The reading
2 Kings 5:1-15a
Naaman, 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.[a] 2
Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the
land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “If
only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his
leprosy.”[b] 4 So Naaman[c] went in and told his lord just what the girl from
the land of Israel had said. 5 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, six thousand
shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. 6 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.”[d]7 When 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?[e]
Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.”
8 But 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.” 9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the
entrance of Elisha’s house. 10 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.” 11 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 would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy![f] 12 Are not
Abana[g] 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. 13 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’?” 14 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 flesh of a young boy, and he
was clean.
15 Then 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.”
The message
We continue our long Advent, the faithful wait for
Christmas, for the birth of Jesus, the word of God made flesh and dwelling
amongst us. We are starting the 3rd part of the Old Testament, the
prophets. We have gone through the torah, the first five books where the law is
given to the people of Israel and the historical books, in which God acts in
the world, leading to victory and allowing defeat, interfering and interrupting
to keep God’s promises. Now, we enter the time and books of the
prophets, messengers who share God’s word with a community in pain, crisis and
doubt. They are a diverse group, elites
and poor farmers, accepted or rejected, people with great status in the temple
and people yelling outside the gates and not allowed in, people with known
histories or unrecorded origins who just appear, seemingly out of nowhere.
Today’s reading centers around 2 of the major prophets,
Elijah and Elisha. The healing of Naaman
is the answer to the question “Is there a prophet in Israel”. That question was a challenge to the kings and
leaders of Israel. Elijah was the great
prophet, he was the model that all of the other prophets were compared to.
Elijah confronts kings, defeats the prophets of Baal, a god worshipped by many neighboring
people (and plenty of Israelites too).
He shares great signs of power and boldly speaking God’s word. Elijah is
the one who appears with Moses at the Transfiguration, when Jesus is revealed
as the Messiah, as God with us, as the fulfillment of the promises of God
through the prophets. When Elijah completes his work, he is taken into heaven
on a firey chariot. Before his last ride,
Elijah anoints Elisha as his successor, giving him the mantle (a garment worn
as a sign of power and authority).
It is hard for a new pastor to work after beloved, long time
pastor or someone new to follow up a successful elected official, great teacher
or extremely good speaker. Today, we learn it is hard for a prophet to follow
after Elijah. Elijah and Elisha are very
different in their appearance and approach to their work. Elijah is reclusive,
appearing at important times and then disappearing; Elisha lives amongst the
people, he constantly immersed in the community. Each of them does similar signs of power and
miracles. When appointed, Elisha
requests a double portion of Elijah’s power and receives it, Elisha actually
does twice as many signs as Elijah did.
(Jesus will end up amplifiying the works of both of them, Elijah and
Elisha feed a hundred with a little food, Jesus feeds thousands with less, Elijah
and Elisha will heal, Jesus will heal in more hopeless situations)
Elisha gets off to a slow, difficult start. Without Elijah, there is a big empty space
in the religious and political world. Kings ask “Is there a prophet in Israel”,
people point to Elisha and leaders go, that guy, eh im not sure. People
wonder, will there ever be another prophet in Israel, who could replace Elijah,
Before the healing of Naaman, Elisha is constantly tested, to verify he is a
prophet and more importantly, he is under suspicion, that he did some wrong to
get rid of Elijah or simply stole his mantle. Elisha performs several miracles
and they culminate in today’s story, the healing of Namaan.
When Namaan and his group arrive, the king of Israel does
not trust Elisha, he worries. A powerful neighbor just sent a beloved general,
a forture in gold and silver and a request to cure leprosy. Failure could
easily result in war, the king and people of Aram, thinking Israel could have
easily done this but choose not to help. We get the sense that if Elijah was
still there, the king would not have been so concerned or anxious, he would
simply wait for Elijah to show up and say, hey take care of this would you.
Elisha, who is not even called by the king, hears about the
situation, the visitors and the request for healing. He sends a message, Why
have you torn your clothes? (why do you doubt the power of God in the
world) Let Namaan come to me, that he
(and you) may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.” Elisha declares what we
do each week, God is still in the world, working through people and sharing
news of restoration and welcome. Elisha
gets off to a bad start. He confuses and angers Namaan by sending a messenger
and telling him to wash in the river 7 times.
Namaan had made a long journey, brought a tremendous amount for a gift,
subjected himself to the authority and help of another kingdom and the person
who could supposedly heal him does not even bother to come out and meet him. Instead, Elisha simply tells him to wash in a
very ordinary river, the public, daily washing place of many people. It was not
what Namaan expected, it was not suitable for a general of Aman. He gives up and storms off. A servant speaks some common sense to him, if
Elisha asked you to do something incredibly difficult, border line impossible,
that would wipe out your resources or put your life is danger, you would have
quickly done it, you’ve come all this way, why not do the easy thing he said. Namaan
goes as Elisha said and he is cured. Now, Elisha meets him.
There is no mystery in this healing. It is God’s work. This
is said from the very start of the story, before Namaan or anyone else knows
about Elisha, before the trip to Israel, before anything steps are taken or
decisions made. Namaan is introduced to us as someone great, accomplished and
respected because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. By him, by a
leper, an unclean, contagious, afflicted man, the Lord had given victory to
Aram. Namaan did not do anything
special, he doubted, got frustrated and gave up. . Namaan did not need to
defeat an army, great warrior or 3 headed monster. The king of Israel doubted
anything could be done, Elisha did not
do anything special, not even meeting Namaan until the healing was done. Namaan declares, Now, I know that there is no
God in all the earth except in Israel and at the end of the story, we do too.
There are many different directions to go with this story,
power in unexpected places, faith and politics, God’s presence revealed in the
care of a foreigner and stranger. Today, in our community, we are shaped by our own
news. We celebrate Confirmation, we gather with Marcello, Marco and Jeremia to
witness their public confession of faith. Just like the people of Israel saw
God’s work through the healing of Naaman, we are going to see God’s work in the
renewal of Baptism. These 3 young men
went to about 40 classes, talked, learned, picked up and read the bible, the
book of concord and the writings of our faith. There was no test, no final exam,
no memorizing the small catechism (as some of you probably had to do). We didn’t really finish class. We started the last few, a time of review and
preparation (so if they mess up, it’s my responsibility) but I started another
program and we ran out of time. Of course, I am more concerned with tomorrow,
or 4 months or 10 years from now.
Baptism does not end, Confirmation does not end, thinking about God does
not end, remembering we are loved and forgiven, does not end. We look
at the world around us and we wonder what the ancient kings did, Is there a
prophet in Woodside? Is there a prophet
in this class in this church, in this building? Today, we worship around the list and memory
of our Saints, the people who have gone before us in faith. We recall the
Reformation, faith confronting church, God’s word reentering church and society.
We look forward to living Baptized, we look forward to Sunday.
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