The Naaman Syndrome
Sermon
Sermons on the First Readings
Series III, Cycle C
Object:
The healing of Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, seems to me to provide a metaphor for our time. We live in a world in which we pay attention to power and the powerful. We look to the powerful for the solutions to our world's problems. Naaman was one of those powerful people. He was a prominent commander of the army of Aram, a neighboring nation to Israel.
Even powerful people have problems. We are told that despite all his success and honor, Naaman had a problem that he could not solve. All that power and praise could not provide Naaman that which he most needed in life. Naaman was a leper.
His leprosy, a physical malady, is an effective metaphor for those diseases of the soul that plague so much of our society today. There is something desperately sick in our society that is ripping us apart. And all our power, success, and enormous affluence can't make it go away.
It goes by many names, but it produces the same result. Our politics are a sham. Our religious congregations squabble among themselves until people walk out in disgust. Our schools spend hours arguing over the tangential and fail at the essential. Our families are falling apart and our children are killing each other.
It is instructive to notice in the story of Naaman where the first signs of hope come from. In his society, it was from the lowest of the low -- a slave girl captured in battle. It was a captured slave in a class-conscious society. It was a woman in a man's society. It was not from the powerful or famous but from the place where he would least expect it that the first glimmer of hope came to Naaman. Think about that -- from where would you least expect hope to come for those problems that plague our society?
Sometimes you are desperate enough to pay attention to anything. So Naaman did listen to the voice of this insignificant slave girl. But note how he acted on what he had heard. Naaman was a man of the world. He assumed that when you wanted to get something done, you went to the powers that be. So he went to his king and got a letter of introduction to Israel's king. He also understood that there was no free lunch, so he took along with him expensive gifts of gold, jewelry, and fine cloths.
He would discover that the gift of healing doesn't belong to the rich and the famous. The wise and the powerful don't always have the answers you seek. You can pay for all the expensive seminars you want and order the finest exercise equipment or join the latest spiritualist fad, but the healing you seek is not there.
When the King of Israel heard Naaman's request, he rent 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?" (v. 7). It was a common saying in Israel that only God could raise the dead or cure someone of leprosy. "This man is trying to pick a quarrel with me," said the king.
Fortunately God's grace does not lack a witness even when we are looking in the wrong places. The prophet Elisha heard what the king had said, so he sent word to his king saying: "Stop acting like an idiot and send Naaman to me so that he might realize where the real power of the universe is."
So Naaman, thinking he now had the correct information, went riding up to Elisha's house with his full entourage. You can picture this great cloud of dust, the noise of numerous chariots, perhaps the clanking of armor, maybe even a trumpet or two -- certainly not a subtle approach.
Naaman seemed to be saying, "I have come for a healing and I want you to know what an important person it is that is asking you for your help."
In case we missed the fact that God doesn't work according to the world's criteria and expectations, Elisha didn't even bother to go out to greet his important guest. He sent a messenger out on his behalf. This great warrior who had come with his abundant gifts didn't even merit a personal greeting.
Not only did the prophet not recognize Naaman's importance, but the message itself seemed a slap at his ego as well. "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times." An insignificant messenger told him to wash in a two-bit muddy stream in a third-rate country. Naaman was furious. "I thought 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!"
Such an important person with such a serious, incurable disease, deserved a dramatic healing complete with the role of stirring drums, clashing cymbals, perhaps a few bolts of lightning, and some smoke and mirrors.
Naaman almost missed the grace of God again. This time it was one of his servants who had to set him straight. Have you ever noticed how we can let our ego get in the way of the cure we seek? We look in the wrong places for the signs of God's grace in our lives. We would far rather pay a few thousand dollars for an expensive consultant to cure our problems than to overhear the truth of faith available to us every week. And, we expect our problems to be so significant that the cure must be dramatic if it is to be worthwhile.
How many millions of dollars have companies paid to reduce stress in the lives of their executives? I'll tell you how to reduce stress for free. Set up about four or five sessions with your priest, rabbi, or pastor and seriously learn the discipline of prayer. Spend twenty minutes twice a day totally focused on God in prayer. Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy.
Do you want to cure your marital problems? Ninety percent of them don't require expensive therapy. I can give you a simple formula for free. Each day from this day forward, without fanfare, choose to do something nice for your spouse. Each day without fail, find twenty minutes to seriously listen to your spouse. And twice a day, consciously give thanks to God for this human partner who has had the grace to put up with someone like you.
The problem, of course, is that both of those formulas sound a lot like washing in the muddy Jordan seven times. Surely it requires something more dramatic than that.
I'll give you a more dramatic suggestion. Go home today and double your pledge to whatever church you belong. If it's truly God's house, that is a worthy investment. Follow the advice I have given you on stress and marriage for six months. If these suggestions are not true, ask for your money back.
