A GOOD SOLDIER, BUT LEPROUS
Our story this morning is one of the most remarkable in the Old Testament, not least because it defies all of our expectations of how God deals with his people and their enemies. And make no mistake, that’s exactly who the central figure in this morning’s story is: Naaman, the commanding general of Syria’s armies, is an enemy of Israel; and though he may not know it, an enemy of God when we first encounter him. He lives at a time when Syria was vying with Assyria for dominance in the Ancient Near East, and so sought to conscript allies to the fight on its side. From the surrounding passages and other records which survive from the time, we know that he must have lived around 840 BC, when King Ben-Hadad II was projecting his authority over the Northern kingdom of Israel, led by King Jehoram.(1) But even though Naaman has yet to encounter the power of the living God, his character in service to his own king is beyond reproach.
He is known for his courage and competency in battle, for his loyalty to his king, and for the loyalty his character inspires in his troops and servants. But there’s one catch. He’s a leper. Now keep in mind, biblical leprosy isn’t necessarily the same as Hansen’s disease, which is what we call leprosy today. The biblical word covers a variety of skin diseases, so we can’t be sure exactly what disease afflicted Naaman, but it must have been severe enough to cause him considerable public discomfort. His king and his servants are aware of his affliction, so it must have covered enough of an area that he could not hide it when in public, and it must have caused him enough pain that he would go to great lengths to see it removed.
Though we don’t know exactly which skin disease Naaman had, we know that at least in Israel it would have carried with it a major social stigma, especially since many of the diseases the term covers were highly
contageous and often fatal. Leprosy often meant a person had to give up their trade, live apart from their communities and families, and were even barred from temple worship. Think about that for a moment. Not only was a person struck with such a horrible disease, but they usually lost everything because of it, even social support and the ability to worship their God.
It must have been heartbreaking to find oneself afflicted with it, and even worse, the disease was often seen as divine judgment for some wrong the person had done. This was true of a lot of diseases, and the belief survived into Jesus’ time as we see in Jn. 9, when Jesus’ disciples encounter a man born blind and ask him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (2) Jesus makes it clear that it was neither, but this belief even continues today. Very often, when we encounter someone who is homeless, or who seems to just get hammered by misfortune, we assume that they must have done something to do it; and many people will even go to great lengths to avoid them, lest their misfortune rub off on them!
A BELOVED LEADER
But Naaman is unique. Despite his debilitating and stigmatizing disease, he has endured courageously, and earned a reputation as a valiant and capable commander and leader. He is so well respected, and maybe even loved, by those who he leads, that a captured Israelite servant girl tells Naaman’s wife about the powerful prophet in Israel who could cure his leprosy. What a testament to his character that the daughter of his enemies would respect him so much that she would desire for him to be healed! If only we could say that of most commander’s and bosses!
This reminds me of a story B.G.’s family told me this week as we prepared for his funeral tomorrow. Don’t worry, I asked them beforehand if I could share this story a day early, and they said yes. But apparently B. was such a beloved boss at the BBQ restaurant he started, even though he could make the tough decisions required of an effective leader and was a capable and efficient restaurateur (and his family assures me his BBQ was absolutely amazing), he still treated his employees with such care and kindness that they even threw him a surprise birthday party when the big day came around! That stands in stark contrast with one of my commanders in the Army who actually ordered us to come to the Colonel’s birthday party. It was a “mandatory fun day” and I’m sure we’ve all experienced some of those at one time or another.
