Naaman: A Story of Healing

A general at the pinnacle of his career, a unnamed servant girl, a skittish and over-reacting king, and a holy simple prophet are main characters in our reading today from the book of kings -- a story of faith, healing, miscommunication and the limits of seeming to be in control. The account of Naaman, a general from Syria suffering from leprosy, does not even crack the “top 100” of our most known and beloved Bible stories from the Hebrew Bible. Naaman is the Eisenhower, Patten, and Colin Powell of his day. He is powerful, successful, respected, and he is ill. The mighty military man suffers from the same condition as the man who approached Jesus in today’s gospel reading. Jesus, moved with pity, reached out and touched the leper, and he was made clean.

Leprosy in the Bible is not the leprosy that we know of in modern times – synonymous with leper colonies where holy missionaries went to minister – but a collection of skin ailments and diseases that today might be treated with over-the-counter medication. But centuries ago, acquiring leprosy was enough to isolate individuals from their families and villages and caused untold human anguish. With purity of the community and the individuals of utmost importance, these visually impure were seen as a threat. Notice the contrast between the powerful and in-control general with the begging and outcast leper – they both share the same human condition.

We can only imagine the world of Naaman. Normally, it takes something dramatic or someone equally important to get the attention of a person whose life revolves around what they do, who they’ve become, and the conquests and connections at high places they can list. In our celebrity crazed culture, movie, television and music icons are the generals of our day. Doors and velvet ropes open to them, congress asks them to testify on issues even though experts they are not, and they perpetuate their claim on fame by running from the paparazzi they desperately need to remain famous. But even the rich and famous of our day cannot claim that they have it all. There is always something missing, in their lives and in ours. None of us is completely whole. What we suffer from may not be as visible from the outside as a skin rash, yet, when we are open and honest, we come to learn where our wounds lay.

How do we find that something missing? Often it takes someone and something totally unexpected to get our attention. I compare it to the “watching the pot of water come to boil” scenario. Conventional wisdom tells us that it takes longer for water to come to a boil when we watch it and wait. But when we go on with our lives, preparing the meal, setting the table, the water seems to come to boil quicker. Healing can begin when we open ourselves to the truth that only God can provide what the world, and our careers, and our families, and our insight and connections have not given us – and never will.

In Naaman’s case, it took a young girl, who most probably had been taken from her homeland in Israel as a spoil of war, to give to her master information that would change his life. A prophet in Samaria could heal him. The general by all appearances was not ready to settle with only parts of the fruits of success. He wanted it all. His leprosy was the one thing getting in his way. Yet his healing would not come by way of a famous clinic or experimental treatment, but through the intervention of a simple young girl and the healing powers of a foreign prophet.

Off he went to Israel, carrying a letter from his king along with buckets of gold and silver and fancy clothes, brought to impress the one the general thought would make him well. Not only was the king of Israel not impressed and honored, he was shaken and afraid: “Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.” Naaman had misunderstood the servant girl. It wasn’t the king of Israel who was the prophet she was referring to, but Elisha. The general was making assumptions that people living in their own worlds are likely to make. The king then tears his clothes as a sign of his anguish and fear, which at the very least gets the attention of the prophet Elisha when word leaks out that the king is having a bad day.

Elisha is the prophet who succeeded the greater prophet Elijah. Where Elijah lived in caves out in the desert, Elisha lived quite comfortably in the city of Samaria. Elisha was used to dealing with kings and generals and he was not going to drop everything to handle and coddle Naaman. Instead, he sent a messenger to tell the general that he would be healed if he washed seven times in the Jordan River. This folksy remedy did not go down well with Naaman, who expected something more dramatic. He had good rivers near Damascus he could have washed in. It took another group of unnamed servants traveling with him to urge their commander to give it a try. Far from home, tired, and frustrated, Naaman went down to the river, washed, and his flesh was restored to that of a young boy.

Today’s story of healing shows us the importance of keeping our lives open to those we might normally shut out or pass by. Again and again it seems, stories of faith and transformation involve random people and events in our lives that show us something that normally we would not be in the position to hear and respond to. For those who pride themselves with wanting to be and remain in control of their lives, we learn from Naaman how healing can begin by being willing to give our lives over to others.

There is certainly no one way people are healed from illness, hurt, past mistakes, and the lasting impact of bad relationships. People who are hurting may find it disappointing when told that healing can happen in simple ways. One simple way takes place each Sunday right under our noses.

Each week we say the general confession, asking God to forgive us for what we have done and for what we have failed to do in our lives. For those of us who do not suffer from a physical ailment seeking a cure or remission, our equivalent of washing in the Jordan is the simple words we hear so often that they cease to reveal their power. What goes through our minds and hearts when we hear the absolution? Almighty God, have mercy on you. Forgive you all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you in all goodness and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Do we hear it so often that it has lost its power? God is forgiving us all our sins, not just some of them. All of them. Much of the healing in people’s lives has little to do with diseases that can be cured, but relationships and mistakes that only God can get us to let go of their power on our lives.

May each of us upon hearing this ancient story of healing, be more willing to journey with God to unknown places and allow God to use the most surprising moments and the most unremarkable people to bring us to the wholeness that is our promise.