Gathering the harvest
Commentary
The theme for today is set by the Gospel lesson: the sending of missionaries to gather the harvest that God is preparing. The theme of harvest enters the second lesson as well (Galatians 6:7-9), where it serves to recall the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) reaped by those who sow to the Spirit. The first lesson offers a contrast to the missionary theme in the Gospel -- the foreigner must travel to God's country and seek out God's messenger to hear a word of healing. But even there, the potentially universal appeal of God's grace becomes apparent.
2 Kings 5:1-14
I always think of Elisha as "the sequel prophet." He did some great things, like making the ax head float, but he's destined always to be best remembered as the successor of another prophet, Elijah. I don't mean to discount the importance of poor Elisha. Quite the contrary. I'm sure he was a very fine prophet in his own right and it's our own fickle nature that gives him the Roger Moore treatment. I think the Elisha stories deserve a closer look and the one that comes up in the lectionary for this week is the best of the bunch. Martin Luther liked this story and so did Jesus. They had their own particular reasons for liking it, reasons that we might well consider today.
We'll take Luther first. Martin Luther thought this was a story about baptism and that the whole point was justification by grace. I suspect that interpretation would have come as a surprise to the Deuteronomic Historian, who wrote this story centuries before baptism had ever been practiced and for whom neither justification nor grace were typical theological concerns.
Where does Luther get this? Naaman is a leper, infected with a virulent disease that might be taken as a symbol of the sin that affects every human being. We are spiritual lepers, you and I, for the image of God in which we were created has been corrupted by the Fall, and the inheritance of Adam renders us among the walking dead. Naaman would give anything to be healed, he would do anything to be healed. He takes ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold; he takes horses and chariots; he gets a letter of reference from his king, the king of Syria, stating no doubt his worthiness to be healed. But that might not be enough and Naaman still does not feel prepared to go to Elisha with his request. Instead, he goes also to Elisha's king -- to the king of Israel, bearing lavish gifts, to get perhaps another reference letter. Finally, he arrives at the prophet's door with all his horses and chariots. But Elisha never sees the horses and chariots. He does not read the letters of reference. He does not accept the talents of silver or shekels of gold. Elisha does not even come out of the house to meet with Naaman the leper. He just sends out a servant with the message: Leprosy, eh? Well, go wash in the Jordan and you'll be clean.
That's where the baptism comes in. The bath in the Jordan. It's so simple. It's too simple. Naaman is furious. And his anger is born of pride. "I thought that for me he would come out! Maybe not for someone else -- but for me -- I'm the commander of the Syrian army! I've got a letter from the king! I brought silver. I brought gold! I've got chariots! And then, after he's calmed down a bit, I suppose, his servants come up and say, "You know, if the prophet had asked you to perform some difficult task for him, you would have done it, wouldn't you? So -- how much more -- when all he said was, 'Wash and be clean'?"
There you have it -- the scandal of God's grace offered to us in baptism, offensive to those whose vision of life is grounded in works-righteousness, in the desire to believe themselves worthy of what God gives freely to the undeserving, but only to the undeserving. If Martin Luther had written a historical critical exegetical paper on this passage, he might have gotten an "F" (or at least a "Marginal" with grade inflation). But he wasn't writing a historical critical paper, he was preaching, proclaiming the message of the text for his day. And even if it's not what the Deuteronomic Historian had in mind, his reading is faithful to the text, for this text does indeed present God's gift of mercy as a scandal of grace, insofar as it reflects favorably upon the character of the giver rather than upon that of the recipient.
Jesus liked this story, too, and he also gave it an interesting spin. The occasion was his inaugural sermon in Nazareth (see Luke 4:21-30, which was our text for Epiphany 4 this year). I think Jesus' interpretation was also faithful to the text, though it may not have been what the Deuteronomic Historian originally had in mind either. Basically, he took a story that celebrated Israelite nationalism and through one subversive comment (Luke 4:27) turned it into a story of God's mercy to outsiders. This was the sermon that led to that famous observation, "Prophets are not without honor except in their own hometown" (Luke 4:24).
Galatians 6:(1-6) 7-16
The reading contains almost the entire last chapter of Paul's letter to the Galatians. It is part of what form critics call the paraenetic section, in which Paul offers practical advice on a number of matters. As such, the teaching seems to change topics from verse to verse, and yet there is an underlying unity throughout. Betz says the section is "neither uncoordinated nor overly systematized."
