A Proud Man and a Humble River (July 3, 2022) 2 Kings 5.1-14

Sometimes old stories are the best. Stories that you have heard many times. Stories that you can tell by heart. Stories that many can chime in and tell the parts before you even get to them. Stories that others may gently say, “You’ve told me this before.” Yes, the old stories are ones that never really grow old. They grow more seasoned with time.

Today we have what is to me an old story. This story was told to me in Vacation Bible School and Sunday School. It was one to remember and one that sometimes our brains tuned out because we knew the story so well. But it is still a good story.

The story is one of a man. A man of power and influence. One who gave an order and it was done. One who could come into the presence of the king without an appointment. One who knew what it was to be at the top.

Naaman was his name and he was the equivalent of what we would call a five-star general or a Field Marshall. He was a mighty warrior. He was likely more influential than the king because the king knew that his power rested on this man’s prowess in battle. And we are told that the Lord gave this man the victories that he achieved. But the man had a secret. He was a leper. Now leprosy in the Bible is sort of a catch all word for many skin diseases, so it is likely that Naaman did not have true leprosy, or Hansen’s Disease, but rather a skin disease that caused him great anxiety and could cause him to be shunned in the society in which he lived.

He was a mighty man, but he had leprosy. All of us have a but in our lives. The powerful head of the company can go to any restaurant he or she wants without a reservation, but their child is in the hospital for a suicide attempt. An author is world famous and commands five figures or more for a speaking engagement, but she is an alcoholic. An extrovert can bring excitement and thrills to the lives of those around him, but he is fighting depression and anxiety. We all have a but in our lives. What is your but? What is mine? We know what Naaman’s was and it was frightening to him and those around him who knew about it.

Naaman also had many trophies of war, things that had been taken in his victories. Art work, weapons, chariots, and even humans. One of these is a young girl from Israel. She is the ultimate nobody in this story: she is a child, she is female, she is from Israel and she is a slave. Therefore, she has no standing whatsoever. But still she speaks up. She tells her mistress, Naaman’s wife, ‘If only my master could meet the prophet who lives in Samaria, he would cure him of the leprosy.’[1]This young girl offers this line of hope to one who she could have, with understanding, wished the leprosy to continue its course. But perhaps Naaman was kind to her and she did not wish to see him suffer, we will never know because once she says this line of hope, we do not hear from her ever again. But Naaman grasps this line of hope and clings to it with all his might.

He goes to the king of Aram and asks that he be allowed to go and see this prophet. The king, knowing just how much he owes to Naaman, readily agrees. He even writes a letter to the king of Israel that states: ‘This letter is to inform you that I am sending to you my servant Naaman, and I beg you to cure him of his leprosy.’[2]There is no mention of the prophet that we know of, just a line telling the king of Israel to cure this man of his leprosy.

Now in every good story there is a bit of comedy. A part where everyone laughs until tears come from their eyes and the storyteller is obliged to stop because no one can hear the story. This is that part. The king of Israel receives the letter from a man who has showed up with all the retinue of power and wealth to be healed of his disease.

And what does the king do? He tears his clothes and asks if this king thinks that he is God who has the power to kill or make alive. What he really believes is that the king of Aram is wanting to start a quarrel with him to start another war with Israel. Instead of calling the prophet right away, he goes into hysterics.

But this tearing of clothes becomes a public matter of discussion and who hears of it but the prophet Elisha. Elisha is the successor to Elijah and has done as many if not more miracles than his master. He hears of what has taken place and sends a message to the king to send Naaman to him and he will handle all that will take place. One can imagine that this message is one of annoyance that the king did not send him to Elisha in the first place, but the situation is what it is.

So, Naaman goes to the house of the prophet in all his regalia and with his chariots, horses and men accompanying him. Imagine someone coming to a humble abode with a limousine, several cars accompanying it and several bodyguards and you might get the picture of what is happening here.

The prophet however is not impressed. He does not come out to meet the one who has come to see him but rather sends a servant with a terse, short, almost rude message for Naaman: go wash in the Jordan seven times and you will be clean. Essentially Naaman is told to go dunk himself in the river.

Pride kicks in for Naaman. His response is to go into a rage. He thought that the prophet would come out, call upon his god, make some gesture over the diseased spot and would heal him. He is expecting a faith healer to make some bold and flashy show, not tell him to wash in some muddy water. Naaman’s ethnic pride and patriotism get the best of him: ‘Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Can I not wash in them and be clean?’[3]is the response to the order to bathe in the Jordan. And off he goes in his rage.

But once again someone low on the totem pole speaks up. One or more of his servants ask him if the prophet had told him to do something hard would he not have done it? Why not take the chance on this simple thing that was told of him?

Again, Naaman listens to those whom he should have never listened to. He swallows his pride and travels to the Jordan. He dunks himself seven times and comes up with his skin restored ‘like the flesh of a young boy’.[4] He had gone into the humble river with a disease and came out a new man.

We all have a Naaman in us. As I said earlier there is a but in our lives that we try to hide and not let anyone know. We let our pride take the better of us and we forget to be humble and ask for help. And then someone comes along and says, if only you knew so and so, they could help. It gets us to thinking that maybe there is a chance that we can be “made clean”.

But when we go to ask, we tend to have our pride go before us and we take the things that we believe make us powerful. And when we are told what to do, to go to an AA meeting, to talk to our children, to go see a therapist, we balk. That would expose us to the world and would make us vulnerable. We could never do that! But then someone else comes along and reminds us that if we were asked to do something flashy, something the world would see, would we not do that? Then we could say we had done something great. We all have a bit of Naaman in us.

As we come to the table today, we come to a humble fare of bread and juice. No fancy style of bread, no flashy silver or gold cup. Just a simple loaf and handmade cup. But what is in that meal is an act that cleanses us from more than leprosy. It is a metaphor for the cleansing of our sins. It is more than anything that we could ever do for ourselves and it is done with the humble words of “this is my body, this is my blood”. For this we can only give thanks to God for the grace and mercy that we find here at this table. May we humble ourselves as Naaman did and be made clean. Glory be to God. Amen.

[1] The Revised English Bible. Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Print. [2] The Revised English Bible. Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Print. [3] The Revised English Bible. Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Print. [4] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print.