Sermon: Salvation and Surrender

A sermon on 2 Kings 5.1-16 by Fr. Scott Homer

Leprosy comes up twice in our readings this morning. Naaman the Aramean general is a leper and is healed by God in our Old Testament reading and Jesus heals a leper in our Gospel reading. Leprosy is mentioned often in the Scriptures. It is not clear to modern scholars what exactly it the disease was because the symptoms described differ from case to case but two things are clear: 1. The leprosy mentioned in the Bible was probably not Hansen's Disease and 2. It was some sort of very contagious skin disorder that was, in most cases, incurable. And because it was incurable the Bible remembers the stories of God healing lepers because they represent extreme examples of God's salvation—not perhaps as dramatic as raising the dead to life but amazing acts of God.

Let's look at the Old Testament lesson. The story is set in the ancient kingdom of Israel, probably a thousand years before the birth of Jesus, before Israel's Babylonian captivity. It is the story of a pagan soldier named Naaman and a prophet of the one true God named Elisha. Naaman is from a foreign country to the North of Israel, a country called Aram. It is in the area of modern day Syria. Elisha is an Israelite—but not just any Israelite. Elisha, if not the greatest Old Testament prophet, is one of the greatest prophets in all the Scriptures. He performs amazing miracles and healings in the name of the Lord. Like Jesus, Elisha's ministry proves that God is not some sterile idea or a man-made pipedream. The prophet's miracles and healings prove God to be powerful and present. And in Elisha's ministry we see a foreshadowing of Jesus.

The story of Naaman and Elisha is remarkable because it is a story about God healing a pagan. It is one of the very early examples of God acting mightily in the life of a non-Jew and of course after he is healed Naaman becomes a believer in the one true God. And that ought to remind us of what Jesus and his disciples are doing in the New Testament era. They go around from place to place healing people, and through those healings they are telling people that the kingdom of God has drawn near to them. So the story of Naaman is a conversion story. It is the story of God healing an enemy of God and making himself known to him. So lets look at Naaman and lets focus particularly on what must happen in Naaman's life in order for him to receive God's healing.

Naaman knows how to make things happen. He is a mover and shaker. He is the General in Charge of the Aramean Army and Aramea is one of the most powerful nations in the world at that time. Naaman is the king's right hand man—number two in the kingdom—one of the most powerful men in the world. Naaman is a huge success story. He has amassed a fortune. He has power and influence over thousands of men. His name is known and feared. This guy has achieved just about everything a man can hope to achieve. Naaman knows how to make things happen. He has it all…or he would if it were not for the fact that he suffers from this incurable ailment. Naaman is a leper. He suffers from a terrible skin disease. It is so terrible in fact that governments of the day forced lepers to live apart, quarantined from the rest of society. In Israel lepers were forced to wear bells and the Law required that they yell out to any that came near and warn them of the danger. Indeed, the leper was seen as someone who was abandoned by God. So although Naaman is able to cause all sorts of things to happen in the world he is powerless over his own healing.

But Naaman doesn't seem to get it. He still seems to think that he can force a healing by his own efforts. He gets a letter from his king to use as leverage with the king of Israel. He gathers up bags and bags of silver and gold to use as a bribe. And he even goes to the top fashion designers of the day and takes a bunch of Versace suits just in case the Israelites might be enticed by high fashion. But Naaman is about to receive a lesson in humility. Naaman is not going to win his healing through power, money or influence. In fact, he is going to have nothing to say about his healing at all. If he is going to be healed, he is going to be healed because he does precisely what someone else tells him to do. All his power and money and access to the finer things of life are meaningless. Only if he swallows his pride and humbles himself by obeying the clear instruction given to him by God's messenger will he know wellness.

We may know great success in life. We may enjoy great wealth, have the respect and admiration of kings, and wield vast power and influence over the affairs of men but all of that is of no consequence to God. The great man and the common man alike are at God's mercy when we are afflicted by our sins or oppressed by the circumstances of life beyond our control. Only God's grace and mercy can cure us and God's grace and mercy are not for sale, can not be won by force and will not yield to our influence. How can we obtain healing? What is required of us? Simple obedience to the Word of God, nothing more.

