Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Epiphany

February 16, 2003

St. Luke's, Jamestown

by The Rev. Eric M. Williams

OUTLINE OF SERMON

These are strange times, anxious times.  Confronted by a sinking stock market, imminent war, and the threat of terrorism, we are informed by the Office of Homeland Security that we are now at Code Orange, High Alert.  Police officers multiply on the streets of New York and in Washington troops armed with rocket launchers ring the airport and government buildings.  If we weren’t nervous before, it’s time to get nervous now.  But, we are told, aside from worrying, there’s not much we can do.  There is some advice on what to do in case of a chemical or biological or nuclear attack.  Among other items, we are advised to stock up on duct tape.  I once bought my father a sweat shirt that said, "When the going gets tough, the tough get duct tape."  I never realized how prophetic that was.  Desperate times call for desperate measures.

In our Old Testament lesson today, Naaman was desperate.  Here he was, the second most powerful man in Syria, the commander in chief of the army, and he comes down with leprosy.  This illness called leprosy here could have been any of a number of conditions, but whatever it was, it was a problem for Naaman.  This illness threatened his position, his security and possibly even his life.  He was a man used to being in control.  But here was something over which he had no control, And it frightened him terribly.

He was used to wielding power, but now he was powerless.  I am sure that, like anyone facing a serious illness, he had tried every treatment under the sun.  Coming to Israel, coming to Elisha, was the very last straw, something he never would have considered.  But he was scared enough, desperate enough, to listen to his wife’s Hebrew slave girl, desperate enough to try anything.

But, as desperate as he was, Naaman wanted to do this his way.  He went through the proper channels,

"I’ll have my king call your king."  And he brought loads of money and gifts.  I may be desperate, he thought, but I’ll never act that way.  He did everything he could to put a brave face on his predicament,

to prove to others and especially himself that he was still in charge, still in control.  And he certainly expected to be treated that way.  

Instead Elisha told him to go jump in a river.  He didn’t even tell him himself—he sent a servant.  What an insult!  Naaman expected at least a good magic act.  He may not have really expected healing from a hick prophet, but at least he expected a good show—incantations and spells, fire and smoke and all the rest.  Insulted, offended, and more than a little disappointed, Naaman left.  Jump in a river indeed; We’ve got better rivers back home.

But there was method in Elisha’s madness; there was a point to his rudeness.  Naaman was desperate, but not desperate enough.  He wasn’t yet willing to sacrifice his pride.  Elisha was no magician.  Instead he was a prophet of the living God.  And healing Naaman was not a magic trick, but a spiritual transformation.  In order to be transformed by God, in order to be truly healed, Naaman had to become vulnerable, he had to be ready to submit to God not only in body, but in mind and spirit as well.  Leave your money, your slaves, your position and your pride at the door.  You can’t bring any of that with you into the river.  Strip all of that away and then you can be clean again.  And Naaman did meet God that day.  He was cured of his illness, but moreover he was converted to the worship of Yahweh as well.  His transformation was more than skin deep.  

In the gospel Jesus often dealt with desperate people.  The leper we meet today was much different from Naaman.  After living as an outcast, he had no pride left.  In his desperation, he violated custom and came right up to Jesus, knowing that he could heal him if he chose.  Where Elisha had kept his distance from the proud Naaman, here Jesus is instantly and powerfully moved and touching him, touching him, he heals him.

Two desperate lepers, two healings, two encounters with the living God.  We always focus on the miraculous healings, and so did Jesus’ contemporaries, hounding him for miracle after miracle.  But for Jesus, the point is not the healing, the point is the transforming power of knowing God.  There are many things that need to be healed in our lives, many obstacles to loving God and each other and often physical illness is the least of our problems.

Most of us, I would imagine, have more in common with Naaman than with the leper in the gospel today.

We want to be healed, we want to know God, but our pride, our expectations, our need to be in control

keep getting in the way.  Very often we need to be shaken up to get our priorities in order.  You can bet those young men and women heading to the Persian Gulf daily by the thousands have been thinking about what’s really important.  Some of them are getting tattoos with their name rank and serial number

in case their bodies need to be identified after their death.  Tell me that doesn’t sharpen the senses and clarify one’s priorities.  

For many of us the realization comes in a different way.  I remember a simple test that measured the amount of stress in your life.  Various stressors were listed with a numerical score.  One selected all the current stressors in your life and add them up.  The top ten included the death of a spouse or other close family member, getting married or getting divorced and the loss of a job, either from being fired or retiring.  And, of course, illness was up there as well.  All of these personal stressors in life, not to mention the national stressors we are all enduring right now, can do two things.  They can lead us to a sense of helplessness, numbness and even depression.  Or they can lead us to a sense of our dependence on God.

The truth is that we are not in control of our lives; we never have been—it was only an illusion.  Only when we lose that pride and need to control can we really be open to God’s healing and transforming grace.  Only when we are empty can we be filled.  Only when we are weak can we be strong by leaning on the power of God in Jesus Christ.  That’s the lesson that Naaman learned nearly three thousand years ago.  And it’s a lesson we keep having to learn the hard way.  Naaman learned that the grace of God comes to us in unexpected ways.  It came to him as he stood wet and embarrassed in the muddy Jordan river.  It comes to us also in moments when we are most vulnerable, most afraid, most in need, most desperate.  The healing and transforming grace of God comes to us each time we confess our sins,

each time we kneel humbly at this altar, each time we open our hands and our hearts to be fed with the unquenchable life of Jesus our Savior, who says to us and to the world:

Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden.

Come to me all you who are sick, and tired, anxious and depressed.

Come to me all you who know your need for God.

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