Central to the text is the bald declaration in verse 7: "You will reap whatever you sow." Paul employs the image of harvest, also found in our Gospel reading (Luke 10:2) to give an eschatological cast to the moral admonition. Decisions and actions do have consequences, even eternal ones. Even more important than decisions or actions, though, is the fundamental orientation to self or spirit that inspires them. Paul knows that individuals sin, and he is not interested in promoting some sort of Christian karma, according to which every sin is punished and every good work rewarded. Rather, he wants to say that those who "live by the Spirit" (see 5:25) are assured a different destiny than those whose only god is themselves.
We should note that Paul means for verse 7 to inspire us with hope (compare v. 9). It is a mark of our insecurity that we hear these words today and think, "Uh-oh, I'm in trouble." No! God is not going to "get us" eventually for all the times that we have failed. Rather, God promises that ultimately God's people (failures and sinners that they are) will see God's cause prevail. There will be justice and peace and those who were committed to these things will share in them.
Paul sets his concern for consequences between affirmations of the community and the cross. Individual transgressions are to be dealt with gently, by people who admit their own frailty and so avoid the temptation of thinking they are something they are not (vv. 1-3). Inordinate pride (not all pride is illegitimate -- see v. 4) is the great danger here, ultimately more devastating than the particular sins that the one who succumbs to pride may have managed to avoid.
The cross is God's way of bringing about a new creation (vv. 14-15). Paul reprises here the thought of Galatians 2:20 that he shares in the crucifixion. Being crucified to the world is another way of describing the orientation of sowing to the Spirit (v. 8), of entrusting and committing oneself totally to God.
Finally, there is an interesting interplay in these verses between individual responsibility and community concerns. The community is expected to restore the individual transgressor (v. 1a), support their teachers (v. 6), and work for the good of all (v. 10). Individuals are to take care not to be tempted (v. 1b), to test their own work (v. 4), and to sow to the Spirit (v. 8). Most telling, perhaps, are verses 2 and 5. First, Paul tells the Galatians to "bear one another's burdens" and then he turns right around and says, "All must carry their own loads." Which is it? Well, both. We are a community and we help each other as much as we can. But, ultimately, I can't live your life and you can't live mine. We may be all alone in this world, but at least we're alone together.
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
Luke has already reported the story of Jesus sending out twelve disciples as missionaries to proclaim the gospel (9:1-8), a story that is paralleled in Matthew 9:35--10:16 and Mark 6:7-11. Why does he add this somewhat redundant tale of Jesus sending out seventy more disciples on a similar mission? The number 70 seems to suggest parallels with the seventy elders in Numbers 11:16-25 or the seventy nations in Genesis 10:2-31. But these should not be pressed too far, especially since some fairly reliable manuscripts of Luke's Gospel give the number of disciples here as 72. The overriding point is simply that witness is a universal calling. Not only are leaders of the church (the twelve) sent to proclaim the gospel, but so also "rank and file" Christians share in the missionary enterprise.
Who fills the task of the seventy in your congregation? Not just council members, Sunday school teachers, and youth leaders, but congregational members, Sunday school pupils, and the youth themselves. The sending of the seventy remains a rousing acclamation of lay missionaries everywhere, a testimony to that cherished (but often beleaguered) doctrine of the priesthood of all believers.
Within this context, several points are worth noting:
The witnesses are sent in pairs (v. 1). This need not be taken literally as the divinely ordained number for witness teams (the book of Acts tells of teams consisting of threes or fours), but it does emphasize the need for support and accountability. The very term "personal witnessing" has a certain unscriptural ring to it. Yes, we may have personal testimonies to share, but the story of God's kingdom is too big to be told from a single perspective.
A simple life is commended (v. 3) as part of the very substance of our witness. In our current culture of consumerism, there is perhaps no better way for Christians to present a powerful testimony to God's rule than by limiting their lifestyle to reflect what really matters.
A universal audience is envisioned, as is evident here by the exhortations to eat what is provided (vv. 7, 8). My colleague Tim Huffman can tell stories of being served grub worms (a delicacy) in China. But for most Christian witnesses, the food issue will simply symbolize a need to meet people on their own terms. Jesus spoke these words to Jewish followers, who would bring the gospel to Samaritans and Gentiles. Traditional kosher laws had to be suspended for the sake of outreach. Even so, today, Christians may need to relax their concern to preserve what is most traditional and meaningful to them if they want to make connections with others.
