Hard of Healing

[00:00:02] Speaker A: Will you pray with me, please? Prepare our hearts, o God, to accept your word. Silence in us any voice but your own, that hearing we may also obey your will through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Our scripture this morning is from two kings, chapter five, verses one through 17. You can find this on page 293 in your pew. Bibles. Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Adam, was a great man and in high favor with his master because by him the lord had given victory to Adam. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. Now the Arabians, 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. 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, 6000 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. When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, am I God to give death our 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. But when Elijah, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the kingdom. 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. 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 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. 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 fresh flesh of a young boy, and he was clean. Then he returned to the man of God and all his company. He came and stood before him and said, now I know there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. Please accept a present from your servant. But he said, as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will accept nothing. He urged him to accept, but he refused. Then Naaman said, if not, please let two mule loads of earth be given to your servant. For your servant will no longer offer burnt offerings or sacrifice to any God except the Lord. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to goddess. [00:05:27] Speaker B: So I wonder, if you had to think back and recall your oldest memory, the film you can still play in your mind from when you were little, what would that oldest memory be? At least one. For me, perhaps the oldest memory comes from a time I was about four years old. My mom, my dad, my brother and I had gone to Baja for a camping trip. We had set up our camping gear and my older brother, about six years old at this time, me, about four year old. And my parents all saw off in the distance in Baja, over by the water. A ship. Looked like a destroyer, a military ship of some kind that had gotten grounded. Well, my brother and I really wanted to see this up close. So my dad offered to bring us to go and see this. So we walked along through the dirt and brush of this particular region to get down to the water. And here is what I still remember. I remember climbing up a rock, slipping back down, seeing my brother and my dad ahead and realizing something really bad had happened. I remember screaming and then my dad turning back to run back to me with great consternation and concern on his face. And my brother looking at me with anger and disdain. How could I stop him from getting to go and see this cool looking ship? What turned out had happened is that in trying to climb up that rock, I had landed on this. They call these jumping cholla cacti. And the reason they get that name is because when you brush up close to them, they will. Needles will often seem like they jump to grab your leg. And the needles also have barbs like fish hooks. So when they get into your leg, it is not easy to get out. And so this particular jumping cholla was what I landed in. So then the memory stops for a while, thank heaven. And then as I later learned, my parents immediately pulled all the camping gear back in the car. They drove all the way north to San Diego. They went to the hospital where my dad worked, so they were able to head right in. And then my dad began removing these dozen or so needles one by one. Now I come back to my memory, and I remember my dad removing these needles and thinking, what in the world is this? Where am I? And what kind of pain am I undergoing? So those are my earliest memories. I don't know about you all. Now, some of you psychologists in the midst may be able to speak to me after the service about some of what that reveals, why those would be my earliest memories. But I have a guess. My guess is that I learned at least two really valuable lessons that day, hard lessons, but important one is I learned the world is a dangerous place. It's full of hazards. Not just an older brother that can bully you, but a jumping cholla cactus that you can land in. And I learned another hard truth. I learned that sometimes when you get injured, in order to get better, in order to know healing, even when that healing is available, you have to go someplace you don't want to go, a hospital in San Diego and undergo a process you don't want to undergo, like having needles individually pulled from your skin. I learned that day the hard of healing. And I suspect that worldview shift in my four year old mind is why those experiences have stuck with me to this very day. Well, in today's passage from two kings, a book we're going through as a church, passage by passage in this set of sermons, we read a story about Naamana firsthand, the hard of healing. This syrian commander encounters one of the harms, ills, and hazards of this world. His body is stricken with an ailment. Now, he's told there is a remedy, good news. But in order to receive it, he must go to another place, seek help from a prophet of another people, and submit in humility to another God. Submission, humility, change. Yuck. That's hard