A sermon preached by Marci Auld Glass
July 4, 2010
Southminster Presbyterian Church, Boise, Idaho
2 Kings 5:1-15a
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. Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. 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. 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.” 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? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.”
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.” So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. 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.”
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! Are not Abana 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.
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’?”
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.
Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel”.
The kids at Vacation Bible School used this text a few weeks ago to show that kids can be heroes—like the slave girl who is brave enough to offer a word of hope to a foreign military commander.
It is a great text because is full of conflict and juxtaposition and surprise agents. People who have—kings and commanders—are contrasted with people who have nothing—foreign slave girls and servants. People who are in the faith—like the king of Israel—are contrasted with people who are outside of the faith—like Naaman, the Syrian and the Syrian king. And notice that the behavior we expect and presume from people within the tradition—like the king of Israel—is shown to be lacking when compared to the outsiders.
This text also disproves the notion of the “prosperity gospel”—that idea so popular in the American church today that says if you only have faith, you will be rich, successful, prosperous beyond measure. But the person in this text who has faith is not the one who is rich and famous and king of Israel. The person with faith in this text is an Israeli girl who has been captured into slavery, taken away from her home and family, and living in servitude in what is today Syria. This text should be a reminder to us that cultural, political, economic, or other advantages don’t equate to spiritual advantages. God is an equal opportunity grace bestower—no matter how much we wish God only liked the same people we do. No matter how much we wish it were easy to just look at people and decide if they are worthy or unworthy, in or out, good or bad. Stories like this remind us that God doesn’t operate in ways that make snap judgments possible.
Additionally, this story suggests that worldly advantages may get in the way of our faith.
When you can look around your life and rely on your own devices, gumption, and success—does that keep you from being able to rely on God? The King of Israel didn’t seem to consider that God might have something to do in this situation. He panicked because he looked around at his resources—armies, advisors, gold, and authority—and realized that there was nothing he could do to heal Naaman. But it never seems to cross his mind that he could rely on God.
To fully appreciate the King of Israel’s plight, let’s look at the context of this story. It is likely that the King during this time is Jehoram, son of King Ahab. Ahab, whom you might recall from a few weeks ago with his wife Jezebel and the vanquished prophets of Baal on Mt Carmel, was killed by the King of Aram in battle. This same King of Aram then writes a letter to Jehoram, asking him to do the impossible—cure someone of leprosy.
Now, I don’t know about you, but if someone who had killed my father asked me to cure someone of leprosy, I’d probably freak out a bit too. Do you know how to do that? I certainly don’t!
And he isn’t asked to cure just anyone. He’s asked to cure the David Petraus, the biggest military commander, of their biggest military opponent.
So there’s no pressure. None at all. Easy schmeazy.
But the King of Israel makes the mistake of presuming he knows the motives of the King of Aram. He reads into that letter ALL sorts of things that aren’t there. Jehoram reads the letter and thinks, “he’s trying to trap me! He’s sent me an impossible request! His commander is going to die and he wants to blame me for it!”
But here’s what the letter actually said, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.”
Just a simple letter and ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of designer clothes.
Perhaps the King of Aram could have given Jehoram a little more information, but it is as if the King of Aram was also making assumptions—presuming that if there was a prophet in Israel who could heal people of leprosy, that the King of Israel would certainly know about him and would automatically send Naaman to him.
And what does it say about General Petraus, I mean Naaman, that he is still the commander of the Syrian army even though he has leprosy? All of the other lepers we meet in scripture, if I recall correctly, are outcasts. They are marginalized and excluded. Naaman was clearly in high favor with the King, and was militarily that important, to still have his job and to be sent to Israel with those kind of gifts.
But it appears that being a Big Deal gets in Naaman’s way too. Naaman is sent to Elisha to be healed and he pulls up in the driveway with all of his chariots, horses, and hangers on. But he doesn’t knock on the door. He just stands there—looking very impressive, I’m sure—waiting for Elisha to come out and thank him for the opportunity to heal such an auspicious man.
We don’t know what Elisha is doing in the house—rearranging his sock drawer? Watching the World Cup on TV? Reading the Wall Street Journal?—but he sends his messenger out to Naaman with some simple instructions. “Go wash in the Jordan River seven times and your flesh will be restored and you will be clean.”
The next time this happens, when your yard is full of Syrian chariots, here’s a tip—don’t send your servant out to greet the General. They get a little insulted.
And, apparently, Elisha should have also come up with a more impressive cure. Don’t just send them off to do something simple—come out and make a big show of it! And if you are going to send someone to wash in a river—make sure it is an impressive body of water—and one that would have been familiar and comfortable to the General.
Are we like Naaman? When we are seeking healing and cures, do we put conditions on our requests? Do we have pre-conceived notions of how healing is supposed to look that get in the way of receiving the healing when it comes?
But then again, like the slave girl, Naaman’s slaves, the people with no voice in society, speak wisdom to Naaman. “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’?”
Thank God for people who speak truth to us, especially when it comes with some risk to them. Slaves weren’t usually invited to point out their masters’ mistakes, I’m guessing. Yet, here, they did.
Who are the people in your life, trying to speak truths to you? Are you open to hearing truth from the people to whom society gives no voice?
Naaman, to his credit, recognizes the truth when it is spoken by his slaves and he goes to the river to be cleansed.
His flesh was restored. He was cleansed. He was healed. He was saved. And his healing led to faith. His response to being made clean was to acknowledge, before Elisha and all of the hangers on that “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel”.
His claim about God is a big claim. This Syrian General, commander of the armies, announces that the one true God isn’t from his hometown. He has to let his partisan allegiances go to make this claim about God. He could have said nothing, taking his healing and going silently back home to Aram.
He could have said, “thanks for the healing. For a bunch of Israelis, your God is pretty good, but now I’m going back to Aram where the gods are awesome!”
But he doesn’t. He makes a public claim for a god who is not backing his particular candidate.
I really had no interest or desire to mention the 4th of July in my sermon. After all, it is not a religious holiday we are celebrating today. But as we celebrate our nation’s independence today, I do think Naaman is worth remembering. Because while he was certainly involved in the politics of his day, his faith was a much bigger issue—one that rose far above his politics.
And that is one thing that makes America so great—the political and civic involvement of her people. Each of us are called to be involved in this political experiment that has been underway in this country since the Declaration of Independence was signed on this day in 1776. And how that looks to each of us is different.
But, as Christians, like Naaman, we are called to something higher than the American political process. We are called to proclaim “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel”.
So, as we prepare to share communion this morning, I invite you to consider that here we gather as people of many nations, many ideologies, many understandings, and many differences. But we will gather as ONE because it is through Christ we are connected. Listen to the words of the apostle Paul from his letter to the Galatians:
“As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”
Naaman lived before the time of Christ, but his declaration at the end of his healing reminds me of Paul’s words. Naaman, having been washed and cleansed in the same river that would one day baptize Jesus, could have said, “in God there is no longer Israeli or Aramean, there is no longer slave or king, there is no longer clean or unclean, for all of us are one in God”.
So, friends, it is right for us to be proud to be American and to wear our red, white, and blue. It is right for us to celebrate this day that for over 200 years, our nation has stood for freedom, giving voice to the voiceless, and being an advocate for liberty and justice around the world, often at the cost of American lives.
But I hope we’ll also remember Naaman, and our calling as Christians to serve a greater kingdom, coming together despite our differences to be united in a common purpose, that there may be healing for us all.
Amen.
Posted by marciglass 