This isn’t the case with Naaman, however. Though he doesn’t know it yet, as v. 1 tells us, God was behind his victories on behalf of Syria even against the Israelites, and now God is moving to bring healing into Naaman’s life through the prophet that he is about to seek out. When Naaman hears about this mysterious prophet, he appeals to his king for permission to travel to Israel which the king readily grants, and with a large retinue of Soldiers and chariots carrying gifts, he heads South. When he arrives at the Israelite king’s court, he presents the letter his own king wrote with the large gifts of silver, gold, and festal clothing which would have been worth close to $800,000 today!(3)
A KING'S LACK OF FAITH
But this is where things almost go horribly wrong. The king completely misinterprets King Ben-Hadad’s intentions. Vv. 6-7 tell us, “And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, ‘When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.’” And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, ‘Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.’”(4)
Not only does the king of Israel think that the Syrian king is taunting him by demanding he do an impossible task as his vassal, thus forcing him to fight instead, but his statement betrays his complete lack of faith. His first thought isn’t, “You know what, I should go to the temple to pray.” Or, “Hey! We have a powerful prophet of Yahweh who can pray for this man.” Instead he immediately despairs of his situation and assumes that there’s no way out. And the irony is that this whole episode betrays the king of Syria’s lack of faith in his own gods as well. The very fact that he sent Naaman to a foreign God in the first place shows that he doesn’t trust in his own gods’ power to heal this awful disease.(5) The Syrian king knows his own gods are powerless, and the Israelite king has either forgotten what God has done for his own people, or he never really believed the stories in the first place.
But in this dangerous moment in despair, just when the king of Israel might have taken Naaman himself captive since he was going to enter into a fight with the Syrian king anyway, God’s miraculous power shows up as a messenger from Elisha arrives to tell him that though the king might be powerless, there is still a prophet in Israel that can do what needs to be done.
AN UNEXPECTED WELCOME
So Naaman takes his retinue, his soldiers, his chariots, and his gifts, and he departs for the hill country by the Jordan River where the prophet is currently staying.6 And what a sight this must have been. Syria’s power and Naaman’s honor as its chief commander were on display as their bronze armor clanked and polished spears glistened in the sun, and as their feet and wheels sent columns of dust into the sky on their approach to a humble collection of mud huts belonging to the man of God and his followers. It’s clear that Naaman wants to impress this prophet and his God so that they’ll help him. But real prophets are neither impressed by wealth, nor do they turn anyone away for lack of it.
But instead of coming out to greet the powerful commander himself, Elisha’s servant steps out of the door and tells Naaman to dip himself in the Jordan river seven times and he will be clean. With this unexpected “welcome” Naaman is absolutely furious. He feels cheated. It’s a wonder he didn’t burn the man of God’s hut down! You see, Naaman expected something more grandiose. After all, didn’t the priests and prophets of his own gods make a great show whenever beseeching their heavenly benefactors for favors? Didn’t the gods love spectacle? For Naaman, the only encounters he had had with religion up to that point were spectacle, and the prophets were more showmen than anything. Maybe he expected smoke, strange mutterings, and lots of hand waving out of Elisha.
But what he didn’t understand is that our God doesn’t need showmanship to get his message across. He doesn’t need smoke and mirrors, fog machines and colored lights, to show up and work in His people. Now don’t get me wrong, if fog machines and colored lights during worship are your jam, there’s nothing wrong with that! But Naaman somehow thought that God couldn’t work without these things.
And you know, I think he also thought his task should be harder than that. After all, he was a military man who heaped honor on his name through the glory of battle. If Elisha had told him he needed to go fight a dragon to be healed, I think he would have been happy to do it! He was used to dealing with gods who demanded terrible tolls from the people, sometimes including human sacrifice, and who prized blood, wealth, and glory.
SIMPLE OBEDIENCE
But all Elisha’s God demanded was simple obedience, and this is a lesson we still struggle with today. Naaman couldn’t possibly see it at the time, but God was doing something through him in that had far greater implications than he could have possibly known. All he can see is that he’s been insulted by a prophet who refuses to even see him, and who tells him all he has to do is take a bath in the nearby river. And not even a great river! Where the rivers of Damascus came from clear mountain springs and spread into beautiful green valleys, the Jordan was shallow and muddy and its banks ugly and gray.(7)
But this humble river has a special place in God’s plan, as it will be the place where Jesus himself is baptized and even the number seven itself was significant as it represented wholeness and restoration to completeness.(8) Seven was also the number of times the priests were to sprinkle water on a person cleansed of leprosy in Lev. 13-14. That Naaman’s own dip in the river was to be a precursor for our own baptism wasn’t lost on the early Church Father Irenaeus who, writing just a little over a century after Jesus’ resurrection, says, “For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord.”(9)
And Elisha’s refusal to see Naaman wasn’t meant to humiliate him, but was a sign of Elisha’s own obedience to the law, so that he would not make himself ceremonially unclean by touching a leper.(10) But Naaman didn’t know all this when he finally calms down enough to listen to his servants, who speak some sense into him. As far as he’s concerned, he’s come all this way. What does he have to lose?
