Lessons From A Slave Girl

Communion

Let us turn to 1 Corinthians 11: 17-34 for a brief meditation on the meaning of the Lord’s supper before we partake in the same. Jesus instituted the Lord’s supper on the night of the Passover meal . Just as Passover celebrated the deliverance of from slavery from Egypt, the Lord’s supper celebrates deliverance from sin by Christ’s death. Our Lord said, “this is the new covenant, in my blood”. The old covenant allowed people to approach God only through the sacrificial system. Jesus’ death on the cross ushered in the new covenant or agreement between God and us. Now all people can approach God in a very personal way. Eating the bread and drinking the cup shows that we are remembering Christ’s death for us, and renewing our commitment to serve to Him. Lord asks us to do this in remembrance of Him. If the Lord’s supper becomes just a ritual, it loses it’s significance. Let us understand Paul’s instructions before we partake in this celebration today

1. We should take the Lord’s supper thoughtfully, because we are proclaiming that Christ died for our sins (11:26)

2. We should take it worthily, with due reverence and respect (11:27)

3. We should examine ourselves for any unconfessed sin or resentful attitude. (11:28) We are to be properly prepared , based on our belief in, and love for Christ

So let us take a few moments in silence to examine ourselves, and to thank Him for what he has done for us , even as we remember Him through this celebration.

Lessons from a Slave girl

In 2 Kings 5: 1-18, there is an interesting story. The soldiers of Aram had a good pastime, they used to invade Israel and take prisoners and make them their slaves. In one of such sorties they had taken a young girl captive and she was made the servant of Naaman’s wife. Naaman was the commander of the army of Aram, but he had leprosy. The servant girl , whose name is not recorded in the Bible, saw this and recommended to the wife that if he could see the prophet Elisha, the decease would get cured. Naaman listens to his wife ( as I always do..) and seeks permission from the King of Aram to go and visit the prophet . Israel was enemy kingdom and you needed the approval from the King to go seeking miracle curing from an enemy prophet. The King of Aram even goes to the extent of writing a letter to the King of Israel to cure Naaman, and the King of Israel gets worried over it, that he does not have the powers to do so. However Elisha hears about this and asks the King to send Naaman to him. Naaman had gone to Israel with a lot of money with him ( about 340 Kilograms of Silver and 70 Kilograms of Gold apart from 10 sets of clothing) he sure went prepared for a long inpatient treatment, and that is what the modern hospitals like Columbia Asia would have offered him. Naaman goes to Elisha’s house, but Elisha does not come out to see him, but sends a message to Naaman asking him to go and wash himself in the Jordan. Naaman gets angry that Elisha did not come out and do something miraculous, and walks away at first, but is convinced by his servants later and he agrees to do what the Prophet asked him to do . Naaman gets cured of his leprosy and gets converted into a believer in the Yahweh, and accepts Him as the only true God. He asks Elisha to accept a gift but Elisha politely refuses. Naaman asks for some soil from Israel, so that he can offer burnt offerings to the God of Israel, and seeks forgiveness in advance for some thing he would continue to do after he returns to Aram,

As I went through this story I was struck by three things and that is what the Lord wants me to speak about today.

First let us focus on the slave girl for a minute. Vs 2-3. We do not even know her name. She was taken captive , and kept as a servant. She was taken away from her parents and was in bondage. She had all the reasons to be mad at Aram, and had every reason to rejoice that he had leprosy. If I was in her position, I would probably have said, “Good.. he deserves it for doing this to me..” She had all the reasons to wallow in self pity and just mind her own business. She had plenty of reasons not to make recommendations to the master’s wife. There was every chance that the Madam or Naaman would pay no attention to the slave girl’s suggestion , or even worse there was a risk of her being thrown out of her job if she overstepped her “boundaries”.. But we see a very different reaction from this slave girl. She decides to make an attempt to influence Naaman go to Israel’s prophet.