All That Glitters Is Not Gold

This is another sermon along the theme of leaving the crowd behind… of learning to think in the way that God thinks… and not in the way that the world might have us think.  Just a few minutes ago, with the children, we explored our reaction to things that come in ugly packages … or ordinary packages… or unexpected packages… or things that are even invisible to us… and yet are so beautiful… so necessary for life… and so precious to us.    We all know the story of the Ugly Duckling who grows up to be a beautiful swan.  And Walt Disney spun the fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast… the Beast who was ugly outside, but truly beautiful inside… the Beast who turned out to be a handsome prince.  Another version of that story, of course, is the one about the ugly frog who only needed to be kissed to turn back into his true self… another handsome prince. 

There are a million variations of the same tale… the story of a person who is ugly on the outside, but beautiful inside… undesirable at first glance, but a treasure once known.    Perhaps the most heart-wrenching version of this story is the story that has been told on the Internet many times in recent years about a soldier who was coming home from the war. He called his parents at a stop along the way and told them that he would like to bring a friend home with him.  They were enthusiastic and said that they would love to meet the young man.  Then he told them that the man was wounded… that he had lost his arm and a leg in combat.  A little less enthusiastic, his parents still encouraged him to bring his friend and told him they might be able to help the young man find a place to live.  But the son said that he wanted the man to live with them… that the young man had nowhere else to go.  Truly hesitant now, the parents told the young man that they did not think this was a good idea, for they were not prepared to deal with such a handicap… that it would be a significant burden to them.  Perhaps he should come home alone.  The young man hung up the phone.   A few days later, so the story goes, the parents received a call from the police.  Their son had died following a fall from tall building.  The coroner had ruled it a suicide.  When the parents went to claim their son’s body, they discovered that their son was a double amputee, missing one arm and one leg.  How could they have known that the young man their son had described to them over the telephone was himself? 

Of course, the story is just a military legend, but it serves to illustrate the point that quite often the things we desire do not come in perfect packages… and yet we often make choices … make decisions… based upon what we see… or what we believe we know.    The story of Naaman is full of the same assumptions.  First of all, Naaman… the name itself means “pleasantness”… is a military hero, a decorated officer and confidant of his king… but he has leprosy, the most dreaded disease of the time… because it was considered incurable… and it was a disease that labeled all those who had it as unacceptable… unclean… and sinners in the sight of God.   And this powerful man is powerless against the disease and its stigma.   Through an insignificant slave girl, he learns of a prophet in Israel who can cure him… but rather than speak to this unimportant girl himself, he goes to his king… the person he believes is important … the most powerful person he knows.    The King of Aram (or Syria) writes a letter to his vassal, the King of Israel, demanding that he cure Naaman… for he believes a king should have power over all in his kingdom… including a prophet and his god.  Instead, he only manages to panic the King of Israel who knows that such a cure is beyond him.  So, in reality, none of these supposedly powerful people has any power at all! 

Fortunately for the King of Israel, the Prophet Elisha comes to the rescue… telling the king to send Naaman to him, which he does.  The proud and mighty war hero, Naaman, who thought he would be dealing with a king, is suddenly dealing with just a prophet… a poor, lowly prophet who does not even come out to greet this powerful military hero... and who, on top of that, has the nerve to tell him to bathe in the dirty, muddy Jordan River.     No way!    Naaman, the powerful military leader and close friend of the king, has never been so humiliated in his life… or so enraged.    He stalks off and prepares to return home… that is until another unlikely … improbable… insignificant person suggests to him that, as long as he is this close, he might as well try it.    Though far from happy about it, Naaman, nevertheless, sees the wisdom in this line of thinking, so he reluctantly bathes in the Jordan River… and he is cured!    So, who… or what… is really powerful in this story… and who… or what… is not? 

