When Ordinary Leads To Extraordinary

Sometimes when I find myself searching for an illustration, story, or example for a sermon I end up learning a lot, bypassing a lot of useless things, and sometimes just plain puzzled.

This week was no different. I began looking throughout the internet for the keywords “ordinary” and “extraordinary.” Most of the things that came up were articles like this:

Top 10 Ways To Turn Your Ordinary Love Life Into an Extraordinary One

15 Ordinary Objects In Your Home You Can Use for Extraordinary Science Fair Projects

How To Turn Your Ordinary Husband Into An Extraordinary One (don’t worry guys, I read over it and determined I was already extraordinary)

But, you catch my drift. I wasn’t really finding what I was looking for. Something that I felt related to this morning’s Scriptures. But, then, it happened.

I clicked on a video called “Boxes. The most extraordinary ordinary thing in the world.” Now, that was an interesting video title and I had to check it out.

And guess what this video was for…advertising a company who makes boxes! But, hear what they have to say.

“Boxes. They’re everywhere. A lot of the time we don’t even notice them. But sometimes we notice them too much. A conspicuous reminder of our conspicuous consumption. They’re utilitarian, no question. But isn’t that just a fancy word for ordinary? Yup. Boxes are the most ordinary thing in world.”

Now, at this point in the commercial I’m sitting there thinking, “wow…cool…boxes.” Which, you all probably relate to. I wasn’t really hooked into it. But, the commercial goes on to say...

“But you know what’s not ordinary? A recycling rate above 90%. That’s not ordinary. And, at least 3 trees planted for every 1 tree harvested. Nope. Not ordinary. And...” well the commercial goes on. It tells us that boxes move items that are bought and sold, move people’s homes, move people in and out of new jobs, and sometimes even move you to tears. Awwww. At the end the commercial says, “That’s not the slightest bit ordinary. That. That’s nothing short of extraordinary. Boxes. The most extraordinary ordinary thing in the world.”

Now, I don’t know about the rest of you, but after that commercial I just want to buy up every box in the world and hope it does something extraordinary...

But, in all seriousness, it’s amazing to me that this box company was able to make something so ordinary seem so extraordinary. I want you to keep that theme, that idea in your head. Let’s read over, just one more time, 2 Kings 5:1-14

2 Kings 5:1–14 NRSV

1 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. 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.” 4 So Naaman 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.” 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? 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! 12 Are not Abana 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.

After reading through this section of Scripture, I want you to think if there was anything that stuck out to you as something ordinary leading to something extraordinary.

Here’s what happens.

Naaman was the commander of Ben-Hadad’s army. Ben-Hadad was the king of Aram and he highly favored Naaman, who was this mighty warrior. The problem was that Naaman suffered from leprosy.

From here we learn that Naaman’s wife had a servant girl, someone who was young and held captive after an Aramean raid in Israel. Well, this girl points Naaman’s wife in the direction of a prophet in Samaria, a place in Israel. Naaman’s wife tells him of what the girl said, Ben-Hadad allows him to leave, and he sends along a letter. With that letter Naaman brings along all of this gold and beautiful garments, intending to give them to whomever cures him.

Well, the king of Israel, Jehoram, get’s King Ben-Hadad’s letter and reads that Naaman is coming to be cured. This sends Jehoram into a fit, causing him to tear his clothes. Why? Well, he thinks that if he can’t cure this man that surely King Ben-Hadad was going to attack.

Well, wouldn’t you know it that the prophet Elisha, who we talked about a bit last week, was the prophet in Samaria that the young Hebrew girl was talking about. He hears about King Jehoram’s mournful state over this and says, “I’ll handle it.”

Naaman comes to Elisha’s door, and Elisha sends out a servant who tells Naaman to wash himself 7 times in the Jordan, a river in Israel. Naaman became enraged. Not only did Elisha not come out to see him, but his direction for a cure was simple…too simple. Naaman expected a grand spectacle, something befitting a warrior and commander. He expected something extraordinary to happen, but the cure was rather ordinary. Plus he was angry that he’d have to wash himself in the wretched Israelite water and not waters of Damascus.

Well, in his fit of rage Naaman decides to leave and say “forget it.” Except, some of his servants approach him and say, “If the prophet wanted you to do something difficult, you would have done it. He’s asked you to do something easy, wouldn’t you want to try?”

So, Naaman heads to the Jordan, washes himself 7 times, and his flesh was restored. He was clean.

This entire story accomplished in doing something amazing. Not only did it show that God’s power and might and mercy extends beyond Israel and over all people, but it showed that prophets of the True God, Yahweh, were in Israel. It was, in fact, a prophet of Israel in waters in Israel that cured Naaman.

Now, hopefully you kept in mind the idea of ordinary leading to extraordinary in this story...

Who was it that spoke of the prophet in Israel to Naaman’s wife? The ordinary, young Hebrew slave girl. She led Naaman to something extraordinary.

What was the cure that Naaman sought and was given by Elisha? An ordinary act of washing 7 times which led to an extraordinary healing.

Who was it that convinced Naaman to do the ordinary act and receive the extraordinary healing and blessing? His ordinary, low on the totem pole servants.

This is a story about the ordinary leading to something extraordinary.

What I love is that this is not the first, nor is it the last time in the Bible that we see the ordinary leading to something extraordinary. Brothers and sisters, that’s the entire thing behind Jesus!

Jesus was this ordinary man, born in an extraordinary way. He was an ordinary carpenter, living in a poor and ordinary town. He held no power, no wealth, no status. He wasn’t a crafty philosopher speaking in the squares of towns, nor was he a decorated politician or political leader. He was a man, providing for his mother, his Ema.

Jesus was so ordinary that when Nathanael spoke to Philip about the Messiah coming from Nazareth Philip said, “can anything good come from Nazareth?”

By all standards of the world that Jesus lived in he was ordinary.

However, who Jesus was as the Messiah was extraordinary. The work of his ministry was extraordinary, the miracles and lessons and focus…all of it was anything but ordinary.

And, for all of us, the act of Jesus’ death on the cross was extraordinary. It has allowed for us, ordinary sinful people to be gifted and aimed toward an extraordinary Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus’ placement in our lives, the way that we live daily with the Holy Spirit in us, is an extraordinary gift for ordinary people.

Do you see what I’m saying here?

What I find to be one of the most exciting things though is this...

We are all just ordinary people. We live our lives day by day, and none of us are more important than one another. We each have struggles, successes, sins, and temptations... Yet, even as ordinary people, we have extraordinary news to share with the world, about an ordinary man who did an extraordinary thing.

Much like the little Hebrew servant girl, Elisha’s servant, and Naaman’s servants…we are ordinary in this vast story of God… yet we carry with us extraordinary news.

This extraordinary news is life-giving, life-saving, redemptive, healing, restoring, and so much more. It is the Good News that God came to this earth as an ordinary human being to offer to us the extraordinary gift of salvation. This Good News is that Jesus Christ, God incarnate, chose to live on this earth with His people, take on the punishment of sin, die for us, and forgive us for the sins that we commit.

This extraordinary news should move us to action in our lives. Action to live holy lives as best as we can, action to do good works for those around us, action to live each day as much like Christ as we possibly can.

But, it should also move us into the action of telling others about the extraordinary news that we have. To tell others about the extraordinary things that Jesus has done in our lives and does every day. We should be moved by God’s Good News to remind the people in our lives that Christ is the only way to salvation.

So, no matter how ordinary you feel, how unprepared you may think you are…go into this world with the extraordinary news that you have and share it with others. Lead the people around you, the people whom you should be loving, into a relationship with the one true, Triune, extraordinary God.

Amen.