For this week’s worship services, I went off-lectionary (since we’ll hear the assigned lectionary Gospel about Jesus healing 10 lepers in a few weeks in the gratitude series I’m planning), and we read Matthew 11:25-30 as our Gospel reading and 2 Kings 5:1-15 as the main sermon text. And instead of reading the long story and then recapping it, I included it all in the body of the sermon.
Today’s sermon explores a great story from the Hebrew Bible and talks about how we as human beings tend to make faith a lot more complicated than it needs to be. We try to find hoops to jump or loopholes to slip through, instead of simply surrendering to God’s grace. Listen today for the simplicity of the grace, healing, and salvation Jesus offers.
Watch the livestream from Christ the King, listen to the sermon audio, or read the sermon text below.
I’m going to do something a little different for the sermon this morning and walk through this story with you.
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.
Some of you know this, but as part of seminary training, future pastors in many denominations are required to do a unit of “Clinical Pastoral Education.” It’s basically a summer internship as a chaplain in a healthcare setting, learning to visit people in the hospital and walk with people who are sick or dying.
My CPE internship was at the WFMC, the “World Famous Mayo Clinic” in Rochester, Minnesota. By most rankings, Mayo Clinic is the number one hospital in the United States.
It’s huge-when I was there, they employed around 30,000 people in a city of 100,000. There was a 7 year waiting list for employee parking. This is the hospital chapel.
And because they’re a world-class hospital, they get people from all over the world. Former US presidents, the king of Jordan, the Dalai Lama, people like that. One of the buildings where I worked includes “The Suites at St. Mary’s” – a whole private floor of VIP hospital accommodations. If you’re one of the rich and powerful, you can choose to go there for amenities like “elegant in-room gourmet dining on fine china” and staff “experienced at working with the discerning customer.”
All of this exists because even rich and powerful people get sick too. That’s what’s happening in our story. Naaman, the main character of our story, is a powerful person.
Just look at that first verse. He’s the commander of the king’s army; he’s a great man, he’s in high favor with the king, and because of him, the Lord had given victory to Aram. He’s a big deal.
But this mighty warrior, this great man, has a problem. He’s suffering from leprosy, and in 845 BCE, he doesn’t have the option of a private VIP suite at the Mayo Clinic. Fortunately for him, there’s another option.
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.”
Naaman’s wife has a slave girl, an Israelite captured in an Aramean raid. This is a great example of God working in strange ways, because remember, God had given Aram—a foreign nation—victory through Naaman, apparently including victory over God’s own chosen people of Israel.
This slave girl is the second important character in this story, and we don’t know much about her, except that where Naaman is a powerful VIP, she’s the opposite. She’s female—a strike against her in that society—she’s young, she’s a slave, and she’s foreigner. We don’t even get her name in this story.
This girl has no power, no authority. But God uses her in this story. She makes a difference. As an Israelite, she knows where Naaman can find healing, so she makes a suggestion to her mistress of someone who might be able to help.
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.”
Here’s how we know Naaman is desperate: He takes the advice of his wife’s young captive slave girl. This big, important commander is ready to do just about anything to finding healing. He’s ready to use all his power, all his connections.
He goes to his boss, the king, and the king says, “Ok, do whatever you need to. I’ll fund the trip and I’ll even send a letter to the king of Israel.”
I love this next bit, because somehow as the Aramean king writes the letter, he omits the part about the prophet and says, “You may cure him of his leprosy.” So, when the king of Israel gets the letter, he thinks HE’s being asked to cure the disease. Listen to his reaction:
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.”
The King of Israel thinks it’s a trap, a demand he do something impossible so Aram has an excuse to invade his country!
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.
Naaman is ready for anything. He can’t control the disease that’s stricken him, but he’s ready to do whatever it takes to get healed. He’s got horses and chariots, thousands of shekels of gold, even ten sets of clothing, all the tools he could need. He’s ready to fight, or bribe, or purchase. He’s used to being in charge, right? He’s an important guy!
When Naaman gets to Elisha’s house, Elisha doesn’t even come to the door. Instead…
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.
Naaman, who’s come all this way, gone to all this effort, hears the simple thing he’s supposed to do, and says, “Wait, that’s it? That can’t be it. This is a big deal. I’m a big deal! It can’t be that simple. I need more!