Finally, the harvest is God's. The witnesses simply proclaim what God is doing. They are not responsible for bringing it about. Therefore, they are not to be discouraged by failure (v. 11) or inflated by success (v. 20). Witnesses are just that -- although they may feel that they are the ones being rejected or welcomed, Jesus says no. It is he, and, in turn, the one who sent him (v. 16).
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
2 Kings 5:1-14
This story forms part of the Elisha cycle that is found in 2 Kings 2-13, and that is interspersed with stories of northern Israel's battle with Moab and of her continuing warfare with Syria. It is set in the ninth century B.C. during the reign of King Jehoram (849-842 B.C.) of Israel. As is true of most of the stories of the prophet Elisha, it concerns Elisha's pastoral, prophetic care for all persons, even for a commander of Israel's foe, Syria. Indeed, there is no more pastoral figure in the Old Testament than Elisha.
The story is simple and straightforward. Naaman is a "great man" of war, in favor with his king and country, "because by him the Lord has given victory to Syria" (v. 1). In short, Naaman's success is due to God's working. The Bible never abandons its view that the rise and fall of nations are due to the action of the Lord.
Naaman, however, is a leper. But his wife hears from her little Israelite slave-girl, who was captured in war, that the prophet Elisha could heal the leprosy (vv. 2-3). When Naaman tells this to his king, Ben-Hadad, the latter allows Naaman to travel to Samaria, bearing an enormous gift and a letter to the Israelite king, Jehoram. Jehoram has no power to cure leprosy, however. He knows that only God can heal or kill (cf. Deuteronomy 32:39). Therefore he is furious, thinking that Naaman's arrival signals a plot to attack Israel (vv. 4-7).
At this point, Elisha intervenes with Jehoram and bids him to send Naaman to him, so that Naaman "may know that there is a prophet in Israel" (v. 8) -- so that Naaman may find out that the power of God works through his prophet. Always God has a hand in this story.
Naaman arrives with great fanfare, with his horses and chariots, at Elisha's door. He expects Elisha to make an elaborate ceremony of his cleansing, calling on the Lord to heal him (cf. v. 11). But Elisha does not even personally appear. Instead he just sends out his servant to tell Naaman to wash in the Jordan River seven times in order to be cleansed of his leprosy.
This time Naaman is furious. Elisha has not recognized what a great man Naaman is and has not given him the attention due to one of his status. He departs in a rage, muttering that he could have washed in the rivers of Damascus if that is all it takes to cure leprosy (v. 12).
Once again, lowly servants become God's instrument, urging Naaman to humble himself and to wash in the Jordan. His rage gone, Naaman goes to the river and dips himself seven times, according to the word of Elisha, and his leprosy is healed (vv. 13-14).
Naaman had to get rid of himself. Humanly speaking, he was a very important person, full of pride in his own achievements, and expectant of proper deference shown to him. But the Lord pays no attention to the status and fame and image that we human beings think to achieve for ourselves. Indeed, the gospel tells us that "whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted" (Matthew 23:12 and par.). And both the epistle and gospel lessons bear that truth. "If anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself," reads Galatians 6:3. "Do not rejoice that the (evil) spirits are subject to you," Jesus teaches the seventy disciples, "but rejoice that your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20). It is not our human status that is important, but how we stand with God. And God works his will through little slave-girls and servants, and comes to those who are of a broken, contrite heart and spirit (Psalm 51:17; 34:18) -- to those who know they have no goodness in themselves but who are totally reliant on their Lord. So our Lord Jesus commands us, "Take up your cross and follow me" (Mark 8:34). In other words, let yourself be crucified -- your will, your desires, your plans -- and submit yourself to the will of Christ Jesus, who can in truth make us all clean and whole again.
Lutheran Option, Isaiah 66:10-14
These verses constitute a portion of the long poem of Isaiah 66:1-18a, in which a number of brief oracles alternate between announcements of salvation for Jerusalem and judgment upon God's enemies, both within and without the holy city. Isaiah 66:10-13 is actually one stanza; v. 14 belongs to the salvation-judgment oracle in vv. 14-17. The lectionary, however, has kept the salvation verses all together.
The reading comes from Trito-Isaiah (Isaiah 56-66), which was assembled by the Levitical priests in Jerusalem sometime after those in Babylonian exile had returned following Cyrus II's decree of 538 B.C.
