For this final month of regular preaching, I have focused on God who crosses borders, God who reaches outside the lines we tend to draw between ourselves and those we consider others. We have explored a God who refuses to be defined, a God who is always, always, more expansive than our attempts to describe. We have looked at God who opens doors and unbinds chains for people of all walks of life.
Our God is more than we can define and imagine. Our God is not limited by the boundaries we create. Our God loves us...and those who are not like us.
For my final sermon this week, I reworked a theme I have looked at before: God offering grace to those we consider others. While Jesus is known for centering the marginalized (the othered) in many of his stories -- women, Samaritans, the poor, the hungry, the sick and "unclean" -- God didn't start reaching out to "others" only when Jesus came along. Our story today from 2 Kings shows us that God has long lifted up those we might wish to exclude (see 2 Kings 5:1-14).
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When I came to Andrews Chapel UMC two years ago, I made it clear on my first Sunday that the joint command to love God and love our neighbors sits at the very heart of my understanding of what it means to be a Christian. This is certainly nothing groundbreaking. When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, he said that all of the Laws and all of the Prophets can be summed up in these two phrases.
I know that it is something that the people of Andrews Chapel feel as well. Their church mission statement is also rooted in the Great Commandment. It is a topic we have explored together many times over the last two years. One of the things that I hope we remember is that for Jesus, everyone we encounter is our neighbor. Our neighbors come in many varieties, beliefs, and genders. Our neighbors include even those we might normally exclude. This is clear in the so-called Good Samaritan story.
As we consider today's text, you may have noticed a few familiar things going on that are similar to our story last week where Jesus offered exorcism, healing, and welcome to the man he encountered on his journey. In that story, Jesus healed an outsider, a foreigner (a Gentile), and then sent the man forth to proclaim what God had done for him.
In today’s story from the Hebrew scriptures, we have another foreigner who is central to the storyline. Naaman is described as a great man and a highly regarded general from the kingdom of Aram. We learn that God has just given this man a victory in battle. He is a mighty warrior for his king, but he has a skin disease. This is the same skin condition often translated in other versions of the Bible as leprosy. In Biblical times, any skin condition of this sort often led to someone becoming an outcast, excluded from everyday interactions with others.
No matter that Naaman was a mighty warrior. No matter that he is a general in the king’s army. No matter that he is highly regarded. This skin condition, once it is widely known, will cause him to become an outcast as surely as any other.
This is where the story takes an interesting turn. It seems that his wife has a young servant girl from Israel. She had been taken captive during a raid and given to Naaman’s wife. We can assume that this raiding party had been invading Israel’s lands, though that is not said directly. However her presence came to pass, this girl suggests that Naaman should go see the prophet in Samaria, which at that time was still part of Israel. This is before the break between the Hebrews and the Samaritans that figures into many of Jesus’ stories (particularly in the Gospel of Luke).
So Naaman goes to his king and requests permission to go seek healing. Obviously highly regarded indeed, the king of Aram writes a letter to Israel’s king on Naaman’s behalf requesting healing for his servant, the mighty warrior and general. He sends along generous gifts as well.
Of course, the king of Israel is in a state when the group arrives at the palace. Israel is relatively weak and has already lost battles to Aram. We can assume that the border raids have been a part of ongoing hostilities. And now the commander of the king’s army shows up with a large group carrying treasures and a letter from the king of Aram demanding that Naaman be healed of his condition. The letter makes no mention of the prophet that the girl had mentioned. So the king of Israel is in a bit of distress. He thinks this is some sort of trick. When he fails to heal the general, the king of Aram will see it as a further sign of weakness and order an attack.
But the prophet Elisha hears of the situation, he sends word to the king that Naaman should come to him. Probably grateful to have the general and his servants away from the palace, the king does as Elisha had instructed. But when Naaman arrives, Elisha does not come out to see him. He sends out one of his own servants with instructions that Naaman should go wash seven times in the Jordan River.
Naaman gets angry at what he sees as a rebuff. Are not the waters of his own lands just as worthy if not more so? Surely he could be cleansed in any of those waters if it were that easy. He storms away in his anger.
But his servants persuade him. If the task had been difficult, surely he would have done it. Why won’t he just do the simple task? Naaman relents and does as instructed, and his skin is restored. He is healed and clean once again.
