Because we bear your name June–July 2025

Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken
a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she
served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress,
‘If only my lord were with the prophet who is in
Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.’ So
Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl
from the land of Israel had said (2 Kings 5:2–4).

There is an extraordinary story in the Old Testament about a little girl who speaks up about her faith, despite what was most probably a very difficult context.

Even though she has been made a slave and taken away to a foreign land, this little girl opens her mouth and declares the wonders of God’s grace even for Naaman the leper, the non-Israelite military commander of Syria, who had recently defeated Israel in battle.

This little girl, who is not even named in the Scriptures, tells of God’s word and promise. She could have just prayed for Naaman, and she probably did.

The fact that we are told that she was a ‘girl from the land of Israel’ and that she speaks of the prophet Elisha tells us that she is a person who walks by faith in the living God. To walk by faith means we can also speak what we know to be true.

The little girl spoke, pointing Naaman to our gracious God at work through the ministry of the prophet Elisha. Naaman goes to the prophet, and we are told that Naaman’s skin ‘was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean’.

The risen Lord Jesus told his followers that ‘repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem’. Then he said, ‘You are witnesses of these things.’

This is about ‘speaking’ our faith. We are sent to be heralds of what we know, like Mary, who was sent by the risen Lord to ‘Go!’ and ‘Tell!’ Mary met with the disciples and said, ‘I have seen the Lord!’

In our Lutheran Church, we often struggle with this thing of ‘speaking’ about our faith, especially with our family, friends or co-workers. Often, we feel that those around us who do not believe in the gospel might run rings around us if we speak of our faith.

Certainly, we can always grow in our abilities to explain what we believe. Certainly, we need to continue asking God to guide and instruct us in this task. Some people in the church are trained in ‘apologetics’, which is the discipline of arguing the truth of the gospel.

But it is also important to remember the image of the courtroom. How many people are doing the arguing in the court? Usually just two. In the courtroom, there are lots of witnesses but just a couple of lawyers. Our risen Lord Jesus says, ‘You will be my witnesses’ (Acts 1:8). The form of that witness might be as simple as the situation in which a faithful Christian says to her or his friend, ‘Actually … on Sunday, I go to church.’

A simple word of witness from an earnest and faithful Christian heart can make the world of difference in this world, where so many do not know the loving heart of our Gracious God. You might ask, ‘What difference could my lone little voice make?’ That didn’t seem to bother the little Israelite slave girl who spoke of her faith for the healing of Naaman.

A wise person once wrote: ‘If you think you’re too small to make a difference, you’ve obviously never been in bed with a mosquito.’

In Christ,

Paul

‘Lord Jesus, we belong to you,
you live in us, we live in you;
we live and work for you –
because we bear your name’