”
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. 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. She said to her mistress, ‘If only my lord were with the
prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy’
”
(2 Kings 5:1-3).
“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. 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. She said to her mistress, ‘If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy'” (2 Kings 5:1-3).
“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.’ 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.’ So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. 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.’ 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!’ … He turned and went away in a rage. 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’?’ 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. Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, ‘Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel'” (2 Kings 7-15c).
When I was eight, I had a visit to the dentist. Dr. Anderson was a serious man. He had a reputation for not liking children. He examined my teeth and then left for a conversation with my mother. When he returned, he announced that I had 13 cavities. At first I thought he was joking. Did I even have that many teeth left in my mouth? Then I looked at him again. Dr. Anderson didn’t joke.
On the drive home my mother explained to me that when I was a baby I was given medication that caused my permanent teeth to come in with cavities. In the months that followed, I had lots of dentist appointments, getting two or three fillings each time. When my teeth were all in, I finally had a no-filling appointment.
I’ve managed to make and keep dentist appointments in the years since then, and have found friendlier dentists. But some part of me spent years rebelling. A hygienist would ask if I flossed every day and I would say, “No.” Then one day I realized that flossing daily would not be that hard. How silly that I had resisted all those years.
In this and a thousand other ways I’ve met the stubbornness of a man named Naaman before. Have you?
How often we look to God for help or healing and want the response to be on our own terms. Just coming before God may ask us to compromise the way we would spend our time. Then, in asking for our own terms, it’s as if we forget it’s God we’re looking to. When we don’t get the life path or response we expect from God, we walk away, because all of these things can offend us. Or maybe we associate a bad experience with God or the church, and just resist. I’ve heard many people say it: “I don’t need to go to church to be a good person.” “I don’t need religious rituals; I just believe in God.” “I prayed and God hasn’t answered me. I don’t know if God is even listening.”
We too may look for God’s fireworks and resist the thing we’re being directed to do for our own wholeness. Why be baptized, why remember our baptism? Why take and eat, take and drink? Why ask others in the church to lay on hands and pray for us? The means of grace are physical as well as spiritual and demand that we take the time to hear and do and participate. These things are not hard, but sometimes we expect that our special cause demands something different and fail to see the gift of God among us here. The means of grace are not about our willpower but about recognizing that we are not self-sufficient and rely upon the power of God for working wholeness in our lives.
God outwaits us while in weakness healing begins. God outwaits us while we locate the cracks of mercy in the heaped debris of fear and anger – and learn to breathe the Spirit’s air. Dealing with the pride that resists asking for God’s help, and dealing with our human weakness, are a part of everyone’s daily struggle. The healing comes on God’s terms, not ours. Meanwhile, we change and grow, believe and love by grace, the best we can. We are going to the river, whatever the reason or unreason that moves us; we are going to wade right in. Knee-deep in unaccountable love, we’ll meet the One who gives us all our ragged victories and presides over our life.
Advent Lutheran Church, with Rev. Anita Warner, is located at 16870 Murphy Ave., Morgan Hill. For information, call (408) 779-3551.