Naaman had surely sought out other treatments for his skin condition. He knew what would happen if the condition was not cleared, if his unclean condition became known. He would likely have tried all sorts of treatments and cures, none of which had worked. Then he hears there is a man of God in Samaria who can cure him. Maybe he was desperate enough to give it a try. Or maybe he was simply grasping at every thread to try to find a cure.
But the prophet doesn’t do what is expected. Likely the king of Israel is somewhat correct in his own reaction. Naaman shows up expecting a certain reception and there is obviously an implied threat in his presence there with so many servants and such extravagant gifts. How many servants would need to come to carry the gifts? How many soldiers would be needed to protect the riches?
And yet, Elisha doesn’t even meet with Naaman. When the general shows up at his door, he sends out a servant instead. He doesn’t come out and lay hands on Naaman. He doesn’t pray over him. He doesn’t even come out to give him directions himself. He simply sends instructions via a messenger.
It is hard to tell if Naaman is more upset at what he perceives as a lack of acknowledgement of his station or the simplicity of the directions. At any rate, this is definitely not what he expected. He turns and leaves in anger.
Thankfully, he listens to his servants. This is not the first time, either. He has already listened to his wife’s servant, the girl from Israel that had been captured during a raid. What made him trust her words, we cannot know. We only know that God was at work in this story. So Naaman first listens to her tale and decides to travel to Israel and then into the province of Samaria to seek out this prophet. Then when that does not go as planned, he again listens to his servants as they seek to encourage him to do as the prophet directed.
On the one hand, this seems at odds with the picture that is painted of the proud general who feels stood up. On the other hand, perhaps what makes him a great military leader and a man of such high esteem is his ability to hear and trust those that would normally be beneath him. And so he again steps beyond expectations as he relents in his anger and does as the prophet had directed.
And when he does, his skin condition is cleared up and he is made clean. The knowledge and the wisdom of the prophet proved true. The general could have bathed in any number of rivers, but by trusting in the word of this man of God, a foreign prophet of a foreign God, he is made clean.
It was an easy task he was given, and yet it proved to be a difficult one. Not because the task itself was hard, but because his pride and desire got in the way for a time.
And what of us?
As we think about what it is that God asks of us, the model for life that Jesus has given us to follow, we see that only two things are asked of us – to love the Lord our God with all that we are and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Nothing could be simpler than loving God and loving those we encounter on a daily basis. And yet I would guess that our experience tells us it is far from easy.
Naaman was a foreigner. Not only that he was a commander of a foreign army, an army that had been in conflict with Israel. This did not stop Elisha from aiding him. Elisha trusted in God to heal the man regardless of who he was or where he was from.
As we consider those in need, as we consider those that come to us for healing from whatever the cause may be and from wherever they may come, we see that God provides a path for healing.
In today’s story, a young girl taken captive serves as an agent of God to lead someone to healing.
Elisha, a man of God, serves as an agent of God to lead someone to healing.
Unnamed servants serve as agents of God to lead someone to healing.
And in the end, a foreign man, an enemy of Israel in a very real sense, is healed by God. This compassion serves to make God known even to this foreign soldier. And in the end, the general’s life is changed.
This story shows us that God does not know boundaries in the same way that we do. God reaches beyond the borders of the land and beyond those normally considered to be the people of God to work healing in the life of one in need. The king of Israel could see only calamity in the request. His eyes were focused only on what could go wrong. But God worked a miracle and a man’s life was changed.
In working a miracle for this outsider, we see that God’s healing and grace is not limited to a single group of people. It’s not even limited to believers. God works miracles in those we consider “others” as often as God works miracles in the lives of believers. Even though we often think of Jesus (particularly in the Gospel of Luke) as one who highlights and includes foreigners, we are reminded here in this story from 2 Kings that God has long included those we consider as outsiders. Often, these very ones we would exclude are lifted up as examples of faith, shaming those of us who consider ourselves already included.
Who are the people who we might consider others or outsiders who show signs of God’s grace? Who are the folks we might exclude who show us what faith looks like?
Who are the people who God excludes?
As my time as pastor in this place draws to a close, I pray that God will continue to provide us with opportunities to make grace and mercy known in the world that all we encounter may know God’s love.
I pray that we will continue to do the simple task of loving those around us even when it's not as easy as it sounds.
I pray that, with God's help, we will continue to find God even in those we commonly consider “others.”
And, in the end, may we realize that there are no others, for we are all children of God.