2 Kings 5:1-14
Naaman, in our scripture today was the ‘five-star’
general of the king of Aram, what is today Syria. MacArthur, Eisenhower,
Naaman commander and chief, was the top guy, the ultimate strategist in all
things war. He was strong, mighty and he was respected. But Naaman had
one problem; it was reported that he was a leper. Let’s hear the
scripture and the story that unfolds.
Naaman was the commander of the Syrian army. The
LORD had helped him and his troops defeat their enemies, so the king of Syria
respected Naaman very much. Naaman was a brave soldier, but he had leprosy. One
day while the Syrian troops were raiding Israel, they captured a girl, and she
became a servant of Naaman's wife. Some time later the girl said, "If your
husband Naaman would go to the prophet in Samaria, he would be cured of his
leprosy."
There are lots of players in this story, as you
will see. Naaman, of course, and two kings one from Syria, one from
Israel. They are the powerful headliners. Then you have the
‘extras’, a young Israelite slave girl who was booty from a previous raid,
Naaman’s wife (although she did have some power and persuasion here), and
servants, lots of them. And then there is Elisha, the newly appointed
prophet if you remember the story of Elijah passing the mantle on to him.
We continue…
When Naaman told the king what the girl had said,
the king replied, "Go ahead! I will give you a letter to take to the king
of Israel." Naaman left and took along seven hundred fifty pounds of
silver, one hundred fifty pounds of gold, and ten new outfits. He also carried
the letter to the king of Israel. It said, "I am sending my servant Naaman
to you. Would you cure him of his leprosy?"
Amazingly and to his credit, Naaman listened to
what his wife had to say about the slave girl’s ‘referral’ to Elisha.
Clearly Elisha was ‘out of network’ but that didn’t matter for Naaman, he was a
man of means. He also had the backing of the Syrian king who sent with
him a letter for the king of Israel, some gold and silver and some new
outfits! In other words, he had very adequate coffers to pay for his
healthcare. However, we know healing can come from the most unlikely
sources and people. Here we begin to see that power doesn’t always have
the answer, sometimes the weak win out.
When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore
his clothes in fear and shouted, "That Syrian king believes I can cure
this man of leprosy! Does he think I'm God with power over life and death? He
must be trying to pick a fight with me." As soon as Elisha the prophet heard what had happened, he sent the Israelite
king this message: "Why are you so afraid? Send the man to me, so that he
will know there is a prophet in Israel." Naaman left with his horses and
chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. Elisha sent someone outside
to say to him, "Go wash seven times in the Jordan River. Then you'll be
completely cured." But Naaman stormed off, grumbling, "Why couldn't
he come out and talk to me? I thought for sure he would stand in front of me
and pray to the LORD his God, then wave his hand over my skin and cure me. What
about the Abana River or the Pharpar River? Those rivers in Damascus are just
as good as any river in Israel. I could have washed in them and been
cured."
Foreign policy aside, this could have been an
international incident of epic proportions. Egos were flying!
Elisha steps in, and a crisis was prevented. So the procession of
horses, chariots and Naaman go to Elisha’s house and stop at the door. The
nerve! Elisha didn’t even come out
which incensed Naaman to no end. He, in all of his greatness and verbose
explosions, wanted Elisha to make a big deal. He want abracadabra!
Praying to God, waving his hands over Naaman’s
diseased skin and sores, Naaman wanted the spotlight. Naaman, at the very
least, expected Elisha to come out and meet him in person, that's akin to going
to the dr's office, sitting in the waiting room and getting a diagnosis and
meds without even going into the actual dr's office and seeing her. No
wonder he was peeved.
And then the cure, to go wash in the puny, muddy
Jordan River. Honestly, the Jordan
River is not as impressive as we think it is and it is muddy. Why not the great rivers of
Damascus? Elisha must be crazy.
His servants went over to him and said, "Sir,
if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, you would have done it.
So why don't you do what he said? Go wash and be cured." Naaman walked
down to the Jordan; he waded out into the water and stooped down in it seven
times, just as Elisha had told him. Right away, he was cured, and his skin
became as smooth as a child's.
Here ends today’s reading.
Hmmm, looks like Naaman got healed and received a
nice big slice of humble pie in the end.
What we didn’t hear in our scripture was that he goes back to Elisha and
exults the name of the God of Israel.
For all intents and purposes, he becomes a believer! His body was healed of leprosy and his
heart was sealed with humility and he had a ‘come to God’ moment. There would have been no healing here without
his humility here. I think that
Naaman was healed in more ways than one; you see healing comes in many forms
and through different means as evidenced in this story.
Cancer.
Heart Disease.
Diabetes. AIDS. And now Ebola.
Sickness of any sort, can take any of us out at any
time. If you live, you will get sick, it’s a fact. As perfect as
God made our bodies and as loved as we are by God, our bodies are still
vulnerable to bacterial and viral pathogens. Illness doesn’t discriminate
between the powerful or the weak, the rich or the poor or the color of one’s
skin. Illness doesn’t come to us
because of our actions or how we live our lives. God does not visit upon us illness to teach, admonish, or
test us. Ever!
We live and then we die. It’s what we do between birth and death that bookend our
lives that matter.
In ‘Devotions upon
Emergent Occasions’, John Donne said poetically, "No man is an island,
entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the
main….Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and
therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for
thee..." When someone died Renaissance England the village bells
would toll announcing death. So Donne
asks, who is the bell tolling for next?
As we remembered the
names of the souls, our friends and loved ones who departed this beloved world
this year, we are reminded that we are interconnected deeply in the human condition,
mortal wants and needs of the soul. When one person passes, it is an acute
reminder that we are mortal, our time will come so we live with this tension
knowing that we too someday will die.
Pauline Blaney, in this last year when I would see
her would always say, ‘today is a bonus day, I thank the Lord for this bonus
day’. What will you do with your
bonus day? The bell tolled for Pauline and all of the others but it
hasn’t tolled for us yet.
This tension can be our
greatest advantage because God calls us to be in relationship with one another.
Humans just get sick and
we need to help one another in our healing. And the good news is you do not
have to be a skilled surgeon in order to do so. Compassion is available to all. Caring can be had by opening your heart.
When we live in relationship
with one another, and we do, it is incumbent upon us to help one another heal
in whatever ways we can. Whether
it is a physical, emotional, or spiritual healing that is needed we can be
God’s instruments of healing here on this earth.
When we care for another
person during their illness, in their physical ailment and dis-ease, we offer
God’s incredible compassion. A
card, a call, a lift to the doctor we become God’s restorative hand that can bring
comfort and ease the pain.
When we love another we
aid in emotional healing. If we can have a well-balanced mind, trusting and
focused on God and can offer that to someone else, then the long road to emotional
recovery is possible. Be grounded
and you will ground others.
What can we do for one
another spiritually? We can pray on
behalf of another soul. We can
intercede for another person when spiritual vulnerability and emptiness has
overtaken them and they are rendered speechless. We can sit beside them as a silent and steady witness to the
power of God’s love. We can listen without judgment, not
offering solutions or platitudinous answers but genuine compassion. We can offer each other the good news
of Jesus Christ that reconciliation is always within reach, that spiritual healing
is possible.
For whom does the healing
bell toll? It tolls for all of us
to love now like there is no tomorrow.
Amen.
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