So he steps into the river and feels the water flowing over his sandaled feet. He steps farther and farther until the waters are high enough for him to take that first dip. Then he takes another. And another. And another. And another. By now, the fifth dip, he hasn’t noticed any change in his condition. He doesn’t feel any different. Not even a tingling. Is he about to look like a big idiot when he takes two more dips and comes up still leprous, while the man of God laughs at his gullibility in his little hut? Another dip. “Man,” he must be thinking to himself, “Did he come all this way for nothing?” One last dip to go. Maybe he hesitated for a moment. Maybe he didn’t. But he takes that final plunge and immediately everything changes.
For the first time in his life, he knows for a fact that the power of God is real. He looks at his hands, they’re clean! He feels his face, it’s smooth as a baby’s bottom! He jumps for joy! Nothing even remotely like this has ever happened to him before! And before he heard of the man of God, he couldn’t have dared to hope for so much! It’s not just his skin which is healed. He is a new man. He knows for a fact now that the God of Israel is real in a way that no other gods are, and that He cares even for prideful Syrian commanders. He wasn’t converted through logical arguments, and he doesn’t know a thing about theology. He has had a real, personal encounter with the power of God and that alone is what changed him. But the story isn’t over, and vv. 15-27 tell us what happened next.
[Read 2 Ki. 5:15-27]
NOT IN IT FOR THE MONEY
Overcome with joy, Naaman rushes out of the river, embracing his men and commanding them to take the gifts which had been meant for the king of Israel to the man of God. But just as Elisha isn’t in it for the show, he also isn’t in it for the money. It’s not that ministers shouldn’t be paid or earn a living wage. It’s that Naaman is a brand new believer in the power of God and he needs to know that God’s grace is freely given and not earned or bought.
But Elisha’s servant sees things very differently. Despite being part of the “in crowd” and a member of the man of God’s congregation and his trusted servant, Gehazi swears an oath that he is going to get something from this foreigner and correct his master’s “mistake.” Maybe he couldn’t stand to see the grace of God poured out on a foreigner who had oppressed his people. Or maybe, unlike Elisha, Gehazi was in it for the money. In any case, his greed and hatred blinds him to the power of God present in Elisha and blinds him to the grace of God present in Naaman. It twists him and corrupts him so much that he feels compelled to swear the exact opposite oath in v. 20 to Elisha’s own oath in v. 16.11 By swearing an oath and praying something in opposition to God’s will and character, he breaks the third commandment and takes the Lord’s name in vain.(12)
That’s the real meaning of that commandment. It isn’t simply using God’s name frivolously or carelessly (though I think it encompasses that), it means to pray something God would never desire, to put our own desires before His, and then to emplore Him to feed our selfishness instead of seeing to the needs of others.
Naaman, overjoyed at his newfound faith and the healing power of God, doesn’t care that Elisha seems to have changed his mind. The irony here is that Naaman is now what Gehazi should have been. He is just happy to serve the living God alone, and so gives Gehazi double what he asks for. Gehazi then stealthily hides it in his house, but he seems to have forgotten (or never believed) that Elisha is a prophet, and so as he steps outside Elisha is there waiting for him.
THE REAL DISEASE AND THE REAL CURE
Elisha gives him the chance to come clean and asks him where he went. But Gehazi lies to him. So, in vv. 26-27, he proclaims to Gehazi, “Did not my heart go when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Was it a time to accept money and garments, olive orchards and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male servants and female servants? Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever.” So he went out from his presence a leper, like snow.”
And this is where we see the true significance of Naaman’s and now Gehazi’s leprosy. Their debilitating disease isn’t just a disease of the flesh. It isn’t just a bacterial infection. It’s a deep sickness of the soul. What God cured in Naaman’s obedience and baptism and what Gehazi contracted through his greed and disbelief was the deep effect of sin in their lives. Naaman, a foreigner, understood the depth of God’s free gift of grace and so his baptism became the means by which that grace was communicated to him.
