Unexpected Healing
A Sermon by The Rev. Peter De Franco
July 3, 2022
2 Kings 5:1-14
5Naaman, 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. 2Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” 4So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. 5And 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. 6He 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.” 7When 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.” 8But 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.” 9So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. 10Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.” 11But 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! 12Are 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. 13But 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’?” 14So 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.15Then 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; please accept a present from your servant.” 16But he said, “As the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will accept nothing!” He urged him to accept, but he refused. 17Then Naaman said, “If not, please let two mule-loads of earth be given to your servant; for your servant will no longer offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god except the Lord. 18But may the Lord pardon your servant on one count: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon, when I do bow down in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant on this one count.” 19He said to him, “Go in peace.”
Summer comes as a great time to catch up on reading. We can find time at the Jersey shore under the protection of a beach umbrella, coated with sun screen, listening to the rhythm of the waves and the joyful sounds of children kicking up sand and our book in hand. Most readers ask other readers about books they enjoy. I learned not to ask church ladies that question. An older woman in another congregation where I served told me she was reading and when I asked about the book she became a bit ambivalent and avoided the question. I realized that she was a fan of romance novels, you know the ones with the handsome man on the cover with shoulder length blonde hair and his shirt wide open. She thought that priests would not appreciate those novels.
For those of us who love stories, today’s passage from the second book of Kings might be seen not as a summer romance but a bit of a strange short story filled with unusual details. Naaman is introduced to us in the first line as a general of the army of Aram, the enemy of Israel. So I wonder why it says “by him the Lord had given victory to Aram.” It seems that God focused an eye on Naaman to give him more than a decisive battle, more than a physical healing.
Did you notice how God worked a healing not through the powerful and might but through the nameless and the lowest? In one of his exploits into Israel, Naaman kidnapped a young Jewish girl to become his wife’s slave. We realize that Naaman is no Alan Alda type of soldier. Through this abducted child God speaks to Naaman and the slave girl directs Naaman to the prophet Elisha. The child does not conceal from her abductor that a prophet lives in Israel who can heal Naaman.
Naaman works through the upper levels of power and asks the king of Aram to write to the king of Israel and request the healing. We are not going to talk about how the kings of Israel and Aram almost mess up this healing story. We all know that from the time of ancient Israel to our own day people in politics seldom know how to work with God.
So let’s fast forward the story to Elisha’s house. Naaman finally makes his way to the prophet. Naaman seeks to amaze Elisha with his considerable caravan but Elisha is not impressed. Elisha probably knows about the ruthless Naaman just as all of us know about bloodthirsty Putin. Naaman expects people to bow down to him, to stroke his rather delicate ego, to show him the respect he does not give to others. Elisha does not even go out to see Naaman.
Elisha sends a servant to Naaman. This lowly servant directs the powerful general to wash seven times in the Jordan River. Naaman not only suffers from leprosy. Naaman obviously experiences a far deeper illness, a sickness of the spirit, an overinflated sense of self.
Naaman is prepared to leave the scene when his insignificant servants appeal 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’?”
Finally, the word of God breaks through the heart of this man. He obeys Elisha and washes. “His flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.” Not only was his flesh restored but his soul regained its innocence. Naaman returns to Elisha a changed man. He expresses his gratitude with the words: “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant.” “From your servant.”
Naaman has been healed, not only the leprosy of his skin but the far deeper infection of arrogance which sickened his soul. I doubt that Naaman could have imagined the real interior healing which God had prepared for him. The arrogant general surrounded by servants is transformed into a servant, a servant of God, the role God prepared for him from the start.
Most of us are like Naaman, especially when we are dealing with any form of illness. I don’t like to talk about myself in sermons so I ask for your indulgence this Sunday. Most of you know that I have follicular lymphoma. There is no cure for this cancer. It is a chronic disease which I shall have for the rest of my life. Doctors will have to continually monitor my lymphatic system for cancerous growths and then treat them. Through chemotherapy and immunotherapy, the cancerous growth in my body has been eliminated. But there was a deeper healing. I no longer let a day go by without finding some joy in the beauty of our gardens, in the company of our cats, in the comfort of my husband and family. God heals us in ways far deeper than physical restorations. Those of us in the cancer club know this brutal and beautiful truth.
As you seek to encounter God through today’s worship, open your heart to that deeper healing which God is planning for you. Listen to the small people around you who point you to that healing.
Open your heart to God’s unexpected overturning of expected ways, of habits of seeing life, of patterns of relating to others. Expect the unexpected for the Kingdom of God has come near you.