Naaman

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC 8/19/17

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^NRS 2 Kings 5:1 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy.  ² Now the Aramean’s on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman's wife.  ³ She said to her mistress, "If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy."  ⁴ So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said.  ⁵ And the king of Aram said, "Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel." He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments.  ⁶ He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy."  ⁷ When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?¹ Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me."  ⁸ But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel."  ⁹ So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha's house.  ¹⁰ Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean."  ¹¹ But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!  ¹² Are not Abana¹ and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" He turned and went away in a rage.  ¹³ But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, 'Wash, and be clean'?"  ¹⁴ So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean. 

A young couple heads out to grandma’s house for Sunday dinner. When they arrive there the aromas of Grandma’s cooking fill the house and the young son is enchanted and drooling. They all gather round the table and sit down. The young boy’s mother asks him to give the blessing. He replies, “We don’t need to pray.” The young mother says that they always pray before eating their meal at home. The young boy responds, “Well that’s because we are praying for a good meal. At grandma’s we always get a good meal cus she knows how to cook.”

If you believe in miracles you know that God is in control. Miracles happen because God wants them to happen and they always bring with it the glory of God. Someone once said that when something great is about to happen our life takes on chaos and our normal routines are suddenly challenged. Next week I intend to share why bad things happen. But this week I want to focus on if we are ready to be healed. That has been the subject of the last few weeks’ messages, healing, and the grace of God. But in order to be healed often we have to make a decision that we are going to accept whatever life has sent us. Free will means that illness and tragedy are a part of our world whether we like it or not. And so into Naaman’s life comes illness. Now one thing I have learned throughout the years is that illness knows no social or economic boundaries. You can be the poorest of the poor or the richest of the rich and illness can reach in and change your life. Naaman is in that rich category. The story tells us that he is a great warrior and commander of the army. He is used to a life of luxury and wealth and most likely gets what he wants when he wants it. But suddenly he is now a leper.

To truly appreciate what is going on here we need to spend some time understanding leprosy, not from the medical standpoint but rather from the life standpoint. Once you have been diagnosed as a leper, you lose everything. In Naaman’s day he would have been summarily removed as commander, been exiled to a leper colony where only other lepers would have been allowed to interface with him and no longer would he enjoy the comforts of wealth and prestige. So when we view this story make sure you view it with that life changing impact. Anything else and I think we miss the point.

We are presented with this young slave girl who is a Hebrew. She has been captured by Naaman in one of his battles with Israel. This storyline reminds us that Naaman is a person who does not worship God. Naaman is a person who sees Israel as the enemy or at the very least, an inferior country and people. Have you ever looked down on someone just because of where they are from? And yet, in his despair, it is this young slave girl who suggests to him that there is an answer to his despair in a prophet, a holy man in Israel.

So Naaman does what rich people do. He goes to his King and asks for an introduction to the King of Israel. Rich people don’t often understand what the world of the common folk is like. I remember an interview with a John Paul Getty, at the time one of the richest men alive. What’s it like to be rich he was asked. His reply was interesting. He said, imagine wanting something, anything and knowing that you can go out and buy it. But he went on to say that walking down the street, if you wanted a hot dog he did not have the money in his pocket to buy it. So here is Naaman, used to getting anything he wants and he can’t even get it by going to the King of Israel.

But God is listening. So Elisha sends for Naaman. Naaman arrives and Elisha sends his servant out to tell Naaman what to do. An insult of the highest kind! Naaman rages that he demands better. But he is talked into doing what Elisha has insisted he do. And the scripture tells us he is healed. End of story! Well….. not quite.

There are several lessons we need to learn from this story. First is the one I have already told you that illness and tragedy do not conform to our sense of entitlement, class or prestige. Naaman is faced with having to lose everything he holds dear. We need to ask ourselves, what is really important to us. Is it the things we own or the lives we share?

Second, Naaman needs to learn humility. He might be rich, he might be powerful and he might be scary to others, but to God, he is simply a man with an illness. To God Naaman is a man who could come to share in a relationship with God but Naaman is not there yet. How about us? Are we in a place where we love God so intently that we could face any adversity and illness because of that relationship? In this story Naaman has to learn to follow God’s desires and will. How often do we fight that same fight? How often do we go storming off because the message we heard doesn’t fit our sense of the world or our worldview? How often do we need or certainly desire to have a person who would plead with us to listen to God?

Third, Naaman needs to trust God. Naaman reluctantly goes down to the river Jordan and obediently dunks himself in the waters seven times. I love the number seven in the Bible. It is a complete number, meaning that whatever happens in that number is all that needs to happen. Seven days to create the world, seven times seventy to forgive, etc. So Naaman completes his dunking with the seventh dunk and the scripture tells us that he is healed. But even better, that his skin is restored to that of a young boy. I think there are a great number of people who would love to have that kind of dunking. Of course it would cost the healthcare industry billions if it could be bottled. So the message for you and I is not to question the way of God but to trust that God knows what needs to happen.

But there is another part of this story. It comes when Naaman is healed and has an epiphany about God. God has been working all along to get Naaman, a great and powerful man, to have a change of heart. Naaman goes back to his country not just healed physically, but healed spiritually and sharing the glory of God to others will cause others to be healed as well. Naaman begins to worship the one true God as the only God.

So what is the important lesson about healing here? That our own pride, our own sense of self-worth and our focus on ourselves is not going to provide us any usable answer when the world crashes down around us. Only our faith and trust in God will bring the kind of healing, joy and comfort that we seek. Naaman was healed but more importantly, Naaman’s heart and eyes were opened. Do you want to get well? Maybe each of us needs to open our eyes and hearts to the life-giving water of God. Will you? Can you? Won’t you?