stuff. Well, the affliction that strikes name and is called in the original Hebrew, Sarah. Sarah is often translated leprosy. But that translation has its shortcomings. Leprosy often calls to our mind today what the physicians in our midst might call Hansen's disease in that particular form of bacterial infection is only one of the possible skin conditions that might have fallen under this broad category of tzarah Zarah might show up in white patches on the skin or boils and burns, or in particular, hair thinning or loss. And according to the Book of Leviticus, a priest would inspect someone who had such skin or hair conditions. And if that priest diagnosed the person as having Sarah, they would then be confessed. Fine. For a period of seven days. We are all well acquainted with quarantine periods. That's what this person with tzarah had to do. And then upon reinspection after seven days, they might well be deemed healed, but they might also be deemed by the priest continuing to be afflicted with Sarah. And if that was the case, they might have to live outside the confines of society in definitely, they had to call out that they were impure to anyone who might approach them. They could only fully re enter the community if and when their skin was free of the marks of Tsarah and, and they were declared clean by someone with God's authority to make that kind of statement. Well, even though Naaman is described as a powerful commander, a mighty warrior, and even though he's highly favored by the king of Aram, that is, the king of Syria, he is not immune from the harms and hazards of this world jumping cholla cacti or diseases. And we might wonder, since the hebrew scriptures highlight the story of the ancient people of Israel, if when we read about this enemy of Israel, this Syrian, this Aramaic, if he would not be lifted up as an example of what you do when you oppose the ancient people of Israel, this is what happens to an enemy of God's people. But that's not what we get at this point in two kings, the once united kingdom under Saul, David and Solomon had been divided into two tribes in the north, complaining of excessive taxation by king rehoboam down in the south, decided to break away to rebel, and those ten tribes formed their own breakaway kingdom called Israel, had a new capital in Samaria in the south. Only two tribes were then called Judah and had their capital in Jerusalem. That southern kingdom, Aram, also called Syria, made war against Israel and Judah. In fact, it was during such a battle that Ahab, the king of Israel, was killed. And during one of those battles, the aramean, or syrian army had taken wives and children from the people of Israel as servants or slaves. One of those, a young girl, served Naaman's wife. We read in this passage, and you might expect to find after reading of this aramaean commander getting stricken with Sarah, that this is God's punishment. In fact, we read something different. We read that because of Naaman, God had actually given victory to Aram. God had been at work in Aram, but that's the very proclamation we find not only here, but time and again in the hebrew scriptures, God is at work. Not just in the ancient people of Israel, not just in that northern kingdom of Israel or southern kingdom of Judah. God is at work. In non Jews we read, even enemies of ancient Israel. A Canaanite like Rahab, a Moabite like Ruth, a phoenician like the widow of Zarephath, and an Aramaeans like Naaman, the God of Israel, we read time and again, is a God of all people. And when scripture speaks, as it so often does, of God's particular blessing and love and healing work in that particular people called the ancient people of God, the hebrew people, the people of Israel. So often the imagery is that they are blessed to be, be a blessing. Light is shown to them so they can be a light, so that all nations of the world might see God's healing power and flock to that light and learn the ways that make for peace. That's the kind of imagery we get in today's text. When a girl, a servant girl, a slave girl serving Naaman, she is the one who on one hand, has known God's work in Elisha, God's work in the ancient people of Israel. And yet she proclaims to Naaman's wife that the healing work of this God is available for her husband as well. Here's how one painter, the artist Frank William Warwick Topham, imagines this moment when this servant girl of the people of Israel, talking to Naaman's wife, you can see how she is portrayed as distraught at her husband's condition of leprosy and all that. It would impact her household. There's a bow on the ground which might well point our memory back to how there have been wars between precisely these people, that is, Aram, and the people of Israel. And yet we see this girl standing tall and proclaiming this good news. She tells of how there is a prophet in Israel. She says, if only my lord, that is Naaman, were with the prophet who is in Samaria, he would cure him of his tsarah. It's a powerful word from a woman, a young woman of Israel, of God's healing work going out to all people, even assyrian. That pronouncement of good news then sends Naaman on a journey. Naaman gets a letter from his king and takes it to the king of Israel, along with great wealth of silver and gold and fancy clothes to give to the prophet in exchange for the work of healing Naaman. But the king of Israel is incensed he asks, is this king of Aram trying to pick a fight with me? Do I have the power to cure Zara? Is this a joke or taunt? But Elisha hears of this exchange and he tells the king of Israel, no, let