We live in the day of the makeover. Some say that with just the right clothes, cosmetics and accessories, we can be new people. Isn’t it cool? The old adage says – clothes make the man – maybe the woman too! On the TV program What Not to Wear, Stacy and Clinton take on the challenge of reeducating an oftentimes reluctant female guest on what fashions, make-up and hairstyles would be most flattering on her. By the end of the program, Stacy and Cinton’s client is transformed. She becomes a more put-together and attractive person because of the makeover.
On another program, 10 Years Younger, a whole bevy specialists remake a person. Now these folks use much more invasive approaches: plastic surgery, lasix eye surgery, dermabrasion, implants, reconstructive dental procedures, fashion and cosmetic advice. The promise is - as the title implies – to make the person appear to be 10 years younger. On both 10 Years Younger and on What Not to Wear, we are led to understand that by undergoing an extreme makeover we can be radically different and more beautiful people. Well – maybe, if all that is important is on the outside!
Our Old Testament lesson today takes us through an extreme makeover of sorts. The guy needing the makeover is Naaman. This fellow was a pretty important guy in Syria sometime around the 8th or 9th century BC. He was a high ranking general - a big shot. He was something like the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in today’s time. He was well-positioned. He was among the cream of the social elites in his country. There probably wouldn’t be an official state function without general Naaman. The king he served thought very highly of him, in fact, we hear that the king regarded him as a great man. Naaman was a soldier’s soldier – valient and capable. The Lord had given the country a very important victory through Naaman’s leadership.
There was only one problem with Naaman – he was sick. He had leprosy - a terribly disfiguring, progressive condition. Curing it was beyond the medical technology of the time. There was no question that Naaman’s future was in jeapordy. So general Naaman needed an extreme makeover in the worst possible way. God was going to provide him one – but not before Naaman learned a very important lesson – that with God makeovers are “transformations” and they are more than skin deep.
Once Jesus was in a house – teaching. It was crowded - to the point of overflowing. A group of friends wanted to get their sick buddy in front of Jesus, but they couldn’t because of the crowds. So they made a hole in the roof and lowered their friend in front of Jesus. And the Lord cured the him – but it wasn’t the first thing Jesus did. First Jesus forgave the man his sins! That’s the order of God’s priority for us. What’s important always comes first.
When God does a makeover, it is always an amazing thing. Saint Paul expressed this in a few different ways. He wrote: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Rom 12:2a) The word transformed in here has the same Greek root as the word ‘metamorphosis’ – the incredible transformation that some creatures, like caterpillars, go through to become entirely different. Another time, Paul wrote, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (1 Cor 5:17) So when God does a makeover, it is extreme to the max.
But how was this going to happen for Naaman – a fellow that wasn’t even an Israelite? God intervenes in the most amazing ways. On one of general Naaman’s military campaigns, a young girl from Israel had been captured. She was brought to Syria and became a servant to the general’s wife. This young girl knew about Yahweh – God Almighty – and she knew about the Lord’s prophet among the people of Israel, Elisha. One day the young girl told her mistress that the general could be cured. All that he needed to do was to go see the prophet.
I find it wonderful that the young girl knew exactly where to turn for help. What a great example of child-like faith. The scriptures talk about children being exemplars of faith. Jesus, holding a little child, said “Unless your faith becomes like this small child’s, you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Jesus would point out young children and say, “The Kingdom of Heaven is made up of children like these.” In many ways, the heroine in today’s story is the young girl serving in Naaman’s house. She knew where to turn for help – to God! “Go see the prophet,” she said.
There’s an old saying that goes something like this: “There’s many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip.” It just means that lots of things can go wrong between the time we decide to do something and it finally is done. Well, something went wrong in planning the trip to go see Elisha. When the general went to ask his boss, the king, for time off to visit the prophet. The message got a bit jumbled. The king said, “Absolutely! In fact, I’ll write a letter of introduction.” The letter was written to the king of Israel. Essentially the letter said, “Here’s Naaman, my main man – cure him!”
Isn’t that the way it goes with us older folks? The young girl said, “Our help is in the name of the Lord.” But the guys in charge turned that into: Go talk to the politician – and by the way, take a bit of cash with you in case you need to grease a palm here or there along the way. Instead of going to see the prophet, he goes off to see the king. Instead of going to seek mercy from the Lord, he goes prepared to buy a little influence here and there with 150 lbs of gold and 750 lbs of silver and 10 of the most expensive suits of clothes money can buy.
