Day after day we are confronted with a vast array of options. So many options that it will make your head spin. A question as simple as, “How do you want your hamburger?” can be quite a challenge. According to Burger King, the home of the Whopper, there 1024 different ways for a customer to order that iconic burger. Imagine the numbers for a place like Subway! It would take Jared the rest of his life to eat all the combinations.
Man, do we have options! We have options in what we eat; in what we wear; in what we listen to; in what we watch; in what we drive, in what we do and what we think. It would be interesting if some statistician could figure out how many options the average American is presented with on a daily basis. The number would, no doubt, be mind-boggling.
It wasn’t always like this. When Henry Ford began selling the Model T, He was known to have said, “You can have any color you want as long as it’s black”. And when you look at old grainy photographs of that earlier time, you’ll see crowds of men standing there in the same bowler hats and the same dark, Charlie Chaplin style suits. There weren’t always so many options in life. Industrialization has has opened up a world of options for all of us.
This has been great blessing, of course. As individuals, we can do things that former generations could not even dream of. We are wealthy in comparison to them.
Obviously, we have grown accustomed to our options. We are used to thinking in an optional way. So whenever our options become limited by some force or some voice outside of ourselves, we have a tendency to become dismayed, annoyed, and even angry. We like our options, thank you very much! Don’t mess with our options!
It is therefore not surprising, since we have grown so accustomed to such an optional way of thinking , that the words of Jesus would be called into question by some. For as he speaks about what he came to do, he gives absolutely no options. He says quite clearly “I am the way, the truth and the Life, no one comes to the father except by me.” (John 14:6) And through Peter the Apostle he says: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12). There is only one God; one Lord; and one way to reach eternity.
I’m sure that most of us believe this. But still, as we view it from the context of our optional lives, it’s a little unsettling, isn’t it. For not only do we like our options, but we like to think that our neighbors have their options too. In America everybody gets to vote; everybody gets to live his life as he chooses; everybody gets to do his own thing. And as Americans who are accustomed to so many options we are almost offended when someone dares to insist that there is only one way as Jesus does. I mean in the current environment, its just not cool to even think this way. It’s not inclusive. It’s not worldly. It’s not open-minded. It’s not optional. “So how can it be right?” We might wonder.
Would you be surprised if I told you that this reaction to our very specific Lord is by no means unique to our time? There was a man in old Testament times, mind you, who lived and thought in the same optional way that we in the modern times think. He was exceedingly powerful, rich, famous, and popular. If you had all that going for you, no matter what era you lived in, a world of options would be open to you and you would find it quite easy to “have it your way.” He may not have had all the fancy gadgets that we have, but he had servants to carry out his every wish. His name was Naaman. He was a general and commander of the army of a kingdom known as Aram which was to the north of Israel And as a commander , Naaman served with distinction: praised by his people and lauded by his king.
From a worldly point view, General Naaman had everything. Everything except good health, that is. It would seem that man can have everything he’s ever wanted; he can have a life overflowing with options, but all of those options can be taken away from him by just one thing: his own mortality. The prospects of a terminal illness and the death that inevitably follows have a way of limiting ones options down to nothing. There will always come that point in everyone’s life when nothing more can be done.
It was in this position that our man Naaman found himself, for he had leprosy; that dreaded disease of ancient times. What made the disease so horrible is that it would first shut down the blood vessels in your extremities and then with slow and steady cadence it would march towards your vital organs and eventually take your life. This was one battle that the proud general could not win.
But all was not truly lost. For in his household was a young servant girl from Israel who had been captured and put service of Naaman’s wife. This slight little slave could not contain herself. To her mistress she said “If only my master would go and see the prophet who is in Samaria! he would cure him of his leprosy.” The utter certainty with which she talked, coupled with the fact that Naaman had no other choices, convinced him to check it out.
The Prophet in Samaria of whom the young girl had spoken was Elisha, the representative of the one true God: the God who created the the earth and all the people in it.