Naaman come to me and he will learn there is a prophet in Israel. God's healing work can be available for him. So Naaman comes to Elisha's house with horses, we read, and chariots with a huge entourage. And he's expecting, of course, the prophet to come out and offer some sort of salutation and then display God's powerful work in a way appropriate to this man of wealth and might, a great man. But instead, Elisha doesn't even come out. He sends a servant. And this servant says something humiliating. Naaman, go and wash seven times in the Jordan river and you'll be healed. And that's it. Naaman, we read, is incensed. He says, does this prophet not even come out to greet me and show God's healing work? He's having me go through this humiliating washing in the Jordan river. We've got better rivers back in Damascus. The Jordan come on. And Naaman leaves. But once again, it's a servant that saves the day. Servant stops Naaman and says, naaman, if this prophet had given you something really challenging, really difficult, some huge mountain to climb or some huge task to undertake, you would have done it, right? Well, he's asking you to just bathe in the Jordan river. So why not just do that? Maybe that's the hard of your healing. Maybe that's the difficult task. You need to do something as simple as submission. So Naaman agrees, and he washes seven times in the Jordan river. And we read two things that not only is his skin healed, it becomes like that of a young boy, but also that he is pronounced clean. Likely because the prophet Elisha had said he would be clean if he underwent this. Washington, healed and clean. Restored. Renewed. That's what we see happening to an enemy of ancient Israel. Naaman then wants to pay Elisha for his services. He says, now I know there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. Please accept a present from your servant. But Elisha says, as the Lord lives whom I serve, I will accept nothing. It's interesting if you look at artistic renderings of today's passage, of which there are a number. It's this moment and this scene that artists gravitate to the most. Here is how a dutch painter from back in the 17th century imagined that moment. When Naaman is hearing from Elisha, that he will receive nothing. You can see on one hand, right at the center of the action, is Naaman. Of course, they all look Dutch because it's a dutch painter. We tend to imagine people in the Bible must have looked like us, right? So this naaman, you'll see, has fancy clothes, a turban, a turquoise shirt, fancy garments. And he's standing tall. He's the center of the action. He is mighty. He's holding clothes that he might give. And over here is a purple garment, a sign of wealth. But the prophet you will see over here, who's dressed in far simpler clothing, has one hand on a book, surely the Bible, the word of God. The other hand seems to be pointing up to God. And you'll notice that Naaman's eyes are kind of looking out, not directly at Elisha. And many interpreters imagine that at this very moment he is reflecting, he's undergoing a kind of perspective shift. He's gone through the hard of healing, and now he recognizes there is no God but the God of Israel. And yet that God cares about me and my healing. It's a recognition that on one hand might have brought him down in humility, but also lifted him up to a new power that he can know in that very God of Israel. And I love the way this painter depicts over to the side, this girl who's dressed in colorful blue and nice garments, making me imagine she's likely of Naaman's household. And you'll notice she is the only one who's looking right at Elisha, as if she sees that is where God's healing, restorative, renewing power is at work in that prophet. So I imagine she is precisely meant to be that girl from Israel who first started this action, directing everyone and proclaiming there is a healer in Israel that is available for all. This passage of assyrian commander washing in the Jordan river. Of course, this Old Testament story has been seen by christians for centuries as pointing to what? To baptism. This washing in the Jordan river. Baptism represents just such a washing like the one that Naaman underwent. It's a turning from having our primary allegiance to human authorities, like Naaman had with the king of Aram or the king of Israel, that suddenly that authority shifts to the wild and wondrous creator and healer and sustainer of all life, the God of Israel, who's also the goddess of all peoples, the monarch of monarchs. And you'll remember that when Jesus would later speak of exactly this text in Luke's gospel, chapter four, he would emphasize how this story of Naaman shows God's concern and call to ministry, not just to the jewish people, like those of Jesus own hometown of Nazareth and those who'd attended the synagogue where he read from the prophet Isaiah, but rather God's love and concern and care and healing work extends even to the enemies of that people. Jesus will say there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian. The God of Israel is a God of all peoples, and as christians, we proclaim that God came to us in Christ. God's healing power is available to all in Christ, and it is available not just to the jew, to the non jew or Gentile. Also in baptism, we are all invited to be made new, pronounced clean, welcomed into a new community that is the body of Christ. We have that healing, restorative work of God in us, the kind we see in today's text from two kings five. All it calls for is that hard, humble act, submission. How hard that act still is for