“The Four Lucky Lepers”
Pastor Bob Leroe, Cliftondale Congregational Church, Saugus, Massachusetts
The Aramean (Syrian) Army, led by Ben-Hadad, is waging a siege, a blockade against the city of Samaria. Cut off from all sources of provisions, the Jewish city is suffering and things are getting desperate. The enemy outside the walls of the city, has ample provisions and they’re prepared to continue their patient siege till the Jews either surrender or die of starvation. An enormous economic inflation affects the small amount of food that is left in the city. A donkey’s head is sold for 80 shekels of silver. The people have even turned to cannibalism, and king Jehoram, walking along the walls of the seemingly doomed city, weeps in utter despair.
But all is not lost. Elisha the prophet has assured the city that the famine will end, and that food will be so plenteous that bargain prices will result. His foretelling of the reduced price of goods sound like the cries of a vender. The royal officer of the king cynically mocks Elisha, doubting the power of God. He thinks even God cannot rescue the city, that the situation is hopeless. Meanwhile, outside the city walls another drama is taking place. The enemy has been routed; some scholars believe an army of angels caused them to retreat so swiftly…but only a few lepers know what has happened. In the passage read, we see unfolded human depravity, God’s mercy, and the believer’s responsibility.
1. Human Depravity, verses 1-3
Leprosy was the AIDS of ancient days. Leprosy is viewed in Scripture as a symbol of sin. Lepers were living corpses, separated from society for fear of contagion. Leprosy isolates, corrupts and eventually destroys the victim. In the same way, sin separates us from God and produces inner decay, unbelief and spiritual death. In contrast, the king’s officer was physically whole but spiritually sick.
The lepers understood their plight. The problem with most of us is that we fail to see our sinful condition. We see ourselves as fairly clean, yet we’re corrupted by sin. When people say they have a clean conscience, it usually means they have a bad memory. People don’t like being confronted with the truth about themselves. Denial of sin is like the man who kept reading about the connection between smoking and lung cancer…and decided to quit reading! I remember hearing a missionary tell of a leper who refused to receive medical treatment—because he refused to admit that he had leprosy. Have we seen our sins as leprous sores? This is how God views our sin. Even our “righteousness” is as “filthy rags” (according to the prophet Isaiah). Our leprous sins nailed Jesus Christ to the cross. Do we hate our sins enough to turn to Christ?
Another image is the siege. What armies are keeping us from life? We are assaulted by temptations and pressures, the pleasures of the world, and the siege of self-satisfaction. Are doubts causing us to question that our enemy has been defeated? I remember hearing about the end of Desert Storm on a short-wave radio about a hundred miles from Baghdad. At first I was stunned—it was hard to believe the war was over, and we were going home. Sin was defeated on the Cross. But sin can prevent people from knowing that the conflict is over.
2. God’s Mercy, verses 4-8
The Bible urges us to throw ourselves on God’s mercy. The sacrifice of Christ allows God to be merciful. Even some of those who shed Christ’s blood were saved by it.
It’s been said, “to flee God’s wrath, cling to His mercy.” Mercy means we are no longer condemned. Along with mercy comes healing. The lepers outside the city walls were brought to the point of desperation. They resolved to surrender to the enemy. Death had already stared them in the face and they had nothing to lose by going over to the Arameans. Blessed are they who surrender to the Lord, who call on Him for mercy.
At the end of the Civil War, when the Confederate Army had been defeated, Abraham Lincoln was asked how he would treat the rebellious South. The question hinted at the desire to see the South severely punished. Unexpectedly, the merciful President replied, “I will treat them as if they had never been away.”
We sometimes fail to appreciate the mercy of God. He has defeated our enemies—yet we continue to fret and worry about life. God has provided for us what we need, yet like Samaria, we’re starving, though near a feast! We don’t realize the enemy has fled and all that we need is readily available. The people of Samaria felt like prisoners, yet they were free. God tells us to cast our cares upon Him, because sin, and death are no longer issues, and we are more than conquerors through Christ. Those who cannot accept God’s promises cannot be happy. We need to live realizing the enemy has been defeated! We need to rest in Christ’s finished work and rejoice in His victory.
3. Our Responsibility, verses 9-10
The key verse of this chapter is verse 9, “This is a day of good news, and we are keeping it to ourselves.”
The lepers were forced to live outside the city gate; they were outcasts, kept apart from the city; and they were half-dead, from hunger and their disease. They approach the besieger’s encampment cautiously, expecting to be challenged—and to their surprise they discover the camp is deserted. They do what we would have done—they initially feast upon the abandoned spoils of war…but then they realize that a city is starving. They could rationalize saying nothing. They were outcasts, and it might serve Samaria right to starve. Their conscience won’t allow this. They see it as their duty to inform the city that the enemy has left. They may also have feared being punished once the news was eventually known.
They tell the incredulous good news and it reverberates throughout the city, reaching even the ears of the sleeping king. Cautiously, the king thinks this may be a feint, an offensive tactical withdrawal to lure an enemy to ground where they can be easily engaged. He sends a scouting party to confirm the report. He could hardly spare this team of soldiers, but their plight would be little worse than that which seemed inevitable should they remain in Samaria. The king and his officer are both suspicious—but the officer questions God’s prophet whereas the king questions the enemy’s intent. By the end of the day, Elisha’s amazing prophecy stood fulfilled, and the officer who doubted this prophetic word is trampled to death in the mad rush to get the food left behind.
Evangelism has been defined as “one beggar telling another where he found bread.” We should be ready and willing to present a witness whenever we have the opportunity. When we ask God to give us opportunities to share our faith and invite people to church, He will give them—it’s up to us to look for and seize the opportunities we’re given.
What do people know about us? They likely know some of our political views, what sports teams we root for, our favorite novels and movies, the kind of music we listen to, our favorite restaurants, our likes and dislikes—but what do they know about our faith? We find it easy to discuss all sorts of personal issues, yet clam up when it comes to religion. Witnessing, or faith-sharing, is something we’re counting on others to do. Christians are sometimes like football fans. Go to an NFL game and you’ll see 22 players down on the field desperately needing a rest and 40,000 people in the stands in need of some exercise! We’re badly needed on the field.
Do we care enough about the plight of others to tell them the good news? Their condition ought to overcome our fears. I don’t believe in shoving the message down people’s throats—I believe in tact—but sometimes we’re so tactful we fail to make contact. We need to clearly communicate our faith in Christ to people who are starving for the Bread of Life and afflicted by the disease of sin.
We operate a food pantry at our church, and we encourage those who need help to come. Some people would rather starve than accept charity, which is a manifestation of pride. At any given time in our lives we can expect to be the providers or recipients of assistance. Charles Spurgeon had this to say about pride: “O you self-righteous people, how can you talk about being saved? What saving do you want? You are as full of good works as you can be and your pride shines—how can you be saved? Those who are saved by Jesus are those who are in themselves lost, ruined and undone. Until you know your ruin, and confess your sin, it is not likely you will ever accept a Savior. While you feel you can save yourselves, you will attempt it; but when you can do no more, then you will fall into the arms of your Savior; and what a blessed fall that will be!” Just as we encourage the hungry to receive food on Fridays here, we ought to encourage people to satisfy their spiritual hunger in Christ.