The poem is addressed to those who "love" Jerusalem and who have mourned over her devastation at the hands of Babylonia (v. 1). But the mourning has also been over the sin that still is present in Zion (cf. e.g. Isaiah 64:5-7; 65:1-7). Third Isaiah is one of the few books in the Old Testament which separates out the faithful from the whole of Israel and announces salvation for them alone. There is now in this book an elect company within Israel's community which will alone experience God's future consolations.
Jerusalem is pictured in the figure of a mother, who will be comforted (cf. Isaiah 40:1), and who will give comfort to her faithful children. Those who love her will be able to nurse fully and deeply at her overflowing breast, which is her "glory" (v. 11). Shalom will flow out to her like a river (cf. Isaiah 48:18), increased by a stream of wealth from the nations roundabout. Her children will be carried on her hip and dandled upon her knees -- both pictures of joy. For like a mother comforts her child, the Lord will comfort the faithful in Jerusalem (vv. 12-13). God will be the one who gives salvation to the holy city.
The faithful will therefore rejoice in their hearts and their vitality ("bones") will flourish like new grass (v. 14). And when the whole world sees the salvation of the faithful, it will know that the Lord saves his "servants" (cf. 65:8, 9, 13-15), and that he has lifted his hand in wrath against his enemies (v. 14). The revelation is intended as a universal witness to God's saving and judging work.
It would be difficult to know what to preach from this passage were it not for the fact that we now apply the title of Zion or Jerusalem to the Christian Church. The church has always called itself "Zion," as in several hymns. But Paul tells us also that faithful Christians belong to the "Jerusalem above" that "is free," and that "she is our mother" (Galatians 4:26). And Hebrews announces that we have come to "the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem ... and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant" (Hebrews 12:22, 24).
If that be the case, certainly the church shares the characteristics of the Jerusalem described in Third Isaiah. It is full of sinful ways and often fails to seek the Lord (Isaiah 65:1). But there is also found in almost every congregation a little company of the faithful, who mourn over the state of the church because they love the church and her Lord, and who attempt to walk every day in the path of trust and obedience to God. It is to that faithful company that this good news of Third Isaiah is announced. God is going to make his church, his Jerusalem, new again. She will flourish and rejoice. More than that, John of Patmos tells us that there will be a new Jerusalem, a new church, a new people of God (Revelation 21:2), with whom God himself will dwell. And there will be no night, no wrong, no death and no evil there, for God will have done away with them all.
2 Kings 5:1-14
I always think of Elisha as "the sequel prophet." He did some great things, like making the ax head float, but he's destined always to be best remembered as the successor of another prophet, Elijah. I don't mean to discount the importance of poor Elisha. Quite the contrary. I'm sure he was a very fine prophet in his own right and it's our own fickle nature that gives him the Roger Moore treatment. I think the Elisha stories deserve a closer look and the one that comes up in the lectionary for this week is the best of the bunch. Martin Luther liked this story and so did Jesus. They had their own particular reasons for liking it, reasons that we might well consider today.
We'll take Luther first. Martin Luther thought this was a story about baptism and that the whole point was justification by grace. I suspect that interpretation would have come as a surprise to the Deuteronomic Historian, who wrote this story centuries before baptism had ever been practiced and for whom neither justification nor grace were typical theological concerns.
Where does Luther get this? Naaman is a leper, infected with a virulent disease that might be taken as a symbol of the sin that affects every human being. We are spiritual lepers, you and I, for the image of God in which we were created has been corrupted by the Fall, and the inheritance of Adam renders us among the walking dead. Naaman would give anything to be healed, he would do anything to be healed. He takes ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold; he takes horses and chariots; he gets a letter of reference from his king, the king of Syria, stating no doubt his worthiness to be healed. But that might not be enough and Naaman still does not feel prepared to go to Elisha with his request. Instead, he goes also to Elisha's king -- to the king of Israel, bearing lavish gifts, to get perhaps another reference letter. Finally, he arrives at the prophet's door with all his horses and chariots. But Elisha never sees the horses and chariots. He does not read the letters of reference. He does not accept the talents of silver or shekels of gold. Elisha does not even come out of the house to meet with Naaman the leper. He just sends out a servant with the message: Leprosy, eh? Well, go wash in the Jordan and you'll be clean.
