God’s Faithfulness to All Peoples

From the very beginning, God has had a plan to bring all people back to Himself. Despite our fallenness, He has never ceased calling us home. Throughout salvation history, God has used many means to accomplish this, beginning with His promise to Abraham and his descendants, the tribes of Israel. Through Israel, God revealed His saving power to the nations, as the psalmist proclaims: “The Lord has made known His salvation; His justice He has revealed to the nations.”

As Christians, we often take this for granted. Most of us are Gentiles by birth, yet we know that Christ came for the salvation of all, so that all who die with Him in baptism will live with Him. God remains faithful to His promises. This was true when Adam and Eve failed to keep theirs. It was true when Israel broke the covenant of the Law. And it remains true for us today, when we forget that we are sons and daughters of God.

Even before the coming of Christ, God’s faithfulness reached beyond the boundaries of Israel. In the Second Book of Kings, Naaman the Syrian, a foreign general and an enemy of Israel, was sent to the prophet Elisha seeking healing from leprosy. Elisha did not turn him away. Instead, he became the instrument of Naaman’s healing and conversion.

Naaman expected a display of power, a prophet’s gesture, a sacred incantation, some grand ritual worthy of a foreign dignitary. Instead, Elisha’s command was disarmingly simple: “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored.”

At first, Naaman was offended. “Are not the rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel?” But when he finally obeyed, humbling himself before the word of the Lord, he was made clean. The power of God was revealed to him in obedience and humility, not spectacle.

Naaman’s washing in the Jordan foreshadows the grace of baptism. Just as his body was healed through the water, our souls are cleansed and made new through the waters of baptism. What was once a physical sign of healing has become, in Christ, the instrument of a far greater gift, the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Spirit. Through the same sign, God now accomplishes something infinitely more profound. Naaman rose from the Jordan with restored flesh; we rise from baptismal waters with restored souls. What seemed too simple to be powerful is revealed, in the light of Christ, as the very means through which divine life is poured into us.

The same divine pattern continues in all the sacraments: God chooses simple, sensible signs. He uses water, oil, bread, and wine to communicate His invisible grace. In this, we see that humility and faith, not human strength, open the way to salvation.

Elisha refused any reward for his part in the miracle, recognizing that it was not his doing but the work of God. Naaman, in turn, renounced the false gods of his people and professed faith in the one true God. In him we see the early fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham: “Through you all the nations of the earth shall find blessing.”

Centuries later, Jesus would extend that same mercy to all. Like Naaman, ten lepers came to Him seeking healing. He sent them to the priests, as the Law required, and all were cleansed. Yet only one returned to give thanks, and he was not an Israelite but a Samaritan, an outsider. Falling at Jesus’ feet, glorifying God in a loud voice, he revealed what true faith looks like: gratitude and worship born from humility and love.

Both Naaman and the Samaritan remind us that God’s grace is offered freely to all, but it bears fruit only in hearts that respond with thanksgiving. Baptism opens the door to life with God, yet how often do we take that gift for granted, like the nine who never returned? Grace is never owed to us; it is always gift. To receive it well is to live in gratitude.

God’s saving plan has never changed. His mercy stretches from Eden to the Cross, from Israel to every nation. As Saint Paul writes, “If we have died with Him, we shall also live with Him; if we are faithless, He remains faithful for He cannot deny Himself.”

So let us strive to be like the Samaritan who returned, giving glory to God. Let us be like Naaman, who laid aside pride to obey the word of the Lord. God remains faithful to His promises, and through Christ, He has opened the covenant to all peoples.

We have been invited to the wedding feast. The question is whether we will accept the invitation with gratitude or walk away unmoved, forgetting the One who healed us.

You have been given a great gift. Treasure it. Live as one made clean, renewed in baptism, and restored in grace. God has done His part. It is up to us to return, to give thanks, and to live as His faithful children.