Now, we really can’t blame Naaman – because that is the way that things are done in the world. We go to the guy at the top – the king, governor, politician, the CEO, the manager; we go prepared to buy or to pay for or to negotiate for what we want. That’s just how folks have been prepared to do things. That’s how Naaman’s mission began. Isn’t that the way things get done?
But God doesn’t work that way! For example, when King Solomon prayed for God’s blessing, God’s response was pretty simple. He said, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” Approaching God always happens on his terms: We can’t go over his head; and, He can’t be bought. Now, He’s is willing to give us everything – but we can’t buy a single solitary thing from Him nor can we out flank Him. It’s sort of like an old professor once told me when I went to try to get him to change the requirements on a project he had assigned. He looked me square in the eye and said, “Gonzalez, this isn’t Burger King. Here you don’t get it your way. You get it my way or you don’t get the cotton picking thing at all.” I sort of cleaned that up a bit for you.
So, Naaman starts off on a misadventure of sorts. Did you hear what happened when the king of Israel got the letter from Naaman? – it made him angry! The king of Israel tore his robes. Tearing your robes in those days was a big deal! This was the ultimate sign of indignation. It would make an impression on you to see someone do this. The king of Israel was upset and angry. The king of Israel said, “Am I God? What in the world is this guy trying to do by sending me this leper so that I can cure him? He must be trying to start a war!” No transformation for you here Naaman.
Elisha the prophet got wind of what went down at the palace. He told the king to send Naaman over to him. And so Naaman, along with the whole entourage – horses, gold, silver and suits of clothes - parade over to see Elisha.
It almost seems that Elisha didn’t even give the general the time of day. He sent a servant out with the message, “Go wash yourself in the Jordan River seven times.” Now, we’ve already said that Naaman was a pretty important guy. For the prophet to treat him that way was an afront. Naaman’s pride was hurt by the way that Elisha treated him. He got really angry. Now, why would Elisha do this? You know, beloved, he just wanted to take himself out of the picture. When this healing happened, Elisha wanted only God to get the credit. But the general wanted special attention from the prophet. His complaint after his encounter with Elisha’s servant was, “I thought that Elisha would come out to see me, call on the name of the Lord, wave his hand over the leprosy or something, goodness gracious! And to send me to wash in the Jordan – are you serious – aren’t the rivers in my home country better than any waters in Israel?”
Do you get the feeling that if Elisha had asked Naaman to do some really fancy thing – or if Elisha had put on a good show for Naaman, that the general would have walked away satisfied. You see, up to now the whole thing just seemed a bit superficial. We’ve had heads of state involved. We’ve had displays of power and money. But when the need for God’s action is pointed out, folks really didn’t want to mind.
That’s what Naaman’s servant pointed out when he told Naaman: "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ’Wash and be cleansed’!" If you had been told to sit on sackcloth and ashes… if you had been tasked with going on a pilgramage… if you had been commanded to build and altar and there offer your sacrifice… - you would have done it, general. But it wasn’t difficult – it was simple. It was to let God touch you and cleanse you. That way the river isn’t glorified, the prophet isn’t glorified, the ceremony isn’t glorified – only God is glorified.
And so Naaman did go to wash in the Jordan - and he was cleansed. God did what He has done for generations without count, restored people through his awesome, mysterious power and intervention.
Naaman was truly transformed – an extreme makeover from the inside out. We know this because after his healing, he returns to Elisha. In the verses that follow, we see him trying to give some of the gold and silver to Elisha – but the prophet would not take it. Naaman then confesses his faith in the Yahweh – the Creator God, the God who saved his people through his Son Jesus. Naaman asks for forgiveness because he knows that when he returns to his home country that the king there will ask Naaman to accompany him to visit the temple of his god. But Naaman know that only the Lord is God.
Things haven’t changed. The God who healed Naaman and whose healing was sufficient – is prepared to heal us – to transform us. We gather here to receive that healing. We don’t have to sacrifice, or sit on sackcloth and ashes, or to go on any pilgrimage. We simple come and receive it in the way that God has ordained - through the forgiveness won by Jesus on the Cross and freely poured out for us. We are washed through baptism, and assured of it through the Lord’s Table. And beloved, only Jesus that gets the glory for it all. Amen.
