February 13, 2000
2 Kings 5:1-14
Sermon by Rev. Dr. John K. Luoma
The Bible is loaded with stories
about healing, and we read two of those stories today. Why so
many such stories?. What is God trying to say to us? What does
God want to teach us about healing? Let's look at the story of
Naaman with these questions in mind.
1. I think that the first thing that God is trying to teach us in this story is that sickness and suffering are often God's megaphone. In his book, The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis uses exactly that phrase. He says that sometimes we get so caught up in our lives that we forget about God and we forget about others. We begin thinking that others are only there to serve us . We see God as someone we only call on in an emergency. Lewis says we treat God as a pilot would treat a parachute-it is nice to have around in an emergency, but otherwise we pay no attention to it. It is not that we are ignorant or evil. It is we are just preoccupied with our own agenda.
So, we need to be rocked out of our complacency. We need to be reminded of what our priorities should be. God should be first, others second and ourselves third. It is not that God hasn't been working in his life. The story says that it is God who has given him his victories. But God has not gotten his complete attention . And illness does just that. It is God's megaphone. It is God speaking to us so loudly that we can't ignore him.
God does just that for Naaman. Because of his illness, Naaman opens his ears to listen to things that he would otherwise ignore. God speaks to him through one of the least in the nation of Syria. He speaks to him through a Jewish slave girl who has been captured in battle and who becomes the servant of Naaman's wife. When this slave girl hears of Naaman's illness she tells Naaman's wife that there is a prophet in Samaria who can cure him.
This is amazing on two accounts. It is amazing because this slave girl who had every right to hate Naaman and work for his destruction, actually desires to help him. It is Naaman's first taste of the God of Israel who is a God of steadfast love and desires to heal everyone.
It is also amazing because it is a testimony to a reality that we see in the Bible again and again, i.e., God uses ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things. Though we often have trouble believing it, this is God's way of working. We say, "I don't have any special training or special skills or advanced degrees, how could God possibly use me." But God says, "be faithful, I work extraordinary things through ordinary people."
We have said this before, but it bears repeating because so often we put ourselves down Each of us is ordained at Baptism as a minister of the word of God. And God gives each of us a field of ministry and that field of ministry is made up of our family and friends and co-workers and acquaintances. God calls us to pray for these people and God calls us to assist them in their difficulties just as the slave girl assisted Naaman. And God calls us to share the good news of God's love in Christ. God can do extraordinary things through ordinary people who take their Baptism seriously and who view their every day lives as a mission field.
2. The second step in healing is to actually step forward and ask for it. And this is not an easy thing to do, is it? Even when we know something about God's love, as Naaman did, and even when someone points us in the right direction, it is not an easy thing to do.
A number of years ago the daughter of the bishop of the Lutheran Church in America developed Hodgkins disease. She talks about her greatest learning. She says, "God gave me a new yardstick for measuring my self worth. When I became sick, I was caught up in a frantic pace of studies and jobs, trying to desperately prove that I had something worthwhile to give. My illness interrupted that pace and showed me that my worth as God's child is based on who I am, not what I do.
You have to wonder if Naaman wasn't suffering from that same problem. He was independent and self-sufficient. He didn't need anybody. He wasn't going to humble himself before anyone. No one need give him a gift. He could pay for anything that he needed. And, so, Naaman shows up before the king of Israel with an official letter, telling why he was worthy to be healed, and with gold and silver weighing down one chariot and beautiful clothing weighing down another. And what's the message? The message is that this is an independent, self-sufficient person who deserves to be healed. God owes it to him.
But in order to be healed, the prophet asks of Naaman the one thing that Naaman is reluctant to give, i.e. his pride. Because the truth is that Naaman does need others and he does need God. Believing that he is self-sufficient and independent is the very thing that has made him sick. Dunking himself in the Jordan River seven times is a symbol that he is willing to humble himself and recognize his dependence on God and others.
3. The third step in our healing is that we need to depend on the counsel of those around us. When Naaman hears what the prophet wants him to do, he is so upset that he flies into a rage and turns his chariots around and begins to leave. The Lord had touched him at the place of his deepest sin, i.e. his attitude of independence and self-sufficiency. And when God does that we often get angry and we often want to run away and hide.
And who stops him? His servants stop him. There is this community of faith that surrounds him and upholds him and urges him to do the right thing even though it may seem foolish. And because of this community that surrounds him, he does not run away but does as the prophet says.
There is an important lesson to be learned here. We are a nation of people that can be so prideful, so independent and so self-sufficient. We would rather die than admit that we need God or anyone else. That is why the church is so important and why our society needs the church. We confess that "we believe in the communion of saints, which is to say that we recognize that we live in this interdependent community where we regularly affirm that we do need each other. We especially need each other in times of trial because in those moments our own personal faith may not be sufficient.
4. And the fourth step in healing is surrendering ourselves to the control of God. This is the step of faith; trusting that God will help us. I like the way Kamila Blessing talks about this in her book, It was a Miracle. She says that she once saw a greeting card which had a picture of two trapeze artists on it. They were high up in the air. One had his legs wrapped around the trapeze and his arms stretched out ready to receive the one who would make the critical leap. The leaper was suspended in mid-air and there was a large gap between them. There was no net below and so the leaper was totally dependent on his partner. Would he fall? Would he be saved? The crowd waited in suspense.
I think the card is a metaphor for our relationship with God in Christ. Jesus is the one who makes the catch. He can save us and he can heal us. But we have got to let go of the trapeze. We have got to let go of the things that separate us, such as our pride. And the crowd below is the communion of saints, cheering us on and encouraging us. But sometimes it is so hard to let go of the trapeze and so hard to trust that Jesus will catch.. It is frightening. But if we let go, Jesus will catch us and our healing will begin.
Copyright 2000 by Rev. Dr. John K. Luoma