Too Easy? – Sermon July 4, 2010
July 4, 2010
Scripture: 2 Kings 5: 1-14
Naaman was general of the army under the king of Aram. He was important to his master, who held him in the highest esteem because it was by him that GOD had given victory to Aram: a truly great man, but afflicted with a grievous skin disease. It so happened that Aram, on one of its raiding expeditions against Israel, captured a young girl who became a maid to Naaman’s wife. One day she said to her mistress, “Oh, if only my master could meet the prophet of Samaria, he would be healed of his skin disease.”
Naaman went straight to his master and reported what the girl from Israel had said. “Well then, go,” said the king of Aram. “And I’ll send a letter of introduction to the king of Israel.”
Naaman delivered the letter to the king of Israel. The letter read, “When you get this letter, you’ll know that I’ve personally sent my servant Naaman to you; heal him of his skin disease.”
When the king of Israel read the letter, he was terribly upset, ripping his robe to pieces. He said, “Am I a god with the power to bring death or life that I get orders to heal this man from his disease? What’s going on here? That king’s trying to pick a fight, that’s what!”
Elisha the man of God heard what had happened, that the king of Israel was so distressed that he’d ripped his robe to shreds. He sent word to the king, “Why are you so upset, ripping your robe like this? Send him to me so he’ll learn that there’s a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman with his horses and chariots arrived in style and stopped at Elisha’s door.
Elisha sent out a servant to meet him with this message: “Go to the River Jordan and immerse yourself seven times. Your skin will be healed and you’ll be as good as new.” Naaman lost his temper. He turned on his heel saying, “I thought he’d personally come out and meet me, call on the name of GOD, wave his hand over the diseased spot, and get rid of the disease. The Damascus rivers are cleaner by far than any of the rivers in Israel. Why not bathe in them? I’d at least get clean.” He stomped off, mad as a hornet.
But his servants caught up with him and said, “Father, if the prophet had asked you to do something hard and heroic, wouldn’t you have done it? So why not this simple ‘wash and be clean’?” So he did it. He went down and immersed himself in the Jordan seven times, following the orders of the Holy Man. His skin was healed; it was like the skin of a little baby. He was as good as new.
Sermon: Too Easy?
By Rev. Doreen Oughton
Today’s story from the Hebrew scripture is a story of power and powerlessness, pride and humility, entitlement and gratitude. We are first introduced to Naaman, a commander in the king’s army, the king of Aram. He’s had many victories for the king, and reaped the benefits. He has the king’s ear, in addition to wealth and acclaim throughout the kingdom. The next character in the story we meet is a girl, a captive from a battle with Israel, now kept in the house of Naaman as servant to his wife. Could there be a person with less power – a prisoner, a foreigner, a female, a child? We don’t know how long she has served Naaman’s wife, or whether it was Naaman himself who grabbed her from her home in Israel. But just before we meet this nameless girl, we are given a fact about Naaman that changes the power dynamic between the two.
For all his success and fame and connections to power, Naaman is powerless in the face of his disease. He’s got leprosy, a disease that is systemic, that is carried in the bloodstream to the internal organs. It gets into the bones and joints and marrow and causes the deterioration of tissue and of muscle. It brings about deformities, the loss of fingers and toes, hands and feet. At the time of this story, Naaman’s leprosy is probably in the early stages, but imagine his dread as he anticipates where it is going. The fear must cast a pall over the entire household. Imagine the anger, despair, and depression that is triggered by each sign of progression. The child feels it. And somehow, by some miracle, she has compassion in her heart for this commander, this person whose success in battle brought about her own enslavement and separation from her people. But she witnesses to what she knows is the true power of Israel, their God and God’s prophets. “If only,” she says, “if only this commander were with the prophet in Northern Israel. He would cure him.” And so a word of testimony dropped from a compassionate heart reaches the ear of the commander, then reaches the ear of the king of Aram, then reaches the ear of the king of Israel! The word of a captive servant moves and shakes the halls of power.
