Song:
Ye servants of God
Reading:
2 Kings 5: 1-14
Two songs on this theme:
Naaman go dunk your head
Naaman the leper
Reading:
John 15: 1-8
Song:
You are the vine, we are the branches
Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?
Do you remember your Sunday School lessons? Those which spring most readily to mind are those when I was told an inspirational story about a man or woman from the past who had performed some mighty work for God. Names like Gladys Aylward, Elizabeth Fry, Albert Schweitzer or John Wesley. People who gave up privilege or carerres to serve God in ways they had not previously imagined.
Did you want to follow in their footsteps? Were you inspired to follow in the footsteps of the role models shown to you? Have you a desire to be used as an example of Christian devotion, or to be seen and acknowledged as a saint? Perhaps you want to work miracles, or to change other people’s lives. Or maybe you want to be on television, or speaking to large crowds, changing the paths of large numbers of lives.
Naaman was one such person. He was the general of the King of Syria’s armies. He wasan important and powerful man. He had servants,and had the respect of the king. The writer of the scruptures saw him as an agent of God, the means by which Syria had achieved its victories. But he was a leper. He had achieved allthis greatness in spite of a disability which would have made him the subject of prejudice and discrimination.
He was important enough that the king would have done anything to see him cured; even asking the king of another country for help. So Naaman was sent to the king of Israel with money and a message. “This is my officer Naaman. Cure him.” It is hard to imagine a modern example of such a thing. Perhaps it is like Donald Trump sending a member of staff to Vladimir Putin with a message “This is my senior officer, he has AIDS. Cure him.” Vladimir Putin would immediately accuse Donald Trump of trying to pick a fight, and this is exactly what the King of Israel did. And he was relly worried. He had received the gifts of gold and silver that Naaman had brought. It would be bad form to give it back, and equally bad form to keep it and do nothing. Fortunately, Elisha heard about the problem and said to the king, “Don’t fret. Send him round and I’ll sort him out.”
Naaman must have thought that he was really going to get special treatment. Here he was, a man of position, going to see a man who could give orders to the king. This was going to be some meeting. But he was wrong. Elishah had him summed up. He knew his weakness. When Naaman got there, a servant came out and told him to go away and wash seven times in the Jordan.
“I thought that at least he would come out and see me, wave his hands over me and pray for healing.” In other words, he thought that there should have been some ceremony befitting his position. No. “Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” The idea expressed is something like, “Why should I wash in a dirty foreign river?” I’m sure that, left to his own devices, Naaman would have gone home, washed in the river at home, and failed to achieve anything.
For many years, I lived a lifestyle where each and every problem could be solved, or at least helped, by mashing tea. In my house, the teapot rarely got cold. Susannah, on the other hand, rarely drinks unless prompted. I have accused her of having the constitution of a camel. Some years ago she went to see our doctor, and when she returned I asked what he had said. “He told me to drink more!” was the contemtuous reply. She could not have been more upset if he had sworn at her.
With memories of childhood illnesses and the associated cures I asked her, “If he had told you to drink nasty tasting medicine like Fenning’s Fever cure, would you have drunk it?” “Of course” was the immediate response. “If he had asked you to swallow tablest the size of 2 pence coins, would you have done so?” I asked, “Of course.” she replied. “Well then, why won’t you do something simple like drink water?”
Because the cure was simple, she was dismissive of it. At the time, I told her that her attitude was like that of Naaman, and that I would use her as an illustration.
As we have seen, Naaman was a man of position and wealth. He would have done anything to be healed. If more money had been required, he would have supplied it. If superhuman feats of endurance had been required, he would have performed them. But to wash in the Jordan, to be seen with the riff-raff was really beneath him. His pride would not have let him, a man of status, to be seen to lower himself to washing with the ordinary people in a foreign country.
Of course, we know that wiser counsels prevailed. That he took advice from his servant who said to him, as I said to Susannah, “If he had asked you do something difficult, you would have done it, why can you not do this simple thing?” So he went, and did as he was asked, was cured, and became convinced that there was no God but the God of Israel. Of course, earlier in the story, it had been his wife’s willingness to listen to a servant, that had resulted in him going to Israel in the first place.
Earlier, I asked whether you wanted to do mighty works for the Lord. The story of Naaman reminds us that there are many things which the Lord wants doing, not all of them big and noticeable. There are many tghings that the Lord needs that we might respond “Is that all?”, but they still need doing.
Konstantin Stanislavski remarked that "there are no small parts, only small actors." Just because you are cast in a small acting part does not mean you are not important to the show. If you think so, you have missed the point entirely.
God has many things that want doing. Like Naaman, we must be prepared to do anything, for him.
Some people are very enthusiastic about working for the Lord, but they are only enthusiastic about performing the tasks that they enjoy doing.
God needs great preachers, people who will give up their careers or families, and change the world. But he also needs people who will polish the brass, dust the books and mash the tea.
We need to ask God whether there is anything that he would like us to do. Perhaps there is something that we want to do, or perhaps it is something that we really don’t want to do. Similarly, perhaps there is something that the Lord wants us to stop doing. We need to be open to God’s prompting to be exalted for him, or brought low for him; to be employed for him, or to be laid aside for him.
We must also remember that the prompting may come from unexpected places. People from who we would not normally accept advice, in the same way that Naaman and his wife with accepted advice from servants. May we have the humility to follow in their footsteps.
Song:
Here I am Lord
Prayer:
Lord, help us to allow your power into our lives. Help us to listen to the words of Jesus, and obey his will for us. Help us to be sorry for our past failures, and to make real efforts for improvement.
Help us to work with you, and not against you. Help us to realise that you will for us might mean change. When we do realise what you are calling us to do, help us to trust you, and put ourselves wholeheartedly into your hands.
Help us to encourage others, and not to discourage them. You don’t wait until we are perfect before you call us. You don’t only work through the learned, the cultured and the orthodox. May the boldness of others help us to overcome our timidity.
May we be content in our calling, and serve to the best of our ability.
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Song:
I’ll go in the strength of the Lord
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