2 Kings 5 :: Naaman Takes a Bath

Dear Ashley,                                                        11 April 2024

                 

 

9. So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.

10 And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.

11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.

12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.

13 And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?

14 Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

15 And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.

You texted me, "I just wish you would respect me."  

My response was: "Please ask your mother whether she thinks that I respect you."  I hope you did not feel disaffected by that response.  Your mother and I are one flesh.  Save God, no one knows me better than she.  

 

   I imagine you one day will probably ask her, so life here is not finished.  Asking your mother will then be a simple thing to do, for so long as you are with her.

 

School Bus Driving: 

    Driving a school bus was a mistake. I should not have taken that job. It was too hard on the family for me to be gone so much of the day, 4-5 hours in the morning and the same in the afternoon/evening. As well, even before then, the Lord had put it on my heart to become a substitute teacher. 

 
  When you ask your mother, may you treasure her response.  

    You used the verb form of respect, which (below) the Google definition has for its opposite, to despise. That suggests that I do not love you. That is unthinkable for me. You learn such speech from this culture, but not from Christ.  

Martin Buber: 

   Christ teaches us to engage and subject ourselves one to another. A modern rabbi, Martin Buber, wrote the standard expression for Western culture regarding how to treat another as one made in the image of God, in his compact seminal work, I and Thou.  (As well, here is a brief but helpful description of the difference between the childish "I/It relationship" and the maturing-in-Christ relationship characterized by "I/Thou." I was about your age when I read Buber's "I/Thou."

     My nutshell synopsis of Buber's I/Thou is that I will always be willing to listen to another person inasmuch as I truly respect him or her, all the more so, should the matter seems important to that person, would I deem it necessary to take his words seriously. But in essence, I treat him like "an authentic other being" (This is the diametrical opposite of solipsism, which in its extreme sees none other in existence save himself). 

      I read Buber's book when I was 21 years of age, my first summer in Boone, NC, and I was struck through by it. I realized that I needed to use it as a model for my growth in Christ and proceeded to embed it as a habit for how I related to other people. In raising children, we should not swerve from this, but rather endeavor to stop and listen to them when they call upon us. 

     Listen to them; and give them a serious response. To not listen to another party is to create a state of war, and to judge the other person, at the least as being one not worthy of your time. This is not flattering. Nor does it predict well growth in the freedom of Christ.  Rather, it predicts well the fall into addiction and enslavement to one's own aberrant desires. 

  

      My wife knows me best of all people here on this earth.  As often as not, your mother's strongest expression may be her facial expression, her body posture, and the tone of her voice if she speaks.  Sometimes her best answer is in the absence of speech.  But she always gives an answer, for she loves you and sacrifices for you daily. She is the quintessential mother.  If you need a kidney, you've got one from her.  

  

   If I do not listen to others, then my position is not so much unlike Naaman's hesitation to wash in the Jordan river seven times, when his servant told him, his hesitation was only related to his pride, for he would have done it without hesitation had he been told to do some difficult and challenging task.  

I and Thou: 

     However, from Buber, we learn to treat others the way we would want to be treated if the shoe were on the other foot.  If I were to tell you that I believe you do not respect me, I would tell you in person, given the gravity of the topic.  

    As well,  I would feel it keenly incumbent upon me to provide at least a few salient examples of action and/or speech which fit the definition of respect below (Google Search).  

     With Buber, I learned that I inherit a responsibility to listen carefully to a person's response, but not to isolate myself from that person, merely shoot arrows from afar.  Rather, I would engage you and treat you with the respect of being what Buber terms "an authentic other." My work as a teacher was useful in helping me practice a habit to treat all students equally.  Still, my ability to listen well is compromised when I am not face-to-face, in person. Raising children, we need to be face-to-face as much as we can.  This is why driving a bus was such a bad idea for income. 

     Each person in my family needs me very much. Driving a trash truck would take even more time, 14 hours a day, beginning in Durham between 1 and 3 a.m., and finishing at 3 in the afternoon, then driving an hour home in heavy rush hour traffic from Durham. 

 

Buber's Breath of Eternal Life: 

Quote: "Unlike the usual philosophical endeavor, this book [I and Thou] does not build an argument or make a case about a particular interpretation of the world or some aspect of it. Rather, Buber's seminal work begins with a key insight into our way of being in the world and goes on to weave an intricate web of variations on this theme, creating, if you let it, a sense of his core insight in the reader's own mind. Reading this book is not about reading a philosophical argument or thesis but rather about giving oneself up to the man and his insight: that there are two fundamental ways for us to be in the world, as subjects relating to objects (in order to use them for ourselves) or as subjects relating to subjects (which recognize ourselves in that which meets us at the other end of the "relation"). For Buber this is what it is all about. And, he tells us, we cannot choose one or the other but must (and do) have both though it is easy for us to lose sight of the subjectness of others when we embrace their objectness. And so he bangs away at the need to see the subjectness, not only in other persons but in other aspects of the world as well, and, indeed, in the world itself, holding that to "see" the subjectness that is there, in the world as a whole (through relating in this manner to its parts), is to see God. And this is where it gets somewhat abstruse for he offers no proof of God in the ordinary sense but rather the assertion alone that we must have access to the subjective aspect of being in order to fully live our lives and that this assumes God."

Google Search <respect>
re·spect

/rəˈspek(t)/

noun  a feeling of deep admiration for

1. a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements.
Example: "the director had a lot of respect for Douglas as an actor"
Similar: Esteem, regard, high regard, high opinion, acclaim, admiration, approbation, approval, appreciation, estimation, favor, popularity, recognition, veneration, awe, reverence, deference, honor, praise, homage,
Opposite: contempt

2. due regard for the feelings, wishes, rights, or traditions of others.
Example:  "young people's lack of respect for their parents"

Similar: Due regard, consideration, thoughfulness, attentiveness, politeness, courtesy, civility, deference,

Opposite: disrespect

verb

admire (someone or something) deeply, as a result of their abilities, qualities, or achievements.

"she was respected by everyone she worked with"

Similar: esteem, admire, think highly of, have a high opinion of, hold in (high) esteem, think much of, approve of, appreciate, cherish, value, set (great) store by, prize, treasure, look up to, pay homage to, venerate, revere, reverence, adulate, worship, idolize, put on a pedestal, lionize, hero-worship, honor, applaud, praise, favor,

Opposite: despise