Oct 9,2016 Sermon at Carillon Beach Community Chapel by Cathy Boyd Byrd, UMC Provisional Deacon
Today we examine a miracle, up close and personal. Naaman was a military leader of a powerful nation which defeated Israel. To his king, Naaman was a great man. He was brave and victorious, a man with position, reputation, and power. He was a winner, successful and wealthy, admired and treated as a hero.
Then a tiny, little word in the text changes everything, “but.” Instantly, we see that, great as he was, Naaman had a problem. He had leprosy. The man who had it all was at risk of losing it all.
Leprosy, contagious and incurable, was a dreaded disease. Throughout history it has stirred fear and victims have been shunned as outcasts. It was believed to be hereditary, the result of a curse, or a punishment from God. Sufferers had to shout out a warning, “Unclean!” to avoid contact with others. It is caused by a slow growing bacteria that can take years to show symptoms. Today, thankfully, antibiotics can cure it.
Naaman’s leprosy may have been in an early stage that could be concealed. People still treated him with respect, but eventually no one would be willing to touch him and the space he would be given would grow wider and wider.
How sad, to be untouchable! Touch brings comfort, signifies acceptance, and promotes health. Lack of touch and isolation can be as debilitating emotionally as the disease itself is physically. No wonder a man of Naaman’s stature would jump at the suggestion of a menial slave girl that there was help in Israel.
What problem do people try to conceal today? What hurt do we try to cover up? What prevents us from getting close to other people? Where in our lives do we need to be touched? Perhaps we, like Naaman, have become proficient at covering up our problems until the time comes when we can no longer hide them. We, too, need God’s healing touch.
There was an element of desperation in Naaman’s desire for healing. Today one might seek out institutions like M.D. Anderson, Mayo Clinic, or UAB where one would find reputable specialists and the latest evidence-based treatments.
In 2006, Coretta Scott King, widow of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. went to a cancer clinic in Mexico hoping for a miracle. For decades, patients had flocked there for treatments that were suspect or regarded as outright quackery elsewhere. Clinics reportedly offered medical miracles including laetrile, a drug said to cure cancer. Exploring alternatives and hoping for a cure far from home, patients seldom found more than costly false hope.
The clinic where Mrs. King died was closed down the same week. Its director had a criminal past and a shady reputation. The clinic’s assistant director said, “She wanted an alternative.” When the diagnosis is “incurable” one grasps for alternatives. That’s what Naaman wanted. Naaman, the commander-in-chief, found hope and direction through a slave girl. Naaman, the conqueror, sought help from a conquered nation. He went straight to the top for assistance and his king was very obliging, preparing a letter of introduction and a request to the vanquished king of Israel. “What did this backward country have to offer?”, Naaman must have wondered. Militarily it was no threat. Could it truly provide healing?
Naaman, proficient in developing winning strategies, went with his best effort. He bore rich gifts and a letter of reference from his own king asking for a favor. Surely this prophet of Israel must be someone important in service to the king, so that is where one would go to find such a person. Surely such a man would welcome gifts, honor and deference from others. But when he arrived, the king of Israel was gripped with fear and suspicion that this decorated general and the foreign king were setting a trap!
When Naaman’s request became known, Naaman was directed to go to Elisha in Samaria, a province even more remote and backwoods than Jerusalem, loathed, ridiculed, and shunned even by the Israelites. When Naaman arrived at Elisha’s door, he was met by a servant. Naaman had traveled far. He had put together his most persuasive appeal. When the servant at the door gave the instructions, Naaman was enraged. Naaman came begging for help from a lowly prophet and was not even given an audience. The prescription he got was as noxious and offensive as the treatment Naaman felt he had received from this nobody prophet.
Consider Naaman’s anger, his disappointment, his offended spirit, and especially his dashed hope. Naaman had come at the suggestion of a foreign slave. She respected him and offered what help she could.
Consider Naaman’s servants, too, who saw his anger, doubt and questions. If being cured was as simple as dipping in a river, why not one of the clean rivers at home? Why couldn’t the prophet just wave his hand or speak with authority and make him whole? Naaman wanted simple, easy, and instant answers and results. But his servants said, “Look, if he’d told you to do something difficult you would have done it. Let’s just give this a try.” Naaman accepted their encouragement and obeyed.