But Gehazi, an Israelite steeped in the scriptures and teachings of the prophets of the birth, still had no idea who God really was, and because he was so closed off to God’s grace when he finally did encounter it, the bitterness of his soul seeped out into his skin. We don’t know whether Gehazi ever repented or not. The story doesn’t seem to suggest that he did. But I really believe that if he had, God would have healed him, just as God healed Miriam of her leprosy when she repented of her sin during the Exodus.(13)
And I firmly believe that God will heal any one of us of the debilitating effects of our sin if we will only ask Him and receive His free gift of grace. But this story also highlights the importance of obedience to the life of the believer. Our walk with God doesn’t end with accepting Christ into our heart or asking His forgiveness. That is only the beginning. Real discipleship still requires that first step into the river. For us, that step is signified by baptism.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BAPTISM
I don’t believe that baptism is required for salvation, but it is certainly required for obedience. It’s the last thing Jesus tells us to do in the Gospel of Matthew before He ascends into heaven, where in ch. 28:18-20, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
I was surprised when, in a church where I served a while back, two parents of the teens I was teaching came into my office with a problem. Now every pastor encounters conflict at sometime in their ministry, and you can always tell by the tone of that opening line, “Hey Pastor, we need to talk...” when it isn’t going to be a pleasant conversation. But they were concerned that I was teaching that all Christians should be baptized. They saw it as a mark of useless “external religion” that took away from Christ’s grace. I was dumbfounded as to how a command from Christ could somehow take away from His grace. We had a good conversation as I explained my (and the church’s position) on baptism, and though they seemed to be put at ease, they still refused to see baptism as an essential part of our Christian walk.
But I’m telling you now, it is. I said it a moment ago and I’ll repeat it again. Baptism is not a prerequisite for salvation or receiving God’s grace. But it is necessary for our obedience, which is part of our sanctification. If we are to be like Him, we must do what He did and what He told us to do. And Jesus told us to be baptized.
But it’s more than a command. It is a sacrament and a means of grace. That is what Naaman himself found out in our passage this morning. If he hadn’t swallowed his pride and waded out into that muddy river, he never would have been healed. He never would have been restored. If, for whatever reason we refuse to follow Jesus’ command to be baptized, we aren’t only being disobedient (which is bad enough), but we are missing out on something beautiful God wants to show us and to do in us. We are missing out on a gift and a chance to be like our Lord. And we are missing out on the grace Naaman experienced in the middle of those cold waters over 2,800 years ago.
So, if anyone here would like to be baptized or would like to learn more about why we baptized, please see me after the service. You might be uncomfortable making such a public gesture, but believe me, the experience is something you will cherish the rest of your life if you just take those steps and get your feet wet. Thank you.
FOOTNOTES
(1) Patterson, Richard D. and Hermann J. Austel. “1, 2 Kings,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Revised Ed. Vol. 2; 830. Ed. by Tremper Longman III & David E. Garland. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009.
(2) Jn. 9:2, ESV.
(3) Snaith, Norman H. “Exegesis on II Kings,” in The Interpreter’s Bible, vol. III. (New York: Abingdon Press, 1954), 210.
(4) Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotes are from the ESV.
(5) “Annotations,” in The Wesley Study Bible. Ed. by Joel B. Green and William H. Willimon. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2009), 456.
(6) Ibid., 457.
(7) “Annotations” in The New Catholic Answer Bible. (Wichita: Devore & Sons, 2005), 325.
(8) Patterson & Hermann, “1, 2 Kings,” 830-831.
(9) Allen, Joseph, et. al. Annotations in The Orthodox Study Bible, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008), 428.
(10) John Chrysostom, referenced in Allen, “Annotations,” 428.
(11) Patterson & Hermann, “1, 2 Kings,” 831.
(12) cf. Exo. 20:7.
(13) cf. Nu. 12.
Delivered Jul. 07, 2019 - Cortez (CO) Church of the Nazarene.