The meeting of Naaman with Elisha is almost exactly like a Modern American meeting Christ Jesus. It was a classic confrontation: “Powerful Option Man versus Entirely Specific God.” It must have really been a sight to behold! Naaman should have come to the Lord’s Prophet on his knees, but he didn’t. He came with all the glory and power that he could muster. He used his political clout. He had his king write the king of Israel. Bringing with him 7501lbs of Silver and 150lbs of gold, he used monetary power. And of course he also used his military power. When he arrived at the house of Elisha, it was in full military pomp. There were horses and chariots, the ancient counterpart to a motorcade with motorcycle escort. His chariot was probably all tricked-out with all manner of elite doo-hickies that would befit one of his stature. If this were to happen in our day, he would pull up in a Humvee, with generals flags attached to the fender; crisply snapping in the breeze. You might say that Naaman “had it all going on.”
And what does Elisha do? Is he wowed by this display? Not really. He doesn’t even come out to meet him! Elisha was not being rude, he was actually saying something. The Lord’s prophets usually communicated with words, but they would also sometimes communicate with their actions. And here he was communicating to Naaman that the Creator of all things and Lord of the universe was not impressed. That is really the first step for anyone who wishes to be helped by the Lord: Admitting that he is greater than you; admitting that he might know a little more than you; admitting that what he says goes and not what you say. In other words, the only posture that is acceptable when approaching your creator is humility. Not pride, not personal glory, but humility.
And this message was reinforced by what Naaman was told to do. Elisha didn’t come out, but he sent his messenger out who tells the general to go wash in the Jordan River seven times. As you might expect, the general didn’t take it too well. “What kind of nonsense is this!” Said Naaman “I wanted him to come out and wave his hands over me, but now he goes and tells me that must wash in that disgusting and muddy Jordan river!” We’ve got much better rivers back home, why can’t I just wash in them?” Like any proud man, whose accustomed to an optional way of life, he starts rattling off what he thinks his options should be and he’s angry that the prophet didn’t seem to be taking them into account. In his anger, he was ready to turn around and go home.
I think the same thing happens whenever anyone is pointed to the cross of Christ. The Christian Gospel says, “ If you want help, go to that one who suffers there, with sorrow and blood flowing down. Confess your sins, believe in him” And many times people don’t react well too it. “That’s gross!” How can this help me?” They wonder “Isn’t there some other way for me to be helped?” “Some great deed I can perform? Some quest I can make?” Because of the optional way that we are trained to think, the way that God has chosen to help humanity is just not cool enough. For it requires humility.
But in Naaman’s case, His servants, once again stepped up to the plate: “Sir, they said, “If the prophet had told you to do some great thing, you would have done it without question, but here he’s asked you to do something simple, which is all the more reason to do it.” With their simple reasoning they convinced him. He went down to the Jordan and dipped himself seven times. And on the Seventh time he came out and it said that his skin was “clean like that of a young boy.”
In the verses that come directly after our text, we are told that he goes back to Elisha, and that this time Elisha actually comes out to see him. I think the General had been humbled by his healing. And Naaman says, and I quote: “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel.” (2kings 5:15) Wow! Option Man confesses faith in the one and only Real God! This is the real healing. As great as his healing from leprosy was, this was even greater! A lost soul meeting his true creator and Lord and acknowledging him as such. A similar thing happens when the people in our time come to faith. Like the Prophet Elisha, the words of Jesus are simple, but very specific. He says things like “He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me, will never die.” (John 11:25)
But Like the pride filled General Naaman, the world may want us Christians to say and do what they demand. They might expect us to come out and wave our hands in a certain way or encourage them to go to the river of their choosing. They expect us to validate there list of options. They expect us to validate their gods! But we must not! We must stand for the Lord who so specifically saved the world through the death and resurrection of his Son. Instead of bowing to a world of options, we must stand for the specific message that God saves people by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.
How do we do that? It’s not so difficult. If a young servant girl in Naaman’s house could do it, so can we. And what did she do? She saw her master’s distress, she felt for him, and she couldn’t help but point him to the Lord’s prophet. Aren’t their people whom you know who are at this moment in distress? Why don’t you do that servant girl thing to them. Point them to the great Prophet Priest and King that is our Savior Jesus to whom every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. He is “the way, the truth and the life” He is the World’s only option. AMEN