I thought he’d come out and wave his hand, do a ritual, stand and pray to his God. I didn’t come all this way to wash in some Israelite river; we’ve got better rivers at home in Damascus!”
Naaman is offended. Why? Because God’s action doesn’t live up to his expectations. He wants to be in charge, to do it his way, and that’s not how God’s decided to work.
He’s being offered healing, salvation for free, and he finds it offensive. It’s offensive to us too. In fact, I think freely given grace is the most offensive part of the Gospel, the most offensive part of our faith, because if God offers us salvation and eternal life for free through Jesus, then we don’t get to be in control.
To accept it for free means admitting we don’t deserve it. It’s both good news, the best news ever, and it’s also horribly offensive. Naaman wants to maintain some sort of control. Sure he can’t heal himself, but he’d at least like to ask for help on his own terms.
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.
Thanks to his servants, Naaman comes to his senses. Realizing this is really his only option, that he’s powerless to save himself, he humbles himself, does what he’s told and sure enough, he’s healed.
Not only that, he goes on to declare his faith in Israel’s God, and as the chapter continues, he even takes some Israelite dirt with him so he can worship at home, and he preemptively asks forgiveness for when his job requires him to act like he’s worship his king’s pagan gods.
So what do we do with this story? Well, lot of the hymns suggested for pairing with this reading focus on the theme of baptism. (It’s kind of like wine pairings, right? Which hymns best complement the Scripture text?)
I think any time there’s a Bible story about someone going down to a river, there’s probably a baptism connection. But in this story, I think the biggest connection to baptism isn’t the water; it’s the humility, the total reliance on God. Baptism looks like a silly ritual, right? Especially in our tradition where we baptize infants, it’s ritual where the person involved has no idea what’s going on.
There’s a great meme of a baby describing his day, saying, “I went to church and a guy in a suit tried to drown me! I kid you not, my family just stood there taking pictures!”
Of all the ways God could choose to show up, of all the means God could promise to bestow grace, a few drops of water? But that’s exactly why it’s a picture of God’s grace. We contribute nothing. Babies don’t work for faith. It’s all God’s doing, God fulfilling the promise to show up. Salvation and healing are up to the power of the Holy Spirit, using ordinary things for miraculous purposes.
The value of baptism doesn’t depend on the person being baptized, or whether an exact formula is spoken or on magic hand-motions or something; it depends on God choosing to act. We cannot manipulate God into acting; God simply chooses to show up and do the work we cannot do.
I think it’s human nature to try to do it ourselves. If you don’t believe me, try turning the page for Micah while he’s reading a book, or try putting his sippy cup of milk on the table for him. He’ll go through all the effort of picking it up off the table and carrying it back over to the counter, just so he can get it and put it on the table, because he wants to do it himself.
Our society says nothing comes for free; there’s always a catch. That’s not unique to 21st century America; again, it’s just human nature. Naaman brings payment with him, huge amounts of wealth.
That’s the way the world works: If you want something, pay for it. Buy it. Anyone claiming otherwise is trying to sell you something. He brings an armed guard, in case he needs to use force to get his way.
But that’s not God’s nature. That’s not the way God works. Even though we constantly try to complicate it, even though we keep trying to find ways to earn it, rules to follow better or loopholes or hoops to jump through, God’s love, God’s grace is simple.
Jesus says, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” All it requires, all Jesus asks of you, is for surrender. To stop trying to do it on your own, and to trust in God for your life. Remember, that’s what faith is: Trust.
Jesus says this simplicity is hidden form the wise and intelligent, yet revealed to infants. Faith isn’t complicated.
It’s not about rituals, or handwaving; it’s not about giving more in the offering, or reading the right books, or even attending church more often; it’s about surrendering our lives to Jesus and admitting we need a savior.
Everything else comes from that surrender, from that kind of faith even an infant can understand, knowing the simple truth: Jesus loves me. Jesus loves you.
When you get tired of trying to make it on your own, when you get worn out from the pressure of relying on yourself, on your accomplishments, when you realize your knowledge and your money and everything you’ve worked for and earned isn’t enough, Jesus says, “Come to me. Come to me all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
Lay down your burdens. Lay down all the pressure and the weight of not being good enough and failing to live up to other’s expectations.
Lay it down and come to me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Thanks be to God.