Naaman then is a sort of Everyman. He represents the human condition. We can all see in Naaman the problem we ourselves face. We chase after success. We amass fortunes. We fight for fame and influence and we are always seduced into believing that our efforts will result in secure lives, lives free from hardship, loss and disease. We think we will know health, joy and comfort as the fruits of our intelligence and our natural gifts and our labor. But Naaman reminds us that no matter how well off we may be, no matter how much power we may exercise in the lives of others, there are afflictions that we simply can not buy our way out of, or bully into submission or cause to pass us by. Ronald Reagan suffered from Alzheimers despite having been the most powerful man in the world. Howard Hughes suffered insanity despite being the wealthiest man in the world. Power and money saves no one.

Naaman finds the one true God of the universe in the last place he would have expected to find him, not where Naaman was strong, not where he was successful but at the very point of his greatest weakness. He comes into the presence of the one true God at the place in his life where he is unable to make anything happen—and at the one place where he is forced to bow to someone else's authority. Naaman knows God at the point in his life where he is powerless.

That is the fact for all of us. We want God to admire us for our competency but God is more interested in our ineptitude. We want to meet God in the celebrations of life but God is more ready to meet us in our moments of despair. We want to be big, important, powerful but God is really looking for us to become humble and obedient, to move back from having to be the center of attention and allow Jesus to take center stage.

Elisha is a poor Isrealite—one of the people Naaman threatens to conquer. According to world standards Elisha should be bowing and scraping before this great general but he does the opposite. He will not even grant Naaman an audience. He sends a servant out with a dismissive message to go and wash himself seven times in the Jordan River. Is it any wonder why Naaman is angry? He is being insulted. He is being treated with contempt. He is being humbled. And he turns away in a rage because he has been snubbed by an underling. But Naaman will remain a leper for the rest of his life unless he submits, accepts the snub, and does what the prophet tells him to do. And it isn't a difficult thing is it? All he has to do is go for a swim and jump in the water seven times. He doesn't balk at Elisha's demand because it is difficult. He balks at Elisha's demand out of pride.

God does not make hard terms with us. He is not asking anything of us that is difficult. What makes our relationship with Him difficult is our pride. God insists upon being God. He will not step down off his throne and allow us to demand our own way. We can, like Naaman, be competent, powerful, and wealthy but it will avail us nothing in our relationship with God. God is not interested in any of that. God wants a submissive heart. He wants us to be willing to listen to his word, when necessary to swallow our pride, and a willingness to do what he asks us to do. We never fully learn this lesson. Some of us never get it at all. But our healing, our happiness and our long term security depend upon learning to live with Jesus as our Lord and Master.

Bottom line is: Humility is one of the cardinal virtues and pride is one of the cardinal vices. This is an extraordinarily difficult teaching in our culture because our culture is devoted to pride and personal power. We love our autonomy. We demand our own way in everything, but it is a destructive lifestyle. It holds us apart from God and prevents us from receiving God's healing. Naaman listened to reason. He dropped his pride, at least long enough to go and wash himself in the Jordan River. And so that momentary surrender to the will of God freed him from the dread disease that had gripped him. He was made whole as a result of his willingness to surrender. If we can listen to reason, if we can surrender to the will of God and allow someone else to call the shots in our life we too can know the power of God's healing in our lives.

Jesus has come to set us free. In chapter 28 of the Gospel according to Matthew Jesus says, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given me." "That," as Sandy Millar says, "is quite a lot of authority." Jesus has the power to set us free. And it is his desire to set us free. In our Gospel reading this morning the leper says to Jesus, "If you are willing you can heal to me." And Jesus responds, "I am willing…" Jesus has the power to heal us. It is his desire to heal us. We ought to let him. Amen.