The two insignificant servants… the slave girl and Naaman’s servant… hold the secret of the knowledge that will cure Naaman… knowledge of the power of the God of the Israelites… not the two kings or the powerful military leader, Naaman… where one might expect such great knowledge to rest.     And, it is the dirty, muddy Jordan River that cures Naaman of his leprosy… not the clear and beautiful waters of the Abanah or Pharpar Rivers that flow into Damascus.    And, the mighty God of the Israelites does not work miracles in a spectacular, splashy, or showy way…but through small acts of human obedience… acts that look deceptively simple, but in reality force a rich and powerful king to call on a poor and lowly prophet…and force a proud and mighty war hero to bathe in a dirty, muddy river.

            What lessons might we learn from the story of Naaman?   What awesome truth is packaged in this deceptively simple story?    I believe that there are three lessons than we can take away this morning… three lessons that we can think about this week as we move through the days of our lives.    And they can each be introduced with a question … a question that will cause each of us to pause and consider… and perhaps, rethink our own lives. 

            Question One:  How often have we judged others by what we see… or by what we think we know?    How often have we leaped to a conclusion that was later proved false?    One example might be a person who comes into our church who doesn’t “look” Presbyterian.  I am not sure how Presbyterians are supposed to look, but there must be those who obviously don’t look that way.  Another example might a young person dressed in torn jeans… with body piercing… or tattoos.  Another example might be a homeless person, pushing a shopping cart filled with clothing and soda cans.  Do you remember the story of Samuel anointing the person who would follow Saul as king of Israel?  When he saw Jesse’s family, he wanted to anoint Jesse’s oldest son, but God made him continue through the family until he got to Jesse’s youngest son… “for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."  When will we learn to look on the heart… looking past the outward appearances and seeing the true person? 

            Question Two:  How often have we allowed our pride to stand in the way of God’s work in our lives?    How often have we have we been too absorbed in our own lives and our own goals to help others?    What stands out in the story of Jesus healing the leper is that Jesus not only chose to help the man… a person who was considered unclean and a sinner in the sight of God… but that Jesus reached out his hand and touched this man … making Jesus instantly unclean by association with someone who was considered unclean.  Jesus was not too proud to associate with tax collectors and sinners… nor was he did he think himself too good… too important… to touch the poor… the sick… the maimed.  The Apostle Paul wrote, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.”  When will we learn to set aside our pride… our sense of our own importance… and allow God to work a miracle in our lives? 

            Question Three:  How often have we refused to do a simple act of obedience to God because we are waiting for a burning bush… a flaming chariot… an angel choir… or some other spectacular indication that God is at work in the world?    Naaman wanted a miracle… a spectacular healing by an all-powerful God.  Instead, he was instructed to do a simple act alone… bathing in dirty water.  It wasn’t the gift that Naaman brought that God was seeking… a gift worth well over half a million dollars in today’s money… and it was not a spectacular show that God wanted to use to effect this cure.  What God wanted was obedience… simple obedience.    The Apostle Paul tells us that God chooses what is foolish in the world to shame the wise… what is weak in the world to shame the strong… and what is low and despised in the world… the things that are not… to reduce to nothing the things that are… so that no one might boast.    It is not our wealth… our possessions… or the great heroic acts that God seeks.  God seeks our obedience… simple obedience… total obedience… obedience that supersedes our pride… obedience that frees God to work miracles in quiet ways every day… every day of our lives.    When will we learn to obey… to give our lives to God… obeying God’s commands in all that we do?

            Our sermon text today stops just short of telling us what happened next in Naaman’s life.  Let me share with you the rest of the story… as Paul Harvey would say.  Naaman returned to Elisha with his entire entourage and stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel” and he offers Elisha a gift.  Elisha refuses the gift.  Then, Naaman asks Elisha if he can take some of the dirt of Israel back to Syria with him so that he can always worship the God of the Israelites on Israeli soil.  That wish is granted and Elisha tells him to “go in peace.”    The simple act of obedience that Naaman performed was a life-changing act… a simple, but courageous act for this proud and powerful man.  He suspended judgment, set aside his pride, and obeyed the command of the man of God.  A simple act, but, in doing that one act, Naaman became on the outside what he was on the inside… a new person… clean, good and pleasant… a true hero who lived up to his name “pleasantness.”  May God grant that each of us will one day follow his example.  Amen.

2 Kings 5:1-14; Mark 1:40-45