Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man and highly regarded by his master, because through him God had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.
Bands of raiders from Aram had taken a young girl from Israel captive, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”
Naaman told his master what the girl from Israel had said. “By all means, go,” the king replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents or 350 of silver, six thousand shekels (69 k) of gold and ten sets of clothing. The letter read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”
As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his 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!”
When Elisha heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me; he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” Naaman went with his entourage to Elisha’s house. Elisha sent out a messenger who said, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan; your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”
Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought he would surely come out to me, call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage.
Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored, as that of a young boy..
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This morning, we catch up with Elisha as he takes up the mantle laid upon him by Elijah. Unlike most prophets in biblical stories, Elijah and Elisha often served as escorts and advisors to those hoping to move from sickness and death to life and health. These are a kind of “boundary crossing”, and between the two of these prophets, there are five such “crossings”. Today’s story demonstrates that kind of crossing of a boundary - one from sickness and death to one of health and healing.
We meet Naaman, the military commander of the Aramean army. Naaman is a very rich and powerful man who has received the favor of the King of Aram in Syria, because of his victory over Israel. Yet although Naaman is portrayed to be a great man, something is clearly wrong, and his problem is introduced with that little word “but.”
Well, we all have this word in our lives, don’t we? None of us is perfect, not one of us has it all together. In Naaman’s case, in spite of everything he was reputed to be, there was a “but” which was actually defining this man’s life.
For Naaman was a leper.
Now, we know enough about leprosy in this day and age to know that he might have just had really bad acne. Naaman’s leprosy was probably not the most serious form; yet in Naaman’s time any skin disease carried with it a certain social stigma. If his condition were publicly known, he would become an outcast, to be avoided, a person who would be devoid of all human touch. The once-mighty Naaman would now be treated as an object of disgust.
Living in his household, was a slave girl who had been captured in Israel, and she was a servant to Naaman’s wife. Instead of being bitter and thinking, “Let him die; he’s getting exactly what he deserves,” this servant girl informed her mistress that there was a prophet in Samaria who could cure Naaman of his leprosy.
Suddenly in this story, like many other biblical stories, a minor character takes on a major role. Oh, I am sure she never even though her unselfish faith in God would change Naaman’s life, I don’t think she was even conscious of using her faith. I think it is also a measure of how desperate Naaman had become; he had likely tried everything he could to cure his affliction. Yet here we find him willing to take the advice of a servant, a foreigner, a woman, a slave, the spoils of war. He is vulnerable, a powerful man finding help from someone he considers powerless - crossing a boundary he would previously have shunned.
Suddenly Naaman has to negotiate the difficult path between illness and death, to healing and life. He has a kind of referral from his king, to the King of Israel - but the message gets garbled and the piece about the prophet somehow gets lost, and he has to sit around waiting until he finally gets sent to the right place. And the king of Israel is in a major panic, because he has no idea how to heal this man’s illness. He’s had to cross another boundary - into a foreign country, and trust in a foreign king.
So, Naaman has permission to go to Samaria, to Elisha’s house with his entourage and his pounds of money. Now, money can do a lot, but it can never purchase for a person the healing of their soul nor peace of mind. Naaman had to travel all the way from Syria to Samaria, to Elisha the Hebrew prophet, in order to find his cure. Whatever gods he believed in - money, fame, prestige - could not heal him, could not take him from illness and death to healing and life.
So, beyond the borders of his home, away from everything familiar to him, hiding his condition as best he still can, he arrives at Elisha’s presumably small and humble home in grand style, with his chariots, horses, and a full entourage, and I bet he is looking at this little mud and straw hut, and wondering what the heck Elisha could do for him.
To add insult to injury, Elisha doesn’t even come out of the house, but rather sends a servant with a message, ‘Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”
Naaman is humiliated and angry - downright livid! He was a big shot in Aram. He expected a welcoming committee when he arrived at Elisha’s remote home. He wanted the red carpet treatment and instant healing by the wave of prophet Elisha’s hand. He says “ I thought that *for me* he would certainly come out, and call on the name of the Lord *his* God, and wave his hand over the spot and cure the leprosy. Are not theAbana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?”
Naaman in a rage. “Unbelievable!” he fumes. There were far cleaner and better rivers back home. Had he come all this way, and with tons of money and riches, his entourage and servants, to be told to go and wash in a dirty river? So he rides away from Elisha’s home, feeling cheated altogether. Elisha did not treat him the way he thought he should be treated.
At the urging of his own servants, he finally consents to enter the Jordan River. He’s not confident, but decides to do it because he really has nothing to lose. Once a day, every day for seven days, he goes down to the water, immerses himself, and comes back out again. Finally, on the seventh day, he emerges and finds that the leprosy is gone. He realises that something else is gone too - something has changed dramatically.
How does this apply to us today? Naaman has been used to being in control, he’s proud of his accomplishments and his position - and is now up against something he cannot control, cannot manage, cannot buy regardless of the tons of gold and shekels he has brought with his entourage. In order to be healed, he has to cross boundaries into a foreign land, and humble himself before Elisha - and Elisha the Prophet is the one who represents God.
I think there are two pieces here. One is being cured, the other is being healed. Naaman was sick physically, but he was also sick spiritually. To be cured is to have the illness removed. To be healed is something else again. Naaman was cured of his physical leprosy, and he was also healed of his spiritual leprosy. After months of ups and downs, trying everything, he has emerged on the other side of Jordan a new person - in both body and soul.
He has, in this journey from illness and death to healing and wholeness, discovered on his way home, that he isn’t returning to “normal”, he isn’t going back to the way things were before. Everything is different. He has spent time in the land of illness and possibly death - and has emerged cured and healed, into a land with a new horizon. Naaman’s new horizon is one where vulnerability and trust come together, to create new life.
It is the journey of the church - to set aside all the so-called cures for what we think ails us; to admit that we are vulnerable, recognise that we cannot fix all the things think are wrong, and offer ourselves to God from that place of trust and vulnerability, recognising a new horizon created by God. May it be so.
Sources
1. “Conjunction Junction” 2 Kings 5:1-16 Rev. Ken Sauer, East Ridge United Methodist Church, Chattanooga, TN
2. www.workingpreacher.org Commentary by Karla Suomala, Associate Professor of Religion, Luther College, Decorah Iowa.
3. Cured or Healed? Sermon by Rev. Fran Ota, then at Glen Ayr United Church, Scarborough, ON.
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