We need people like the slave girl who saw Naaman as a man in need, not an enemy. We need advocates like the obliging king who respected Naaman and helped him. We need those like the loyal and wise servants who look past self-important titles, personal wealth, and social status and see others for who they are- disappointed, lonely, and hurting. We need people who offer hope that touches us at our point of need. We need those who speak the truth, identify blind spots, and call problems what they are. Naaman had hoped the slave girl was right about a healer in Israel. He had hoped the two kings could negotiate an agreement that would meet his needs. He had hoped Elisha would be attentive and receive his gifts and honor. He had hoped his effort and theirs would bring a cure.
Life in the world today can be lonely. Families may live long distances from one another. People don’t want to impose or, more likely, they hate having to admit that they have needs. Answers may come from unexpected sources, from people who don’t even appear to have the resources or power to be in the know.
The nation of Israel is often used as a metaphor for the church today. The church is a sanctuary where refuge can be found. We expect to find caring, empathetic people here. It offers safety, protection and comfort. It provides support to those in distress. We may be greeted with an embrace or a welcoming handshake. Some will come for prayer. Many may not receive a comforting and kind touch again until they return to church next week.
Israel was safe physically for this conquering commander. But when Naaman made his appearance before the king, it did not bring what he wanted. His motive was suspect and the king of Israel didn’t know how to respond.
People may come to a safe place, but not to the right person. They enjoy seeing friends, business associates, neighbors, and the pastor. Some may attend church for social or business contacts, to impress others, or seek attention. And yet they may miss talking to the most important person -God. It is possible to attend church and never pray at all. We sing our favorite familiar songs, but do we truly worship God? The last thing some people really expect to experience is the healing touch of God.
People like Elisha can have a disturbing effect on others. They tell it like it is and may offend others. But they speak the truth. When the diagnosis is deadly you have to decide if you want attention, easy convenient answers, and comfort. Or do you want a cure?
You may have visited a brusque physician with little or no bedside manner. Maybe the doctor, though well trained and with a good reputation, lacked pleasantries and tactfulness. He may have asked uncomfortable questions. But in the end, he offered a treatment plan with the hope of a cure. Isn’t that what we want to hear?
Naaman nearly blew his chance at healing by getting angry at Elisha. He felt slighted. He was, after all, an important foreign dignitary. Elisha had no use for Naaman’s money and diplomatic courtesies, but he had a prescription for a cure. Elisha may have failed to offer the kindness and personal care that Naaman wanted, but he offered a remedy.
My Dad had always lived in a small community and attended small churches where the pastor was an integral part of the community. They had coffee together regularly at the local gathering place. If the pastor was needed, his house was right next door to the church and if he wasn’t at the church or at home, someone knew where he was. When my parents moved to Atlanta they were in a different environment, geographically and socially, attending a church of over 3000 members. There was a large staff that handled congregational care and prayer requests. Daddy went one day to see the senior pastor and was asked by a receptionist what he needed. He wasn’t the kind of person to discuss his personal business with a secretary. Even though the pastor was in, Daddy was told to schedule an appointment and come back. Daddy left incensed. He had never had to schedule an appointment if the pastor was in his office. He was angry for weeks. How dare they treat a church member that way! He eventually repented of his anger at what he perceived as a haughty and dismissive attitude by the pastor. In fact, he realized it was his own haughty and dismissive attitude that nearly took him away from the fellowship of the church. When they moved back to a small town, they continued in a large church. Daddy found spiritual connection in a Sunday School class among friends who cared for and ministered to one another. When Daddy experienced serious health issues, members of his class and others who had been equipped by a godly pastor came to see him, laid hands on him, prayed with and encouraged him and got him through difficult times.
Naaman was like those who believe they should only be ministered to by the top dog. Such people think they can only be prayed for or visited by the pastor. They will skip church if it’s not the senior pastor preaching that Sunday.
My home church grew from 300 to over 1800 members in a ten-year period, well beyond the point that everyone could be visited by the senior pastor. A congregational care pastor was hired and dozens of lay servants were trained to assist with visitation, prayer, and other ministry needs. Some had difficulty accepting anyone other than the senior pastor in times of need, but eventually it was clear that there were many people equipped to pray and minister to us. After all, it was the Spirit of God within our community of faith that we needed and that was being offered, not just the presence of an individual.
