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Rev. Mary Wilder Cartwright
July 4, 2010
“Doing What Needs to be Done”
2 Kings 5:1-14
Who is this Naaman that we read about in the book of Kings?
I think he’s a bit of a control freak, but I can identify with that. I like being in control. I think we all like being in control. We want to live in our own home. Owning one’s own home is part of the great American dream. We want to pick it out and make it attractive—plant flowers in the garden, pick out nice furniture. We do not want to move out of our own home because that home signifies independence, comfort, control.
We want to control our transportation. Life without a car is almost unimaginable for most of us. We want to be able to go where we want to go, go when we want to go, and go in the style to which we are accustomed.
We try to be in control of our time. We keep a calendar. We make appointments. We plan for vacations, for school holidays, and for visits from family.
Control is important. Naaman wants control, but his life is out of control. His health was falling apart. He had leprosy. It made him unclean by some standards and unsightly by others. How could this great commander of the army continue in his leadership position if he’s always having to take time out to put on ointments, consult with doctors, or pause to scratch? He’s losing control.
He’s not a good patient either. He is miserable, so everyone around him is miserable, too. He complains of the itching, and he frets about what people will think about him. He expects to be waited on with the finest care. After all, he is a great military guy. He has made a difference in the world – gone into battle, accomplished great things, made a lot of money.
Perhaps his wife after listening to his complaints has a few of her own and has a few things to say about him to her own maid. The maid, the servant girl, is a captive from Israel, a slave. She lends a sympathetic ear. She shares what little knowledge she has. “If only he could go see the prophet who lives in Samaria. He would heal Naaman of his disease.”
What has he got to lose? Naaman has friends in high places. He goes to his boss. He is valuable to his boss. He says, “We’ve fought with Israel before; they’re probably a little afraid of us. Will you just send the King of Israel a letter so he’ll go out of his way to connect me to this prophet that my wife heard about?”
Of course, the King of Israel is horrified. He sees this as a political move. He says, “Who does he think I am? God? How am I supposed to make this happen?”
Seems crazy, huh? Expecting a prophet to wave his magic wand and say that healing will happen? What kinds of stories do we tell ourselves when we need to stay in control? What bargains do we make with ourselves when we want to achieve recognition, save our pride, or keep up the appearance of being right? To what great lengths do we go to get what we want?
The king is tearing his hair and ripping at his clothes, worried to death about how his inability to help will affect his relationship with the King of Aram. As he is fretting, a message arrives from the prophet Elisha. “Send him on over,” Elisha said, “and he’ll find out that there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman goes to Elisha. His horses and chariots pull up outside. You can imagine the spectacle – a modest home with a rocking chair on the front porch. Here come the chariots and horses – digging up the grass, trampling the flower beds, and knocking over the mailbox at the curb.
Elisha is meditating in the back room. He doesn’t bother to come to the door. Instead he sends out a message, “Tell Naaman to wash in the Jordan River seven times.” The number seven is significant – it’s the perfect number. The River Jordan is the river of life, the entrance into the promised land. We know those things. Naaman does not. He reacts. He’s angry. “I thought this prophet would come out and wave his hands. I thought he would call on the name of his God. It would be dramatic and amazing. Everyone would know how great I am when this miraculous healing takes place. He just wants me to wash in some muddy river. Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, are way better. Why can’t I wash in them!” Naaman gets angrier and angrier as all of his expectations are turned upside down.
Naaman just assumes that the prophet did his work at the pleasure of his superior, the king. If the prophet has the power of healing, then he must also have control of that power. He could say the word, and Naaman would be healed.
Once again, it is the servants who offer wisdom: “If the prophet had told you to do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? Doesn’t it make more sense just to do it? After all, he only told you ‘wash and be clean.’” Do what needs to be done.
When he heeds this advice, Naaman’s life is transformed. His skin becomes new again—like the skin of a little boy. He declares, “Look, I now know there is no God in all the earth except in Israel!”
We who claim the Bible as sacred text are shaped by this kind of story. The people of Israel, the gathered people of God, the community of faith, the church, if you will, is shaped by this kind of story. In the story of Naaman and the servants who care for him, we are reminded once again that it is notpeople who accomplish great things or powerful leaderswho do great deeds. It is not the behavior of great nations, the fantastic programs of religious institutions, or the awesome displays of military might which are powerful. It is God working through the voices and actions of faithful servants who does great things.
It is the servant who knows of God’s power who tells Naaman’s wife what he should do. It is the servants who give the obvious advice to this great commander who expects things to be much more complicated. It is Elisha, the servant of the Lord, who listens to God and declares the Word of the Lord: “Go and wash.”
It takes no great stretch of imagination to hear the voice of Mary who is pregnant with Jesus as she says, “I am not important, but God has shown his care for me, his servant girl. From now on, all people will say that I am blessed because the Powerful One has done great things for me. God’s name is holy.”
It takes no great stretch of imagination to see Jesus pick up the towel and kneel down to wash the disciples’ feet and to say to them, “This I command you. Love one another. As I have loved you so you must love one another.”
It takes no great stretch of imagination to see that the power of God is found in a willingness to be faithful, to follow, and to pay attention to the teaching of the prophets and the apostles.
The servants who guide Naaman – they are the ones who offer the Word of the Lord.
They are ordinary, but they listen. They are ordinary, but they speak what they know. They are ordinary, but they are the voice of God in the life of Naaman.
When we gather at the Table, we, too, are ordinary disciples. We come with outstretched hands and open hearts. We trust in God’s forgiveness and seek to live in peace with one another.
When we gather at the Table, we receive ordinary food - bread and the fruit of the vine. The basics—food and drink. Elements we call them because they are elemental – they are what we need to survive. And in this ordinary meal with ordinary people we receive the extraordinary presence of Christ. We are made new. We are gathered in, and we become the Body of Christ, Christ’s hands and feet and voice in the world.
It is a mystery, but it is not really complicated. Faith – to become servants of Christ, to trust in the power of God to use who we are to transform the world as we speak what we know of God, as we act with courage according to the teachings of Jesus, and as we trust in God’s power to bring healing and to make us clean.
Who will we be? Naaman determined to be in control, or will we be like the servants, offering ourselves, confident in the mysterious and transforming power of God?
I invite you to the Table of the Lord. Set aside those things which keep you from God – the need for control, lack of trust, grudges held tightly, conflict with family, fear of the unknown, fear of the future.
As you open your hands to receive the bread of life and the cup of salvation, let go of those things which keep you from God – know that God will work in you and with you and through you – as God works in the community of faith and in us all – and we are made whole and in Christ the world will be transformed.
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