us today. How hard it has been for people throughout history. Naaman was not the only one to discover this. Think of people that are now often called saints, like Camillus de Lellus, born back in the 16th century in Italy. Like Naaman, he too was once known for his warlike ways. He was accused of being a troublemaker and a fighter and always getting in trouble. At school, he went and joined the military at age 16, joining his father to fight in a war against the Turks. And during those years, he developed a hideous and painful sore on his leg. He was sent to the hospital of San Giasamo in Rome. But his belligerence and his arrogance meant he got kicked out of the hospital. He then lost a ton on a gambling spree, and he literally had nothing. And so he took a job doing manual labor for a christian capuchin community, and in them he saw something he was missing in his own life. When one of the Capuchins who had given Camillus lodging told him that God's love in Christ could be his, too, if he were but to receive the savior or humble himself and receive that life that Christ had offered to him, Camillus initially discarded this. He wasn't accustomed to submitting or humbling himself, and so he initially discounted the advice. But like so much good advice, it ate at him. And later he would tell of a time when he was riding on horseback and was stricken with the need to humble himself. He got down from the horse, got down on his knees, came down like Namaste and said these words at age 25, wretch that I am, why did I not know my lord sooner? Wretch that I am, why did I not know my lord sooner? Camillus famously returned to that hospital that had kicked him out. Only now he came as a new person, renewed, changed, and he sought to treat every patient there as if they were Christ. And this approach radically shifted things. Hospitals at that time were known for being unsanitary, dirty staff, many of which were incorporated from a criminal group of people, often indifferent to patients conditions. But Camillus, as he worked in this hospital, showed a radically different mode of caring for people. He cared about cleanliness, he cared about his patients recovery. He watched what actually helped them recover and sought to do that as well. And for these actions, he was eventually lifted up to the position of superintendent of that hospital. He would go on to found eight other hospitals and a christian order that emphasized care of the sick. He would go back onto battlefields, but now not with weapons, instead with the Red Cross indicating he came as a healer. Sometimes healing is hard, but when it comes, life is made new and you get to be a part of God's glorious healing purposes in the world. Sometimes the healing work comes to us as individual persons. Sometimes the healing work happens to a broader people or group or nation, and the hard can come in. Seeing how the healing process requires humility and acknowledging wounds, we prefer to keep under wraps. But healing is still awesome. In a celebrated letter from a Birmingham jail, the Reverend Martin Luther King junior famously compared the work he had been engaged in, boycotts, protests, letter writings. He said it was like engaging in God's work of bringing healing to a people, helping wounds be seen so they could be healed. He wrote this in response to the criticism from many white clergy that he was stoking divisions, stoking tensions. By speaking of things like poverty and racial injustice and us militarism, he wrote, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with like a boil that can never be cured as long as it's covered up, but must be opened with all its pus flowing ugliness. He knew how to write to the natural medicines of air and light. Injustice must likewise be exposed with all of the tension it's exposing creates to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured. Powerful framework isn't it? We must acknowledge a wound, go through the hard healing process to arrive where God wants us, a more just, peaceful community today. That's precisely the kind of work the center for reconciliation in this city is trying to do with tours offered in this city of our own communities. Wounds when it comes to racial injury and injustice, wounds that need to be brought out to the old to be healed. Hard work, to be sure, but important if we're to know the fullness of the healing. God invites persons and people's communities to know. Friends here the good news our God is not only a loving creator and a blessed redeemer, but a healer. And that healing is available not just to the ancient people of Israel and individuals like Naaman, but all people, you and me. Today it's available to our friends and to our enemies. For our God is a God of all people and has poured out God's love for all people in Jesus Christ. Yes, receiving this healing then and now can be hard. Calling for submission, humility, having our priorities all reshaped, having our worldview changed, where we see the injury and hurt in the world, but also seeing God's work and that we can be a part of that healing work ourselves. It can take us places we don't want to go and engage in processes we might not want to submit to. But there is a balm in Gilead, there is a prophet in Samaria. There is a healing power of God we now know in Christ, and it's available to all. Receive it, friends and know the gift of life made new. And know the gift of being part of God's healing work towards your neighbor and those in need around the world. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, amen. [00:31:36] Speaker A: I.