Naaman was accustomed to entitlement. He brought that attitude to Israel and wanted to be met by the king and a celebrity prophet who would heal him on the spot. God does not always send blessings through the people we want nor in the way that we expect. God may send someone of ordinary standing and means to make it clear that the healing is from God and not from the circumstances or the people involved. If one is seeking celebrity healing, the blessing may be missed by looking in the wrong place for the wrong person. Some receive God’s healing power but because it was not spectacular or supernatural, they attribute it to coincidence or reason it away as having occurred as a matter of medical science, common sense, or just the healing power of time.
Elisha’s prescription, delivered second hand, seemed insufficient to Naaman. “Go wash and you will be clean.” General Naaman received direction from an unnamed foreign slave girl to go to a defeated, forsaken country, then was sent by the servant of a lowly prophet to a dirty river to bathe, not once or twice, but seven times.
The name of the Jordan River means “the descender.” It originates high above sea level at the Sea of Galilee and ends at the Dead Sea, over twelve hundred feet below sea level. Bowing in humility and begging for help had now become an actual physical descent into a nasty foreign river. Naaman doubted that this could help. He didn’t know that the power was not in the water, but was in his obedience to what God’s servant said do, even if it was inconvenient, uncomfortable, and unseemly.
When God said seven, six would not do. He had to complete the entire prescription. God tests our willingness to obey. We can’t try to get by with less. Will we humble ourselves and obey? God wants us to complete the full prescription. If one will not be obedient in something as significant as his own healing, will he be obedient in anything?
The Apostle Peter gives us some perspective in 1 Peter 5:5-6: “And all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you in due time.” It may take hitting bottom to find the way back up. One may have to face the worst to get priorities right and see that what God offers is the best! It may take journeying through humble places and acknowledging our need before we can experience the hand of God lifting us up.
Naaman reluctantly humbled himself and obeyed the instructions given by God’s messenger and healing came in a way he had not expected. Naaman feared that his life would be destroyed by leprosy. But the gracious touch of God gave his life new meaning beyond the physical healing. He found himself also changed in spirit and conduct.
After his pilgrimage to the river, we discover that Naaman returned and stood gratefully and humbly before Elisha. As the continuing narrative says in verse 15, Naaman said, “Now I know there is no God in the whole world except in Israel. Therefore, please accept a gift from your servant.” Naaman was changed from haughty to humble, from sick to whole, from lost to saved, from greatness to gratitude, and from one with power to command to one with the heart of a servant. The healing that comes through obedience to God’s word transforms us forever.
The Bible calls such transformation “circumcision of the heart.” John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, said “Circumcision of heart implies humility, faith, hope, and charity. Humility, a right judgment of ourselves, cleanses our minds from those high conceits of our own perfection, from that undue opinion of our own abilities and attainments, which are the genuine fruit of a corrupted nature.” Naaman discovered that the leprosy that would have killed him became the means by which he journeyed to an unexpected place and found the true source of healing not only for his leprosy, but for the more dangerous disease of pride and self-sufficiency.
In honesty, we all need a healing touch in some way or another. In prosperity, good health, and comfortable circumstances we may not feel the need for God. But in desperation, we go to any length necessary to find the direction, place, people, and encouragement that we need. Since we know Christ is present when we gather in His name, imagine Jesus visibly standing here asking us the following questions about trials we may be going through right now. Will we humble ourselves before God and be obedient, even if God says to bend low and wash in a dirty river? Do we recognize our need for God’s grace? How does God speak into our lives to bring healing? Who provides direction to us? Where is encouragement found? The church offers healing in many ways- spiritual, physical, emotional, relational, and even financial. Will we receive the prescription offered by Christ? Will we be humble and obedient?
Let us pray. Lord, Creator and Healer, touch us in the depths of our hearts, in our souls, in our minds, and in our bodies. Direct us through whomever you wish, to wherever you wish, whenever you wish that we may know your healing however you choose to give it. Free us for joyful obedience that we may know your will for our lives and experience your healing presence forever. Amen.