II Kings 5:1-14 * February 16, 2003 * Epiphany 6 * Pastor Pagels

In the name of Christ Jesus, dear friends:

How was your Valentine’s Day? Did you send many Valentine cards? Did you decorate heart-shaped cookies? Did you eat any heart-shaped candy? Did you receive a bouquet of long stem red roses? Or maybe you went out for a special dinner?

If you think about it, some of the things that people are willing to do at this (and at no other) time during the year might be classified as a bit strange. We buy flowers that don’t last. We buy candy we don’t need. We buy presents we can’t afford. And we do it all in the name of love. On at least one day of the year we make a special effort to say nice things and do nice things for the people we love.

So how many of you sent a Valentine card to an ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend? How many of you bought an expensive gift for that person who rubs you the wrong way? How many of you sent flowers to the co-worker who has the unique ability to drive you up a wall?

I’m guessing that the answer to all of those questions is “no one.” The thought probably never even crossed your mind. It is hard enough to tolerate the people who irritate us. It is challenging enough to act civil toward the people who annoy us. It takes all the strength we can muster to put up with the people who hurt us. How can I show love to someone I don’t even like? That’s just not possible.

If Naaman hadn’t experienced it for himself, if he had not been on the receiving end of this kind of love, he wouldn’t have believed it either. As we study his amazing story, we will rediscover an equally amazing truth…

OUR GOD LOVES THE UNLOVABLE

I. An unlikely missionary knows this is true

II. A leprous leader hopes this is true

III. A godless king doubts this is true

IV. A mighty prophet proves this is true

Naaman and Elisha are the major players in this account, but the Lord used an unlikely missionary to bring them together. We don’t know much about her. We don’t even know her name. What we do know is that her short life had not been easy.

Israel was involved in a border war with Aram (modern Syria), its neighbor to the northeast. During one of these Aramean raids into northern Israel, this girl had been captured. She was separated from her family and friends. She was carried away against her will. Everything that was familiar to her, everyone she knew and loved was gone. And she had nothing to look forward to but a lifetime of slavery.

In spite of the circumstances, she wasn’t bitter. She didn’t blame God. She didn’t curse God. She knew that God had not forsaken her. She remembered how God had used Joseph to do great things in Egypt even though he had started out as a lowly servant. She looked for opportunities to let her light shine in her master’s household. And then one day, it happened. Naaman the war hero, Naaman the five star general, Naaman the king’s trusted advisor, was diagnosed with leprosy. The man who appeared to be invincible was mortal after all.

The Jewish slave girl could have taken great pleasure in her master’s misfortune: “God must be punishing Naaman for what he has done to my people. God must be punishing Naaman for everything he has done to me. My master is finally getting what he deserves.” She could have remained silent and watched as Naaman wasted away, but she didn’t. Instead, she suggested a possible cure: “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy” (3).

Could a little girl really tell a military commander what he should do? Would the Lord really heal the sworn enemy of his people? Can God’s love really extend that far? The servant girl believed it in her heart. And with nowhere else to turn, the leprous leader hoped that she was right.

The text doesn’t mention any specific examples, but we can imagine Naaman doing some of the things a person might do when diagnosed with a terminal illness: seeking out healers, searching for cures, bargaining with God, etc. No matter what he tried, nothing worked. The disease did not go away.

Maybe desperation was the motivation, but the girl’s words traveled quickly from Naaman’s wife to Naaman to the king himself. The king immediately sent Namaan to find this prophet, but he didn’t send him empty handed. Naaman took ten talents of silver (c. 750 pounds), six thousand shekels of gold (c. 150 pounds), and ten sets of clothing. In addition to all of these treasures, Naaman carried an official letter from his king to the king of Israel.

Why was Naaman willing to take such a huge risk? Why was he willing to cross enemy lines? Why was he willing to put his life in the hands of a slave? The way Naaman saw it, he had no other choice. He recognized that he had a problem. The problem was that he thought his problem was only skin deep. Naaman didn’t realize it at the time, but God was working through this physical disease to bring about spiritual healing.

