Beyond Borders: The Scandal of the Jordan
Monday of the Third Week of Lent
2 Kings 5:1–15; Psalm 42–43; Luke 4:24–30
“As a deer longs for running streams…”
The psalm speaks of thirst.
Not curiosity. Not interest. Thirst.
Naaman also thirsts — though he would never use that word. He is powerful, successful, respected. But he is diseased.
And he does something strange.
A Syrian general travels to Israel — a small, unstable nation — to seek healing.
He protests:
“Are not the rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel?”
It is a fair question.
Why leave strong rivers for the muddy Jordan?
Why would a great civilization go to a small one for help?
Translate that into today.
Why would a Taiwanese professional walk into a tiny church surrounded by magnificent temples?
Why would a Chinese intellectual listen to a powerless rural Christian community?
Are there not older philosophies? Deeper traditions? More refined wisdom?
The question is not absurd.
It is honest.
Naaman’s real struggle is not geography. It is surrender.
The Jordan is not impressive. That is the point.
Healing waits where pride must bend.
He must listen to a servant girl. Obey a prophet who does not even greet him. Wash like a child.
The river is small. The humiliation is large.
Only when he kneels does he rise healed.
And then he says something explosive:
“Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.”
That is not cultural superiority. Israel was weak.
It is a confession: God is not where power is. God is where He chooses to reveal Himself.
In the Gospel, Jesus reminds Nazareth of this. God blessed outsiders. Grace crossed borders.
They are enraged.
Why?
Because if God acts freely, we cannot control Him.
Here is the scandal for us.
The Church still makes a claim that sounds impossible:
That the God who revealed Himself in Israel has acted decisively in Jesus Christ. That Christ is not one spiritual option among many — but the living Lord.
In Taiwan, in China, in a tiny parish with no influence, this sounds even more defiant than Naaman’s confession.
And yet Christianity has never rested on numbers.
It began with a crucified man and a handful of frightened followers.
If Christ did not rise, the Church is unnecessary.
If He did rise, then even the smallest community gathered in His name stands at the center of reality.
Not because it is powerful. But because He is present.
The psalm says we thirst.
Naaman shows that thirst must humble us.
Nazareth warns that pride can reject grace.
The real question is not whether other rivers exist.
They do.
The question is this:
Where has God truly acted?
And if He has acted in Christ — will we walk to the Jordan?
Even if it costs us face.
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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© 2025 Krakus.
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