7th Sunday after Pentecost
July 7, 2013
Psalm 30; 2 Kings 5:1-14
I find it rather fitting that our text this morning
involves the prophet Elisha. Elisha
didn’t start out as the main prophet in Israel; he was mentored by Elijah first
and only came into his own upon Elijah’s ascension. In a similar way, I have been working with
and learning from Pastor Ken the past two years and only now in his absence am
I the “pastor-in-charge.” The big, huge difference, of course, is that
Pastor Ken is coming back in August
and this is a temporary assignment. This
week has also been a personal lesson in going too far to identify with the
Scripture lesson. While I’ve been
reflecting on Naaman and his skin
condition, I have been dealing with poison ivy.
Note to self: always wear
gloves when pulling weeds. Given the lengths to which I will apparently go to relate
to the Scripture lesson, my husband has warned me that I’m not allowed to
preach on Job!
However, this story is about Naaman. There are a few things we know about
Naaman. He is an army commander for the
King of Aram, which is modern-day Syria.
And Naaman is a very successful military officer and thus held in high regard
by his King. It’s worth noting that the text points out that it was God who
gave Naaman the victories; he was not successful because of his skill or
experience, but because of God.
8:00 & 11:00 only: It appears, to quote from the first verse of our
opening hymn [UMH 139 - "Praise To the Lord, the Almighty"], that God is Naaman’s
health and salvation.
//However, it also appears
that Naaman is unaware of God. Finally,
the last thing we know about Naaman is that he suffers from a skin disease. The Bible calls it leprosy, though it may not
have been. “Leprosy” is one of those
generic Bible terms that just means “skin disease” and not necessarily the
specific disease of leprosy. I don’t
know if you’ve ever had problems with your skin – acne, rashes, eczema, bug
bites, chicken pox – but skin conditions are a pain in the butt. And you try creams and lotion and
over-the-counter things to try to remedy them, which I can attest sometimes
help and sometimes don’t. Some things
you just have to wait out and endure until they go away. So Naaman has a skin condition, but his
doesn’t go away.
The second character in our story is the servant girl. We know a few things about her, too. We know she’s from Israel, that she was
captured by the Arameans on a raid, that she’s young, and that she’s now a maid
for Naaman’s wife. We also know that she wants her captor to
be healed. And so she mentions to her
mistress that there is a prophet in her homeland who could cure Naaman of his
skin disease. Naaman’s wife tells Naaman
and Naaman tells his King.
Have
you ever played the telephone game, where the first person relays a message
like: “a million monkeys sat down and typed Shakespeare;” it gets passed from
person to person, and by the time it gets to the last person the message has
become “on my left are guys that own a shack of bears”? It appears something like that happens with
the servant girl’s message because the King of Aram sends Naaman to the King of Israel, not directly to the prophet.
The Aramean King also sends with Naaman a letter of introduction and
gifts befitting a major state visit.
However, the King of Israel does not receive this visit
very well. He tears his clothes and
yells, “I can’t cure Naaman of his skin disease! Does the King of Aram think I’m God? He’s tryin’ to start somethin’!” Keep in mind that, much like today, Israel
and Syria are not exactly allies, they’re actually kinda hostile to each other
and the King of Israel isn’t sure if Naaman’s visit isn’t just an excuse for
Aram to declare outright war, since the King of Israel knows full well he can’t
cure Naaman.
Fortunately,
or, since this is the Bible, providentially,
Elisha hears of this disastrous state visit and sends a messenger to the King
to say “Don’t worry, send Naaman to me so that he may learn that there is a
prophet in Israel.” It’s interesting,
that phrase “so that.” The guest
speakers at Annual Conference this year were Tom Berlin and Lovett Weems, who
together wrote a book called “Bearing Fruit: Ministry with Real Results.” They place a lot of emphasis on the phrase “so that.” Why do we do each of our various ministries
at the church? So that we accomplish our mission of making disciples of Jesus
Christ. If the ministry is not doing
that, if it’s not bearing fruit, then we need to re-evaluate it and re-align it
with our mission. Why does Elisha ask
the King to send Naaman to him? So that he may learn that there is a
prophet in Israel. And, indeed, Naaman
has some learning to do.
Naaman
arrives at Elisha’s house in full military regalia with an impressive
entourage. But what does Elisha do? He
sends out a messenger! Here comes
this top dog military official from an unfriendly country and Elisha doesn’t
even bother meeting him in person, much less invite him inside! Instead, he sends a message: “Go, wash in the
River Jordan seven times. Your skin
shall be healed and you shall be clean.”
Naaman is outraged. Have you ever
suffered from a long illness, and you get to the point where you’re just tired
of not feeling well, and those treating you aren’t doing what you expected and
you aren’t feeling any better and you just lose it? That’s where Naaman is. He’s tired of dealing with this disease. He’s made the trip to an “inferior”
country. He went to their King, who was
offended by his visit and said he couldn’t do anything. He’s now gone to the house of this prophet, and now that joker won’t even come out,
won’t even see him, and just gives him instructions to go wash in this filthy
nothing podunk stream. Naaman has had
it. Elisha’s probably lucky that Naaman
didn’t burn his house down. However, on
major medical visits, it’s always good to have someone else there with you,
someone who also hears what the doctor says and can remember it in case you
forget it, someone else who can also interpret the doctor’s directions. And in this case, it’s Naaman’s servants, his
big entourage. And they timidly approach
him and carefully word what they say to him: “Father,” a term of address for a
high government official, “if the prophet had commanded you to do something
hard and heroic, wouldn’t you have done it? So why not this simple ‘wash and be
clean’?” Why not try it? What have you got to lose? In Naaman’s case, his pride. In order to attempt this cure, to see if it
might work, Naaman must humble himself and wash in this little Israelite
stream, which just can’t compare to the grand rivers of his home country. But Naaman’s suffered enough and finally
agrees to try it. He swallows his pride
and goes and washes himself seven times in the River Jordan, just like Elisha
said, and his skin is restored and he is clean, just as Elisha promised. Naaman does indeed learn that there is a
prophet in Israel. And if you keep
reading, you find that Naaman not only learns that, but also that there is no
other god besides the God of Israel.
This is the one true God, who does act and restore, even if in
unexpected ways. Naaman almost let his
pride get in the way of his healing. He
felt angry and insulted and humiliated because he didn’t feel that Elisha
showed him the proper respect according to his status. And it’s true, Elisha didn’t. Naaman had to overcome those feelings and put
aside those slights in order to be restored back to health.
I
don’t know what malady you’re dealing with this morning. I don’t know if it’s a physical one, or
mental or emotional or spiritual. God knows what it is. I do
know that God can and will heal and restore you.
8:00 & 11:00 only: The fourth verse of our opening hymn states that the
Lord is the One “who doth nourish thy life and restore thee.”
//The secret to the gift, to
any gift, is that it has to be received.
God will restore you, will heal you, if you will let him. He will nourish your life and restore
you. Promise. Whether your podunk little stream is
literally a dirty river or whether it involves swallowing your pride and being
the first to say “I’m sorry,” God will direct you to it and tell you to dive in. Keep in mind, God doesn’t always work how we want
him to; the stream may not be what you’re expecting it to be. His ways are not our ways but his way is the
one that leads to life. And he offers us
life abundant, if you will but receive it.
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