Eucharistic meditation, June 26

2 Kings 5:17: Naaman said to Elisha, “Your servant will no more offer burnt offering nor will he sacrifice to other gods, but to Yahweh.”

Naaman, we noted in the exhortation, was a baptized Gentile convert. That baptism in the Jordan healed him of his leprosy. That baptism was an act of humiliation, and marked and effected a change in character, as the “great man” was reborn as a “little boy.” Naaman illustrates the fact that all baptisms are infant baptisms, for every baptized person must come to the water as a little child, helplessly trusting His Father to heal and receive him.

Naaman also shows a profound insight into the significance of his baptism in the Jordan. He has been the servant of the king of Aram, “standing before” him and allowing the king to lean on his hand. Now, he calls himself the servant of Elisha, and stands before the Lord’s prophet. At his baptism, Naaman was transferred from one regime to another, from one Lord to another, from one loyalty to another. He continues his service to his king, but he continues that service guided by the instructions of Yahweh’s prophet.

Naaman also recognizes that being baptized in the Jordan places certain requirements on him with regard to worship. As a baptized Gentile, renewed in the saving flood, Naaman confesses that Yahweh alone is God and pledges to worship no other gods. He will not offer ascensions or slaughter sacrifices except to Yahweh. Through baptism, he is committed to be an exclusive worshiper of Israel’s God.

So also for us, baptism is, as Thomas Aquinas put it, a deputation, a kind of ordination, to a role in the worship of God. In baptism, we pledge that we will exclusively worship the Triune God, offering ascensions of praise only to Him and celebrating sacrificial meals only in His name. In baptism, we are pledged to sit at this table and to renounce the tables of demons. Our baptism qualifies us to draw near to God in worship. Baptism cleanses us from our defilements, and we are invited to draw near to the holy place with boldness.

For we are all Naaman. We are all by nature strangers and aliens to God, outside the commonwealth of Israel and without God in the world. However great we are in the world, we are lepers before God, apart from His grace in water and Word and Spirit. And so, I invite you, all who are baptized, to come near, to stand on this holy ground, to offer ascensions of praise in His presence and to enjoy a meal before Him.