That's where the baptism comes in. The bath in the Jordan. It's so simple. It's too simple. Naaman is furious. And his anger is born of pride. "I thought that for me he would come out! Maybe not for someone else -- but for me -- I'm the commander of the Syrian army! I've got a letter from the king! I brought silver. I brought gold! I've got chariots! And then, after he's calmed down a bit, I suppose, his servants come up and say, "You know, if the prophet had asked you to perform some difficult task for him, you would have done it, wouldn't you? So -- how much more -- when all he said was, 'Wash and be clean'?"
There you have it -- the scandal of God's grace offered to us in baptism, offensive to those whose vision of life is grounded in works-righteousness, in the desire to believe themselves worthy of what God gives freely to the undeserving, but only to the undeserving. If Martin Luther had written a historical critical exegetical paper on this passage, he might have gotten an "F" (or at least a "Marginal" with grade inflation). But he wasn't writing a historical critical paper, he was preaching, proclaiming the message of the text for his day. And even if it's not what the Deuteronomic Historian had in mind, his reading is faithful to the text, for this text does indeed present God's gift of mercy as a scandal of grace, insofar as it reflects favorably upon the character of the giver rather than upon that of the recipient.
Jesus liked this story, too, and he also gave it an interesting spin. The occasion was his inaugural sermon in Nazareth (see Luke 4:21-30, which was our text for Epiphany 4 this year). I think Jesus' interpretation was also faithful to the text, though it may not have been what the Deuteronomic Historian originally had in mind either. Basically, he took a story that celebrated Israelite nationalism and through one subversive comment (Luke 4:27) turned it into a story of God's mercy to outsiders. This was the sermon that led to that famous observation, "Prophets are not without honor except in their own hometown" (Luke 4:24).
Galatians 6:(1-6) 7-16
The reading contains almost the entire last chapter of Paul's letter to the Galatians. It is part of what form critics call the paraenetic section, in which Paul offers practical advice on a number of matters. As such, the teaching seems to change topics from verse to verse, and yet there is an underlying unity throughout. Betz says the section is "neither uncoordinated nor overly systematized."
Central to the text is the bald declaration in verse 7: "You will reap whatever you sow." Paul employs the image of harvest, also found in our Gospel reading (Luke 10:2) to give an eschatological cast to the moral admonition. Decisions and actions do have consequences, even eternal ones. Even more important than decisions or actions, though, is the fundamental orientation to self or spirit that inspires them. Paul knows that individuals sin, and he is not interested in promoting some sort of Christian karma, according to which every sin is punished and every good work rewarded. Rather, he wants to say that those who "live by the Spirit" (see 5:25) are assured a different destiny than those whose only god is themselves.
We should note that Paul means for verse 7 to inspire us with hope (compare v. 9). It is a mark of our insecurity that we hear these words today and think, "Uh-oh, I'm in trouble." No! God is not going to "get us" eventually for all the times that we have failed. Rather, God promises that ultimately God's people (failures and sinners that they are) will see God's cause prevail. There will be justice and peace and those who were committed to these things will share in them.
Paul sets his concern for consequences between affirmations of the community and the cross. Individual transgressions are to be dealt with gently, by people who admit their own frailty and so avoid the temptation of thinking they are something they are not (vv. 1-3). Inordinate pride (not all pride is illegitimate -- see v. 4) is the great danger here, ultimately more devastating than the particular sins that the one who succumbs to pride may have managed to avoid.
The cross is God's way of bringing about a new creation (vv. 14-15). Paul reprises here the thought of Galatians 2:20 that he shares in the crucifixion. Being crucified to the world is another way of describing the orientation of sowing to the Spirit (v. 8), of entrusting and committing oneself totally to God.
Finally, there is an interesting interplay in these verses between individual responsibility and community concerns. The community is expected to restore the individual transgressor (v. 1a), support their teachers (v. 6), and work for the good of all (v. 10). Individuals are to take care not to be tempted (v. 1b), to test their own work (v. 4), and to sow to the Spirit (v. 8). Most telling, perhaps, are verses 2 and 5. First, Paul tells the Galatians to "bear one another's burdens" and then he turns right around and says, "All must carry their own loads." Which is it? Well, both. We are a community and we help each other as much as we can. But, ultimately, I can't live your life and you can't live mine. We may be all alone in this world, but at least we're alone together.
