Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
February 15, 2009
The Old Testament Reading: 2 Kings 5:1-14
Sermon: "February 15, 2009: Naaman"
The Rev. Dr. Vicki L. Smith, Rector
The Old Testament Reading: 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.
2 Kings 5:1-14
Feb. 15, 2009: Naaman This is an old story and you’ve probably already heard it but here we go anyway:
A town was being flooded. To escape the rising water, a man went to the second floor of his house, stood by the window, and prayed like he’d never prayed before: Please God, save me from this flood. You promised to give us what we need—I need to be saved from this flood. Please save me.
A little later two men in a row boat came paddling by and offered to pick him up. “No thanks,” he said. “I have faith and I know God will save me.”
The water kept rising and finally the man had to climb out onto the roof, and he kept on praying ,”Save me, God, from this flood.” He sat on the roof for awhile, and the same two guys came paddling by, again offering him a ride. “The water is really getting high now, you should come with us.” “No” he said. “Thank you anyway but God will save me.”
Finally, the water washed over the roof of the house and the man drowned. Standing at the gates of heaven, mad as a wet hen, he asked, “God, I thought you loved me. Why didn’t you save me?” and God said, “I sent the boat.”
The man on the roof: his name could be Naaman Junior. You know Naaman, the military leader from our Old Testament lesson this morning. Naaman, who seeks healing form his leprosy and after much sturm and drang, finally receives it. Naaman, who asks God for healing, but then doesn’t recognize it when it is offered. It was his namesake sitting up on that roof in that flood, and we, all too often, are his namesakes as well. We, like Naaman, seek God’s healing, but then we, also like Naaman, don’t recognize that healing when it comes.
Naaman had a skin disease, probably not leprosy as we now define it but some sort of nasty, debilitating skin disease, and its impact on his life was not merely physical. In Naaman’s time, having a skin disease was a huge deal— those who had lesions were ostracized, for fear that their disease would spread, so they had little contact with their community. On top of that, a skin disease was believed to reflect a dirty, sinful soul. So when Naaman sought God’s healing, he wasn’t asking just for physical repair but for something much broader, something much deeper—he was asking for healing not only of his body, but also of his soul, healing of his emotions and his isolation, healing of his whole life.
Like Naaman, our scars and wounds are not all on the surface. In fact, probably a great many of them aren’t seen by others at all. When we seek God’s healing we are seeking physical healing surely, but also healing of our souls, healing of our isolation, healing of the damage in our lives. Just like Naaman we ask God’s healing not just for illness but for all that is ill, or damaged or hurtful in our lives.
And just like Naaman, when healing is offered, we miss it. God sends the boat and we don’t get in.
Naaman thought hat his request would be looked upon more kindly if he accompanied it with lots of stuff: he brought an offering of ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of garments. That’s a huge offering—surely that ought to win him a healing.
We tend not be to quite so blatant with the offering that accompanies our request but we can be nearly as mercenary as Naaman was. Here God, if you’ll fix this, give me that or heal this, I will never swear again. Like a kid, we promise never to ask for anything else. I’ll be in church every Sunday, I’ll feed the hungry, clothe the naked and shelter the homeless. I’ll do whatever you want me to, God, just give me this one thing.
The problem with this approach is that it’s completely unnecessary. We make these offerings hoping that God is appeased and will therefore do what we want, or that God will deem us more worthy if we offer him something good. That’s where the problem is. As Naaman learned, and as we learn, God’s gifts of healing, or any other kind, are not given on a barter system. We don’t give to God to get something in return. Nor do the gifts we give make us more worthy of God’s grace. Naaman was a pagan, there was no way that he could ever have been deemed worthy of God’s healing, and yet he received it. We can never be worthy of God’s gifts, no matter what we offer or what we do, and yet we receive his gifts. God’s gift of healing is given to us—generously, freely, unearned and without strings. We don’t ever, and can’t ever, earn it. We make our offerings to God our of thanks for his grace, not to procure it.
Naaman also had some pretty specific expectations about what his healing would look like: The prophet will come out to me, call out the name of the Lord, wave his hand over the spot and the leprosy will be cured. That, in Naaman’s mind, was how things were supposed to go. And because he had such specific expectations of what healing would be like, he almost missed it altogether.
God’s healing may not come to us exactly as we expect or as we desire. It may come to us in ways as simple as seeing from a new perspective, or as complicated as finding a new job. God’s healing may give us the strength to do something difficult, or the peace to live with life as it is. God’s healing may show on our bodies, or perhaps only in our hearts. God’s healing is often expressed, as our AA friends say, in the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference. If we limit God’s healing to only what we expect or want, we risk missing it altogether.
Naaman almost walked away from Elisha, from God and from God’s healing. Had it not been for the servants, tentative and shy as they were, Naaman would have let his anger and his ego keep him from seeing the healing that was offered to him. “If the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done so?” said the servants. “How much more then, when all he said to you was wash and be clean?”
Thank God for those servants. Thank God for their willingness to speak up, to witness to God’s healing when they saw it, and to change Naaman’s life. I pray that we all have people like them in our lives, people who help us see God’s healing when it is right in front of us; people who call us to account when our anger and selfishness blind us to God’s action in our lives, people who take the risk of speaking up to us, of reminding us that perhaps God is doing something new in our lives, or perhaps God is offering us a gift in this circumstance that looks so odd or feels so painful. Perhaps God is speaking to us in some unexpected way or unusual situation. We need those people, those servants of Naaman, who speak up to us and open our eyes to the action of God in our lives… and we need to be those servants of Naaman for one another.
Perhaps, having asked for rescue, for help, or for healing, perhaps God is sending a boat for us right now. May God help us to recognize and accept his healing in whatever ways it comes to us. May we see that boat for what it is, and readily climb in.