It is amazing that a foreigner was willing to be so trusting. It is sad that Israel’s king, someone who should have known better, someone who should have been a spiritual leader, was filled with nothing but doubt.

When Naaman delivered the letter to King Joram of Israel, God was giving him an opportunity. This was an opportunity to put his faith on display. This was an opportunity to ask God for guidance. This was an opportunity confer with the prophet Elisha. So what did King Joram do?

He tore his royal robes and said: “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me” (7).

Joram was so consumed with the plots of men that he didn’t even consider the plans of God. He was so quick to see the situation on a political level that he overlooked how God might be working on a spiritual level.

This was probably not the kind of reception Naaman was hoping for. Maybe he was thinking to himself: “If the King of Israel doesn’t trust in his God, why should I? Maybe the girl was wrong. Maybe there is no cure. Maybe the God of Israel can’t help me.” Thankfully, God did not allow Naaman to go home disappointed. God wanted Naaman to see his power. God wanted Naaman to feel his love. And the Lord used a mighty prophet to prove it.

When Elisha heard about Joram’s tirade, he sent this message to the king: “Why have you torn you robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel” (8). Naaman had already come this far. He had nothing to lose so he went.

But before Naaman got to Elisha’s house, the prophet sent a messenger out to him with these instructions: “Go, wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed” (10). No special effects. No magic potions. No death defying stunts. Just go and wash in the muddy, murky waters of the Jordan.

When Naaman heard this, he was enraged. “I came all the way for this. I could have stayed home where the water is clean and pure. And this prophet, who does he think he is? I am a powerful man. I am an important man. And he won’t even come out and acknowledge me.”

It was a good thing for Naaman that his servants were able to talk some sense into him. If their master was willing to do something difficult and dangerous to be healed, why shouldn’t he be willing to do something this easy? So he did. Naaman went down and washed himself seven times in the Jordan River, “and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy” (14).

Naaman learned an important lesson that day. The cure for his leprosy didn’t come from a prophet or a king, or even from a little girl. The ability to cure diseases, the power to forgive sins, comes from God. He is all-powerful. He loves all people, even a foreigner like Naaman.

If you had to choose, who would you say that you identify with in this story, the servant girl, Naaman, Joram or Elisha? Or is it fair to say that, depending on the situation, we can identify with all four individuals?

We might not like to admit it, but there is a Joram living inside each one of us. Something bad happens. We classify it as a problem. God sees it as an opportunity. We focus on the temporal consequences. God focuses on the eternal benefits. We are filled with questions. God has the answers.

There are those days when we fit the profile of Naaman. We recognize that we have all kinds of problems, but we fail to trace them back to their source. We know that we need help, but we don’t always look in the right places. And so the Lord allows headaches and heartaches into our lives to make us humble.

When every man-made solution leads to a dead end, when there is absolutely nowhere else to turn, when you recognize that the real problem in your life is sin and that sin starts in here, then God is quick to step in with the divine solution.

And then there are those golden moments when God works through sinful human beings like you and me. Maybe the Hebrew slave girl didn’t look like a missionary, maybe she didn’t have the training of a missionary, but God worked wonders through her witnessing.

You might not think that you are qualified to do mission work, but there are all kinds of ways God can and does work through you. On an airplane, in the barber’s chair, across the backyard fence, in the next cubicle at work, in the hallway at school, look for the opportunities God gives to share his love wherever you are.

Really the only one we can’t identify with in this account is God. Only God could make all of these people and places and events work together for his glory and Naaman’s good. Only God has the power to heal body and the soul. Only God can love unlovable sinners. And Naaman is living proof that he does.

I hope you enjoyed Valentine’s Day. Even if you didn’t do anything special, even if you didn’t get anything special, you are not forgotten. God has remembered you. In fact, he has given you a gift. It didn’t come in a heart-shaped box. God himself delivered it 2,000 years ago on a blood stained cross. And the tag reads: “To the world with love.” Amen.