God has been gracious enough to knock on your door this year. It is up to you whether you will open the door and accept what God offers you. Amen.
Even powerful people have problems. We are told that despite all his success and honor, Naaman had a problem that he could not solve. All that power and praise could not provide Naaman that which he most needed in life. Naaman was a leper.
His leprosy, a physical malady, is an effective metaphor for those diseases of the soul that plague so much of our society today. There is something desperately sick in our society that is ripping us apart. And all our power, success, and enormous affluence can't make it go away.
It goes by many names, but it produces the same result. Our politics are a sham. Our religious congregations squabble among themselves until people walk out in disgust. Our schools spend hours arguing over the tangential and fail at the essential. Our families are falling apart and our children are killing each other.
It is instructive to notice in the story of Naaman where the first signs of hope come from. In his society, it was from the lowest of the low -- a slave girl captured in battle. It was a captured slave in a class-conscious society. It was a woman in a man's society. It was not from the powerful or famous but from the place where he would least expect it that the first glimmer of hope came to Naaman. Think about that -- from where would you least expect hope to come for those problems that plague our society?
Sometimes you are desperate enough to pay attention to anything. So Naaman did listen to the voice of this insignificant slave girl. But note how he acted on what he had heard. Naaman was a man of the world. He assumed that when you wanted to get something done, you went to the powers that be. So he went to his king and got a letter of introduction to Israel's king. He also understood that there was no free lunch, so he took along with him expensive gifts of gold, jewelry, and fine cloths.
He would discover that the gift of healing doesn't belong to the rich and the famous. The wise and the powerful don't always have the answers you seek. You can pay for all the expensive seminars you want and order the finest exercise equipment or join the latest spiritualist fad, but the healing you seek is not there.
When the King of Israel heard Naaman's request, he rent 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?" (v. 7). It was a common saying in Israel that only God could raise the dead or cure someone of leprosy. "This man is trying to pick a quarrel with me," said the king.
Fortunately God's grace does not lack a witness even when we are looking in the wrong places. The prophet Elisha heard what the king had said, so he sent word to his king saying: "Stop acting like an idiot and send Naaman to me so that he might realize where the real power of the universe is."
So Naaman, thinking he now had the correct information, went riding up to Elisha's house with his full entourage. You can picture this great cloud of dust, the noise of numerous chariots, perhaps the clanking of armor, maybe even a trumpet or two -- certainly not a subtle approach.
Naaman seemed to be saying, "I have come for a healing and I want you to know what an important person it is that is asking you for your help."
In case we missed the fact that God doesn't work according to the world's criteria and expectations, Elisha didn't even bother to go out to greet his important guest. He sent a messenger out on his behalf. This great warrior who had come with his abundant gifts didn't even merit a personal greeting.
Not only did the prophet not recognize Naaman's importance, but the message itself seemed a slap at his ego as well. "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times." An insignificant messenger told him to wash in a two-bit muddy stream in a third-rate country. Naaman was furious. "I thought 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!"
Such an important person with such a serious, incurable disease, deserved a dramatic healing complete with the role of stirring drums, clashing cymbals, perhaps a few bolts of lightning, and some smoke and mirrors.
Naaman almost missed the grace of God again. This time it was one of his servants who had to set him straight. Have you ever noticed how we can let our ego get in the way of the cure we seek? We look in the wrong places for the signs of God's grace in our lives. We would far rather pay a few thousand dollars for an expensive consultant to cure our problems than to overhear the truth of faith available to us every week. And, we expect our problems to be so significant that the cure must be dramatic if it is to be worthwhile.
How many millions of dollars have companies paid to reduce stress in the lives of their executives? I'll tell you how to reduce stress for free. Set up about four or five sessions with your priest, rabbi, or pastor and seriously learn the discipline of prayer. Spend twenty minutes twice a day totally focused on God in prayer. Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy.
Do you want to cure your marital problems? Ninety percent of them don't require expensive therapy. I can give you a simple formula for free. Each day from this day forward, without fanfare, choose to do something nice for your spouse. Each day without fail, find twenty minutes to seriously listen to your spouse. And twice a day, consciously give thanks to God for this human partner who has had the grace to put up with someone like you.
The problem, of course, is that both of those formulas sound a lot like washing in the muddy Jordan seven times. Surely it requires something more dramatic than that.
I'll give you a more dramatic suggestion. Go home today and double your pledge to whatever church you belong. If it's truly God's house, that is a worthy investment. Follow the advice I have given you on stress and marriage for six months. If these suggestions are not true, ask for your money back.
God has been gracious enough to knock on your door this year. It is up to you whether you will open the door and accept what God offers you. Amen.
