most important character is an unnamed girl, an Israeli slave. She was taken from her home and her people and forced into service in the household of an enemy whose customs and religious practices were foreign. It would have been understandable if she responded to Naaman’s illness with a “Serves him right!” or a “Couldn’t care less!” attitude. Instead, she acts counter-culturally. She shows compassion, takes a risk, and suggests Naaman go to a people and a land he dislikes, who serve a God he doesn’t worship. There are many ways this could go badly for her. 

And then we don’t hear anything else about her. Does she travel with Naaman to see the prophet? Is her compassion rewarded? Is she freed and returned to her people? If not, what was the point in her taking the risk and acting counter-culturally? Is God content to leave her a slave? So many questions left unanswered! While Naaman’s story is resolved, hers is not. 

Ethnic and racial tensions persist in the world, in our country, and even in our communities. We see people responding with either combativeness, denial, or apathy, all of which merely contribute to the tensions remaining unresolved. We may think those are the only options. Anything else may feel too risky or charged. Many of us have risked a different response in the past only to feel like it didn’t lead anywhere. Things remained unresolved.

God's way of resolution does not run along lines of combativeness, denial or apathy.  The servant girl's counter-cultural acts of compassion, love and care anticipate in a small way God's great reconciling work in Jesus.  The New Testament tells us that Jesus has torn down the dividing walls of hostility, reconciling all people to God and therefore to each other.  Though we do not yet see this resolution in all its fullness, Jesus invites us to participate in it now by walking his counter-cultural pathway as we face the many unresolved tensions that continue to plague our world.

The story would have gone in a very different direction had the young girl responded in the culturally expected way to the tensions between her people and Naaman’s. Responding counter-culturally opened the door for a miracle and a change of heart. Pray for God to reveal areas or situations where you might be responding to ethnic or racial tensions in the culturally expected way and ask him to give you what you need to step into his counter-cultural path.