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
Luke has already reported the story of Jesus sending out twelve disciples as missionaries to proclaim the gospel (9:1-8), a story that is paralleled in Matthew 9:35--10:16 and Mark 6:7-11. Why does he add this somewhat redundant tale of Jesus sending out seventy more disciples on a similar mission? The number 70 seems to suggest parallels with the seventy elders in Numbers 11:16-25 or the seventy nations in Genesis 10:2-31. But these should not be pressed too far, especially since some fairly reliable manuscripts of Luke's Gospel give the number of disciples here as 72. The overriding point is simply that witness is a universal calling. Not only are leaders of the church (the twelve) sent to proclaim the gospel, but so also "rank and file" Christians share in the missionary enterprise.
Who fills the task of the seventy in your congregation? Not just council members, Sunday school teachers, and youth leaders, but congregational members, Sunday school pupils, and the youth themselves. The sending of the seventy remains a rousing acclamation of lay missionaries everywhere, a testimony to that cherished (but often beleaguered) doctrine of the priesthood of all believers.
Within this context, several points are worth noting:
The witnesses are sent in pairs (v. 1). This need not be taken literally as the divinely ordained number for witness teams (the book of Acts tells of teams consisting of threes or fours), but it does emphasize the need for support and accountability. The very term "personal witnessing" has a certain unscriptural ring to it. Yes, we may have personal testimonies to share, but the story of God's kingdom is too big to be told from a single perspective.
A simple life is commended (v. 3) as part of the very substance of our witness. In our current culture of consumerism, there is perhaps no better way for Christians to present a powerful testimony to God's rule than by limiting their lifestyle to reflect what really matters.
A universal audience is envisioned, as is evident here by the exhortations to eat what is provided (vv. 7, 8). My colleague Tim Huffman can tell stories of being served grub worms (a delicacy) in China. But for most Christian witnesses, the food issue will simply symbolize a need to meet people on their own terms. Jesus spoke these words to Jewish followers, who would bring the gospel to Samaritans and Gentiles. Traditional kosher laws had to be suspended for the sake of outreach. Even so, today, Christians may need to relax their concern to preserve what is most traditional and meaningful to them if they want to make connections with others.
Finally, the harvest is God's. The witnesses simply proclaim what God is doing. They are not responsible for bringing it about. Therefore, they are not to be discouraged by failure (v. 11) or inflated by success (v. 20). Witnesses are just that -- although they may feel that they are the ones being rejected or welcomed, Jesus says no. It is he, and, in turn, the one who sent him (v. 16).
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
2 Kings 5:1-14
This story forms part of the Elisha cycle that is found in 2 Kings 2-13, and that is interspersed with stories of northern Israel's battle with Moab and of her continuing warfare with Syria. It is set in the ninth century B.C. during the reign of King Jehoram (849-842 B.C.) of Israel. As is true of most of the stories of the prophet Elisha, it concerns Elisha's pastoral, prophetic care for all persons, even for a commander of Israel's foe, Syria. Indeed, there is no more pastoral figure in the Old Testament than Elisha.
The story is simple and straightforward. Naaman is a "great man" of war, in favor with his king and country, "because by him the Lord has given victory to Syria" (v. 1). In short, Naaman's success is due to God's working. The Bible never abandons its view that the rise and fall of nations are due to the action of the Lord.
Naaman, however, is a leper. But his wife hears from her little Israelite slave-girl, who was captured in war, that the prophet Elisha could heal the leprosy (vv. 2-3). When Naaman tells this to his king, Ben-Hadad, the latter allows Naaman to travel to Samaria, bearing an enormous gift and a letter to the Israelite king, Jehoram. Jehoram has no power to cure leprosy, however. He knows that only God can heal or kill (cf. Deuteronomy 32:39). Therefore he is furious, thinking that Naaman's arrival signals a plot to attack Israel (vv. 4-7).
At this point, Elisha intervenes with Jehoram and bids him to send Naaman to him, so that Naaman "may know that there is a prophet in Israel" (v. 8) -- so that Naaman may find out that the power of God works through his prophet. Always God has a hand in this story.
Naaman arrives with great fanfare, with his horses and chariots, at Elisha's door. He expects Elisha to make an elaborate ceremony of his cleansing, calling on the Lord to heal him (cf. v. 11). But Elisha does not even personally appear. Instead he just sends out his servant to tell Naaman to wash in the Jordan River seven times in order to be cleansed of his leprosy.
This time Naaman is furious. Elisha has not recognized what a great man Naaman is and has not given him the attention due to one of his status. He departs in a rage, muttering that he could have washed in the rivers of Damascus if that is all it takes to cure leprosy (v. 12).
