Letting Go to Find Our Life!

He tries everything in his power but to no avail. The bigger, more difficult and exacting the solution, the more 
likely, he believes, there will be a positive result for him. Nothing works. Finally, a young, insignificant 
person offers a simple, unexciting solution to which the man scoffs and resists until he becomes so desperate 
there is no other choice. He is confronted with something that requires humility and simplicity. His power 
and wealth are useless, and he curses his powerlessness, the absolute ordinariness of what is required of him 
but gives in and finds new life.
There is an ancient version about a Syrian called Naaman (2 Kings 5:1-14). He was a powerful commander 
in the army and well-respected. A hard working, wealthy, powerful man, possibly ‘self-made’ and driven. He 
commanded and people responded. He decided and it happened. His master, the King, respected Naaman and 
all was good – except he contracted leprosy – probably an irritating skin affliction.
Naaman sought help from every quarter – he had the resources to search far and wide, but nothing cured 
him of his skin affliction. He had access to the best, but nothing worked. On one of its military raids, his army 
had taken Jewish servants and kept them as slaves, and he had one in his house. She quietly suggested Naaman 
consult the powerful prophet in Israel – he would cure him of his disease. Naaman probably scoffed but was 
also desperate and approached his master, the King, for permission, which was duly granted. The King wrote 
to the King of Israel suggesting he do what was necessary to cure his commander! The King of Israel was 
deeply troubled, knowing he had nothing that could fix the man’s disease. The prophet, Elisha intervened and 
told the King to send the man to him. Naaman turned up with horses and chariots and servants and gifts of 
gold. He was expecting something grand and decisive and would pay handsomely for it – that was the way 
of his world.
Elisha didn’t even go out and talk to Naaman but simply told his messenger to tell Naaman to go and wash 
seven times in the Jordan River. Naaman was cynical and angry. Why would he wash in that filthy creek??! 
It was nothing compared to mighty rivers back home and it was muddy and awful! His desperate servants, 
probably sick of his ranting and anger, pleaded with him: ‘Master, if the prophet had told you to do something 
big and grand, would you have done it? So why not do as he says.’ Naaman went out and stripped off his 
clothes, that which defined him and set him apart from ordinary people. Naked and powerless he waded into 
the filthy water and washed and washed and washed – seven times. He was cleansed.
It is a fascinating story that is really quite confronting. It points to a powerful, influential man used to being 
in control having to let go and become vulnerable and humbled. Naaman was happier trying the harder things, 
proving himself, earning his healing or paying for it from his own wealth – doing something in his power and 
control. He is invited to do the easier, unspectacular thing and can’t cope with it. 
Is the unspectacular easier thing always the easiest thing to do? That was the question one commentator 
asked, and I wondered? Recently I read some reviews and articles about and by Paul Kalanithi who was an 
American neurosurgeon. He had studied in various different fields before finding his calling to be a doctor, a 
neurosurgeon. He spoke of the list of patients who had illnesses to be diagnosed and treatments to be found. 
He spoke of long days in surgery that were mostly fulfilling and sometimes exhilarating, but also difficult. 
Then Paul became ill. The symptoms were slow at first and then progressed until he was diagnosed with 
metastatic lung cancer. He wanted to be part of the team overseeing his treatment, but he couldn’t – he had to 
learn to become a patient! Paul had to let go of the status, authority, power and everything he had and felt as 
a doctor diagnosing and treating disease and curing patients of their illness. 
As the disease progressed and the various therapies impacting his body, Paul was left incredibly weak, 
unable to do anything but sit in a chair and be. There he re-learned to pray and reflect and sit quietly. It was 
an impossible lesson early on until he had no choice – it was difficult to let go. When their daughter was born, 
Paul was filled with the most profound joy and wonder, more than he had ever experienced. Their lives 
overlapped only briefly but he experienced deep joy in her simple presence. He spoke of this vulnerable, 
helpless space of powerlessness where he encountered deep and profound life and wonder. Is it easier to 
choose the simple thing? I suspect not, because we have to let go of all our control and the complexity, we 
build around ourselves. Perhaps that is why Jesus says that it is the poor in spirit who have received the 
Reflection Notes – 6/7/25
4
th Sunday after Pentecost – Geoff Stevenson
Kingdom of Heaven – they are in the place of vulnerable powerlessness and open to grace that comes in the 
face of God through the simple and profound.
In the Gospel story (Luke 10:1-11, 16-20), Jesus appoints and sends seventy followers to out into the 
surrounding country and tells them to take the love and peace they have experienced and share it with those 
they meet. They are to take nothing else with them but depend upon hospitality and welcome. When they 
are embraced by a village, stay and share grace, heal the sick and bring peace and life in his name. If rejected, 
then leave and find somewhere else. It is a commission to go deep, build relationship and enter into the 
realities of each other’s lives. They are to break bread, share the wine and food, heal the sick, drive out the 
daemons of life that burden one another and hallow the space they share together.
The commission to take nothing with them, to let go of control and go, as it were ‘naked’ into the world 
sounds absurd and ineffective and yet, they return sometime later with joyful stories of life and hope and 
wonder. It feels counter-intuitive and counter-cultural, against our best instincts as we move further into 
complexity and chaos as we tangle ourselves into knots, seeking evermore complex answers, more control 
and power over the situations of our lives. 
It is in the naked vulnerability of life that we really discover who we are and can be. When all the dross 
and baggage is cast aside and the swagger, control and dependency upon wealth, position, power or privilege, 
is diminished that we find the way forward, the way to life and hope – together. We cannot do this alone, and 
we discover that there are people we dismiss and deride who will be significant gifts in our journey, simple 
people with simple lives. 
God invites us into the simple vulnerable space of inclusive community that welcomes, loves, shares food 
and life and recognises the sacred and holy in our midst! The ‘easy way’ is often harder because we must let 
go of control and power. Perhaps we need to ‘let it happen to us’ rather than making it happen to someone or 
something else. We are invited to set aside the complex, difficult possibilities that require little of us except 
to maintain control, power and the status quo – and choose the simple path of love. Jesus invites us to Love 
God with all we are and our neighbour as ourselves. This is all we are asked to do and in this path, we discover 
life in God that is rich and filled with grace and hope. We discover the healing and life Naaman did, and as 
Paul Kalanithi did!