And the king of Israel is shaken. He misses the point about the true source of power of Israel. He takes this letter not as a sincere recognition of the power of Israel’s God, but as a challenge to his own power, a set up to pick a fight. Not a very faithful king, but at least one that is aware of his own limitations. Didn’t even think about praying and asking God to intervene.
We are then introduced to Elisha, the previously unnamed prophet of God. Now the history of relationship between kings and prophets of Israel has not been so good. The prophets are usually calling out the rulers on the injustice of the power structure, on the poverty of faithful action, on the ungodly way rulers hold their power. They usually predict destruction and exile, and they usually end up right. So perhaps it is not surprising that the king of Israel did not immediately think of calling on a prophet for help when he received this difficult letter. But as happened between the captive girl and the powerful of Aram, the Israeli halls of power were moved by the word of the prophet. “Stop tearing your clothes. Send him to me, and I’ll teach him about the true power of Israel.”
And so Naaman leaves the king of Israel with his entourage of chariots and horses and servants, off to the home of the prophet. The king of Israel gave great weight to the request of the king of Aram for Naaman, but this prophet won’t even come out of his house to greet him, to find out about the problem first hand, to bask in the glory of being called upon by the wealthy and famous and powerful. No, Elisha sends someone else with his instructions for healing. Naaman is quite open with his reaction to this. He doesn’t put on a good face, he doesn’t bother with courtesy, but makes known that his treatment was not up to his expectation. Is he thinking about how many people more powerful and influential than this Israeli prophet have fawned over him, even with his illness? Is he thinking about the treatments he’s paid for in his homeland which at least stroked his ego if they didn’t cure his illness. He’s not even going to bother with this nonsense. Bathing in that muddy Jordan river, seven times no less. No thanks.
How often do our ideas about how things are supposed to be done affect our ability to experience miracles and blessings? This story makes me think about Jesus, about what his followers expected of him, both the disciples closest to him, and those that kept an eye on him as word of his power grew, as his fame grew. We were talking in bible study last week about why Judas turned Jesus over for arrest. Were there expectations he had about how a Messiah should act that Jesus was failing to meet? Was he trying to force Jesus’ hand – get him to show his might to those who would arrest and crucify him? And those who followed his career from a distance, only to see it end in a humiliating execution. I’m sure they counted it as a failed mission, and were perhaps relieved they didn’t waste time getting more involved in that. Time to go back to the systems we know. Even if they didn’t bring salvation, as least they knew what to expect. Don’t bother to dip even once in the muddy waters of the Jordan, let alone seven times.
What of our own expectations of Jesus? As those in our bible study are noticing, it isn’t always easy to reconcile the scripture with the Jesus in our minds. I know there is plenty that the gospels have Jesus saying that challenges my experience and expectation of Jesus. And I have to wonder, does it cause me to walk away from something that would heal me and make me fresh and new, as Naaman almost does? If we look for evidence of God’s power and truth only from our limited understanding of how things are supposed to work, we won’t be convinced. We are instead invited by virtue of faith to claim God’s power. When we do, when we stand in the truth of this awesome power, we will see miracles all the time.
But Naaman doesn’t walk away. Again it is the intervention of nameless servants, people with almost no power, that pushes him to take the prescription that leads to his healing. Here Naaman comes down off his high horse, takes off his fine clothes and goes naked and vulnerable into the river. This is the posture that leads to being made new. He releases his expectations, his sense of entitlement, all the trappings of his ego, and comes out healed and whole and fresh.
The servants and captive of the story remain nameless here, but all through the bible God speaks through the nameless ones, the foreigner, the tax collector, the blind man and beggar, through demoniacs and heathens. God speaks through the captive who respond to violence with compassion, through those who let nothing get in the way of testifying to God’s greatness and care. The UCC has a slogan that God is still speaking. Who is God speaking through to you? And to whom are you speaking on behalf of God? May those who have ears to hear listen. Amen.