Once again, lowly servants become God's instrument, urging Naaman to humble himself and to wash in the Jordan. His rage gone, Naaman goes to the river and dips himself seven times, according to the word of Elisha, and his leprosy is healed (vv. 13-14).
Naaman had to get rid of himself. Humanly speaking, he was a very important person, full of pride in his own achievements, and expectant of proper deference shown to him. But the Lord pays no attention to the status and fame and image that we human beings think to achieve for ourselves. Indeed, the gospel tells us that "whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted" (Matthew 23:12 and par.). And both the epistle and gospel lessons bear that truth. "If anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself," reads Galatians 6:3. "Do not rejoice that the (evil) spirits are subject to you," Jesus teaches the seventy disciples, "but rejoice that your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20). It is not our human status that is important, but how we stand with God. And God works his will through little slave-girls and servants, and comes to those who are of a broken, contrite heart and spirit (Psalm 51:17; 34:18) -- to those who know they have no goodness in themselves but who are totally reliant on their Lord. So our Lord Jesus commands us, "Take up your cross and follow me" (Mark 8:34). In other words, let yourself be crucified -- your will, your desires, your plans -- and submit yourself to the will of Christ Jesus, who can in truth make us all clean and whole again.
Lutheran Option, Isaiah 66:10-14
These verses constitute a portion of the long poem of Isaiah 66:1-18a, in which a number of brief oracles alternate between announcements of salvation for Jerusalem and judgment upon God's enemies, both within and without the holy city. Isaiah 66:10-13 is actually one stanza; v. 14 belongs to the salvation-judgment oracle in vv. 14-17. The lectionary, however, has kept the salvation verses all together.
The reading comes from Trito-Isaiah (Isaiah 56-66), which was assembled by the Levitical priests in Jerusalem sometime after those in Babylonian exile had returned following Cyrus II's decree of 538 B.C.
The poem is addressed to those who "love" Jerusalem and who have mourned over her devastation at the hands of Babylonia (v. 1). But the mourning has also been over the sin that still is present in Zion (cf. e.g. Isaiah 64:5-7; 65:1-7). Third Isaiah is one of the few books in the Old Testament which separates out the faithful from the whole of Israel and announces salvation for them alone. There is now in this book an elect company within Israel's community which will alone experience God's future consolations.
Jerusalem is pictured in the figure of a mother, who will be comforted (cf. Isaiah 40:1), and who will give comfort to her faithful children. Those who love her will be able to nurse fully and deeply at her overflowing breast, which is her "glory" (v. 11). Shalom will flow out to her like a river (cf. Isaiah 48:18), increased by a stream of wealth from the nations roundabout. Her children will be carried on her hip and dandled upon her knees -- both pictures of joy. For like a mother comforts her child, the Lord will comfort the faithful in Jerusalem (vv. 12-13). God will be the one who gives salvation to the holy city.
The faithful will therefore rejoice in their hearts and their vitality ("bones") will flourish like new grass (v. 14). And when the whole world sees the salvation of the faithful, it will know that the Lord saves his "servants" (cf. 65:8, 9, 13-15), and that he has lifted his hand in wrath against his enemies (v. 14). The revelation is intended as a universal witness to God's saving and judging work.
It would be difficult to know what to preach from this passage were it not for the fact that we now apply the title of Zion or Jerusalem to the Christian Church. The church has always called itself "Zion," as in several hymns. But Paul tells us also that faithful Christians belong to the "Jerusalem above" that "is free," and that "she is our mother" (Galatians 4:26). And Hebrews announces that we have come to "the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem ... and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant" (Hebrews 12:22, 24).
If that be the case, certainly the church shares the characteristics of the Jerusalem described in Third Isaiah. It is full of sinful ways and often fails to seek the Lord (Isaiah 65:1). But there is also found in almost every congregation a little company of the faithful, who mourn over the state of the church because they love the church and her Lord, and who attempt to walk every day in the path of trust and obedience to God. It is to that faithful company that this good news of Third Isaiah is announced. God is going to make his church, his Jerusalem, new again. She will flourish and rejoice. More than that, John of Patmos tells us that there will be a new Jerusalem, a new church, a new people of God (Revelation 21:2), with whom God himself will dwell. And there will be no night, no wrong, no death and no evil there, for God will have done away with them all.
