Grace Lutheran Church The Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, February 12, 2006

The Rev. Evan Gaertner

Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany “Where does the good news come from?”

February 12, 2006 2 Kings 5:1-14

Today my sermon will follow a different structure than normal as we look at the people in today’s Old Testament lesson.

A very common structure for my preaching is to construct a single theme. I would build that theme through a discussion of our sin and how it is illustrated in the text. Then I would reveal the good news of Jesus Christ found in the text and apply this gospel as ultimately the only legitimate answer to our sin. Instead today I will build each of the characters in the story found in 2 Kings and point to the question, “Where does the good news come from?”

Naaman was a man of great valor who led the armies of Syria. Naaman was held in high esteem by the King because the Lord guided Naaman to victory over his enemies. Only because he was an insider in Syria was he not automatically an outsider.

Naaman heard of a man in Israel that could heal him. He went to his king and told him. The king received Naaman’s request and so Naaman went forward to Israel to find comfort. He brought with him silver, gold, and fine clothing. What was he expecting?

He went to the king of Israel who gave him no answers. Elisha heard about this man of Syria seeking a prophet of the Lord and asked the king to send Naaman to him. Naaman arrived with his referral in hand. He arrived at the offices the best specialist in the world, but he did not receive the star treatment. Instead the advice was the equivalent to one of you waiting six months to see the heart doctor and on the day of the appointment waiting all day to finally hear from his secretary, “Take two aspirin and go home.”

Naaman in his pride refused such a simple prescription. He was prepared to walk away with his skin disease and keep his pride as an insider. It was only after his servants dissuaded him that he washed in the Jordan as commanded. When his obeyed the word of the prophet his flesh became restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

While Naaman was a man of pride that does not completely describe him. He also was a seeker. He desired comfort, but thought it would be gained through leveraging his resources, his silver, gold and fine clothing.

Did the good news come from Naaman? No and he was not even going to be a receiver of the good news. But he was humbled and received the good news of the Lord’s healing power.

The King of Syria desired to help the commander of his army. When Naaman came for help the king did not hesitate to trust that in his enemy Israel there could be found hope. But he worked the system as an insider. He sent a letter of request to the King of Israel. He made no mention of the prophet of Israel or the Lord God. One king to another king he made his request. Insider to insider, the king expected action. The King of Syria believed he was lord over the power of his gods and so did not expect anything less from the King of Israel. The King of Syria thought he could manipulate God into action. Because he was strong and powerful God should obey his commands.

The King of Israel received the request from the King of Syria and believed he had a political nightmare on his hands. When the king read the letter he tore his robes and cried out, “Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how is seeking to quarrel with me?”

The King of Israel was not leading his people let alone the nations of the world to the one true Lord God because he himself did not know to look to him. It was shameful that the king was helpless in his pride. He did not even look to and trust in the work of the Lord. Would the good news come from the King of Israel? No. He was a leader that had forgotten the reason that he had been placed in his position of leadership was to lead the people of Israel in prayer, praise and giving thanks to the one true Lord.

We have had three characters so far. Naaman the seeker and the two kings that our helpless in leading Naaman. Pride and arrogance prevented them from seeing how God brings his good news.

God did not bring his good news through the insiders but instead through the outsiders, little girl, the servants, and the prophet that that had been forgotten in his own land.

The little girl was from the land of Israel, kidnapped in one of Naaman’s successful raids into Israel. She worked for Naaman’s wife. She was in a position to ignore her knowledge and allow Naaman to continuing in his suffering, but she instead acted without spite, malice, or hatred. I find this little girl to be one of the powerful witnesses to faith in the Old Testament. She had been kidnapped and taken away from her home land. First she did not let this situation weaken her faith in God. Second she did not let her circumstances control her actions instead she was motivated by sharing the good news of a God of healing for all the nations that she was found in Israel. The one true God has anointed the people of Israel to be his people of blessing. But this little girl had faith that this blessing given to the people of Israel was given so that they could be a blessing to all the nations.

Think about this…why has God blessed you and then let you live in all the different circumstances that you find yourself in? Because in so many different ways beyond understanding we have been placed into moments to be blessed and to be a blessing.

Besides the little girl we also find Elisha to be an outsider who brings the good news. It is a frightening statement of the condition of the kingdom of Israel that Elisha had to remind the King of Israel that the word of the Lord was neither dead nor forgotten in Israel. Elisha was not an anonymous prophet in Israel. The king very well knew who Elisha was but could not imagine God’s love and action large enough to enter into his problem with the King of Syria.

Elisha was an active servant of the Lord who sought out opportunities to give witness to Israel of God’s grace.

Elisha would not buy into the demand for glitz and glamour for Naaman; instead he offered Naaman the simple power of the Word of the Lord. Elisha said through a messenger, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.”

It was not to bring glory and honor to himself that Elisha asked the king to send Naaman to him. By sending the command through the messenger and making the command such a simple affair the focus is on the power of God to act. God has given us today the Sacrament of Baptism. It is certainly just plain water, but combined with the Word of God it is a baptism, a washing of rebirth for the forgiveness of sins.

Another group of outsiders in this story that stands out are the servants of Naaman. They do not remain silent or simply obedient servants. They desire to serve their master so they urge him to have in the Word of the prophet. Wash and be clean was a promise of hope and these servants would not let their master walk away from the promise of the Lord.

The one final character in this story is the one whose hand is upon all. The Lord God has anointed his people to be a blessing to all the world. The blessing of the Lord does not come through insiders or the easily identified but through the outsider and the forgotten. When our Lord God sent his only begotten son Jesus Christ into this world to redeem all of us, he did not send him as a great political king or a mighty army commander. Jesus was a servant to our need for redemption. When he died on the cross he could have easily been forgotten in this sinful world of ours. It has been through the power of the Holy Spirit for the past two thousand years that servants, outsiders, people easily forgotten have been delivering the good news of Jesus. No matter how forgotten by others or an outsider the power plays that go on trust that through the power of the Holy Spirit you can testify to the power of God’s grace.

Soli Deo Gloria

Grace Lutheran Church

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