Shocked by the Enemy's God - February 16, 2003

Epiphany 6, Year B
Feb 16, 2003

Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

So can you imagine it? I mean, really, would he do, that? You mean to tell me that Naaman, our great, decorated and victorious general went to

Israel

? We’re not fighting a war with them, are we? Ugh, the disgrace! Those Israelites, good for nothing but conquest. 

 

Why would someone like Naaman go over to

Israel

? Sheesh, Naaman is better than that – he could conquer their whole army with one hand tied behind his back. You remember how he took care of those guys in the last raid? It was such an overwhelming victory that the Israelites – get this – that the Israelite losers said that their God was on our side! Yeah, they said that Yahweh helped us, the Syrians, defeat them, the Israelites.

The promised land. The chosen people. Give me a break. We’re better than them.

 

Hey, what do you call an Israelite servant? The spoils of war. Yeah, that’s one of the benefits of crossing the

Jordan

into their land – you can get some of the best servants in all of greater

Syria

.

 

But, but why did he go over there? Oh, you got to be kidding me. Healing? And why did Naaman go there for healing? What, is he into some kind of weird, hippyish healing remedies? What’s wrong? Our doctors, our prophets, our healers are not good enough for him? What is it with these generals these days? Is it now chick to go to the conquered peoples for healing and wholeness? Oh well, it must be a midlife crisis thing.

 

So, uh, who put him up to this, anyway? His Israelite servant girl gave him the idea? The one he took during the raid several years ago? What a joke! He wouldn’t listen to her! He’s a Syrian, she’s an Israelite. He’s a general, she’s a servant. He’s a man, she’s a girl. He’s old, she’s young. He is strong and powerful, and she is weak and powerless. Naaman listens to an Israelite servant – that’s a good one!

 

Wait, you’re serious, aren’t you? Has he lost his mind? Or, or could it make any sense? Nah, it couldn’t make any sense. Pshaw, he’d never listen to that slave girl.

 

He did, huh? So what happened next? He took nearly a thousand pounds in gold and silver as an offering to the Israelite healer? Hey, who is this healer, anyway? Elisha? Elisha? Hmm, sounds fishy to me. 

 

OK, so General Naaman listens to his servant girl, goes to those conquered people to this Elisha fellow and asks to be healed - I still can’t believe it, but I’ll go along with it for now. Even if it were true, I can just see it now!  What a sight to see! I can just see it – Naaman rides up in his military escort, dozens of soldiers flanking his chariot, guards clothed in armor with swords at the ready, his grand, gold-lined chariot tearing up the dust in that oft-conquered land. This Elisha character must have been nervous as anything, trembling in his sack-cloth – I mean, Naaman, the Great General Naaman of the Syrian Army, is coming to his door. I’ll bet Elisha ran out to meet Naaman along the road to beg for mercy and plead for Naaman not to re-conquer his country. So, how did this Elisha fellow respond, anyway?

What? What do you mean he sent a messenger? You mean to tell me that Elisha did not go out to meet Naaman himself? Yeah, well I’ll bet Naaman was angry. I mean, General Naaman doesn’t make a trip like that to have a conversation with the servant of an Israelite healer. Who does Elisha think he is? And the messenger said what? He instructed Naaman to go wash in the

Jordan River

? First, who is he to give instructions to Naaman? And second, what makes the

Jordan River

so special? It is a mere muddy stream! Hardly a river to speak of. We have much better rivers in our country.

 

Of course he refused! Finally, some sanity! I wouldn’t get into that nasty river if my life depended on it. Yeah, that’s right, you’d expect some prayers, something fancy, something fitting for a general! My God, our healers, our Syrian healers would have rolled out the red carpet, and shown some respect for this general. But a simple bath in a small river for this great man? Please . . . .

 

But then he changed his mind? He decided to go wash in the

Jordan River

? Oh, another servant gave him this idea! Look at Naaman – listening to these lowly servants. I think he’s lost his mind. What is our great country coming to?!?!?!?

 

So, what happened  - I mean, I still don’t believe this, but what happened after he listened to his servant girl, went to

Israel

to be healed, sought out a healer who wouldn’t talk to him, and washed in that piddly puddle called the

Jordan River

? What happened next?

 

Naaman was healed? Healed? By the Israelite prophet in that puny Israelite river? Wait a minute. He was healed? By that prophet? No, not the prophet, but by their God? Yahweh? And all Naaman did was wash in that river? Yahweh, the God of Israel did that for Naaman, the general of the Syrian army?

 

This makes no sense. None at all. I mean, look at the whole story – an Israelite slave girl, a conquered people, a prophet who doesn’t really care that Naaman is powerful and strong, and a simple bath in a small river. And Naaman is healed.

What kind of God is this? What kind of God is this Yahweh that doesn’t require hundreds of pounds of gold and silver, that doesn’t require elaborate rituals, that doesn’t limit mercy to just one peoples?

 

Is this, perhaps, a God for all peoples? Can it be? Can there be a God for both Syrians and Israelites? I mean, Yahweh is the God of Israel, our enemy, a nation that we have gone to war with before, and which we will go to war with again. Yet that God – that God of a conquered and suffering people – gave mercy to us,  the powerful and mighty. This God, Yahweh, gave mercy and healing to a man who has inflicted such pain and suffering on the chosen people. 

 

This God is not like us. This God is a merciful God, slow to anger and abounding in love, even love for us, for the ruthless conquerors. Oh my God, this is a God for all people, for the suffering, conquered people, and also, by grace, for us who conquer. This is a God who speaks to us through the weak and the lowly - such as Naaman’s servant girl. This is a God who gives such great power through such simple means - such as that bath in the

Jordan River

. This is a God who does not share our values of power, wealth and might, but who confronts them with a radical simplicity, a grace-filled low-profile, that challenges our grandiose way of doing things.

 

Yes, this is a God who stoops down to the lowest levels to love and embrace and heal. This is a God who calls us to step down from our self-appointed high places, to experience the radical love of a radical God, who speaks to us in the least expected ways.

 

This is a God who changes our world view, reorients our understanding of power, and who gives grace and mercy to all of us, even to us who wage war, even to us who conquer. 

 

Oh that this God would transform each of us, like Naaman.

 

All glory and honor is yours, oh God, now and forever.

Amen.