A first time experience of the Lord

 Preached @ Christ Church, Billericay, 8 October 2022 

Reading: 2 Kings 5v1-3;7-15c; Luke 17v11-19

Introduction

Today, we are going to be looking at one man’s first experience of God, through the story of Naaman.

Backdrop

The backdrop of the story that we heard a part of this morning is an ongoing set of border skirmishes between Aram and Israel. There was supposed to be a treaty. They are not quite at all out war yet, but King Ben-Hahid II of Aram and King Jehoram of Israel are almost there. We can read how that situation escalated in the next chapter of 2 Kings.

For now, though, let’s concentrate on the events read to us this morning.

Servant Girl

In one of these skirmishes, a young girl has been kidnapped. My commentary calls her a maiden, so she was too young to be a wife for someone, and has been forced into slavery, I imagine. She is serving Naaman’s wife. We cannot tell what the atmosphere was like in that household, whether she was well treated or not. But we do know that she had faith in the Lord, and was old enough to know about the prophet Elisha. She was also aware of Naaman’s condition.

Leprosy

Leprosy is now known as Hansen’s disease. It is a bacteriological infection that damages nerves and affects the skin. Today it is easily treated with antibiotics, but according to the American Centre for Disease Control they have to be taken for a year to ensure the disease is cured. Now, Hansen’s disease is not particularly infectious, but in biblical times, Leprosy was thought to be highly infectious. Without our diagnostic abilities, it was a generic description for all sorts of skin diseases.

Courage

It takes courage for a young girl to speak up, especially when she is in captivity in a foreign land. Why should she care? Why should she do something to aid her enemy? Surely she should keep quiet and hope that Naaman gets sicker until he can no longer command the army that is responsible for her situation. That would be the best thing to do, that would be the correct military strategy for her.

Love your enemies

We know that Jesus said, “Love your enemies”, that idea exists in the Old Testament too, in

Proverbs 25:21-22
If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;
For you will heap burning coals on his head,
And the Lord will reward you.

So, that is what she does, and that is exactly what she should do in her situation. She knows, because she has faith in the Lord, that the prophet can and will cure Naaman. If Naaman is not cured, things could get even worse for her.

Missing verses

Then we inexplicably skipped over three verses, where Naaman gets a letter from Ben-Hahid II and takes with him “ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing.” to pay the prophet for his healing.

The king also gives him a letter for the King of Israel. He will need this because if he is found in Israel without it, the Israelites might assume an invasion is underway. The king’s letter reads:

“With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”

It is one of the most incompetent letters I’ve ever read (I’m being generous). If this is the calibre of leadership in the area, I’m not surprised there was a state of almost constant war.

Elisha’s response

It should be no surprise to any of us the way Jehoram reacted. Of course, the king can’t cure leprosy. Fortunately, Elisha is there to pick up the pieces. I know how he feels, having had to pick up the pieces after gross communications failures between senior people at various points of my career. Thankfully, I was never asked to cure anyone of leprosy.

Elisha tells the King, “Have the man come to me, and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” Elisha’s concern is not to heal Naaman, but to give glory to God, to make His name known beyond the borders of Israel. That is the Israelites purpose. Not to establish and secure the borders of the promised land, but to give glory to God amongst the nations. Elisha knows his calling, and everything that follows is intended to fulfil it.

The healing – Naaman expects

When Naaman arrives at Elisha’s place, with his horses and chariots, he is expecting the full works. He’s an important man and he knows it. The prophet (or the wizard, which is probably closer to Naaman’s view of Elisha) should be present, and put on some grand show – lots of arm waving and a few explosions perhaps – something that is notable and memorable – a good show.

The healing – Naaman gets

Instead, what he gets is a messenger with a short, almost curt, message “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored, and you will be cleansed.” His expectations have not been met, and he is loosing face with his whole entourage, he feels humiliated. Maybe he even sees something of the ongoing conflict – my river is better than yours. So, in his anger, he turns for home. It’s been a wasted journey.

Servants help

I’d love to know how much time passed between verse 12 and verse 13. How far did he get, how long did he take to calm down?

At some point before he arrives back in Aram, the servants – who are used to being given the brush-off – go to him and make the case for giving the Jordan a try. If the prophet had asked you to do some great difficult thing – you would have done it wouldn’t you, so why not try this simple thing?

Where’s the glory

If the prophet had asked Naaman to complete some great quest, Naaman would have been able to claim that what he did had cured him. He would have treated the whole episode as another successful military campaign – with all the self glorifying stories that they always generate. If that had happened, Elisha’s desire that Naaman should know that there is a prophet in Israel would have failed.

In the Jordan

So he went to the Jordan and dipped himself in the required seven times. When he came out, not only had his skin complaint been cured, but the anti-wrinkle properties had worked as well, and he looked years younger.

Giving Thanks

Now, this foreigner, this outsider, this non-believer, this enemy, returns to Elisha, with his entire entourage, to give thanks and to give the gifts he had bought with him for this exact reason. This time the prophet comes out to meet him and to hear him say, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel.” And now Naaman offers the gifts, but it is most certainly not about payment, because that again would detract from the Glory that should be given to God for the healing that has been performed. Elisha will not accept the gifts.

Naaman changed

If we read on a little, we will see that Naaman is changed by the whole experience. He asks for and is given Israelite earth to kneel on when he is making offerings to the one true God. When he is chased by Elisha’s servant Gehazi, he gets off his horse. That alone indicates that he has changed, he has recognised the Lord and is now more humble because of it. It’s not just the disease and wrinkles that have gone, but the self-importance as well. Important men do not dismount for servants. Naaman has been fully healed.

Parallel to Luke

Just as in Luke it was the foreigner, the outside, the Samaritan, who properly recognised Jesus and came back to give thanks, so here it is the Aramean who recognises the Lord, in front of whom all his local gods pale into insignificance.

First time before God

There is something about coming before God for the first time. Both Naaman and the Samaritan experienced it. It somehow has a greater effect on us than it does when it occurs for the second or tenth time. Maybe you still remember your first encounter? That’s why Elisha’s strategy was so carefully planned and executed. Even though he said “so that he will know there is a prophet in Israel” to the King, his real intent was to help Naaman meet God. He carefully stepped out of the way and allowed that to happen, he was then insistent on not taking payment, to ensure that nothing was taken away from the experience.

Naaman, the commander of the enemy’s armies, met God and was changed. Hopefully, we can be like Elisha, and strategically help others to have that experience for themselves.

Amen.

 

YouTube: https://youtu.be/QK7NIti2nsE

References

https://www.virtualpreacher.org/sermon-notes/naaman/

https://thefaithspace.com/lessons-from-the-story-of-naaman/

https://www.cdc.gov/leprosy/world-leprosy-day/index.html

https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-other-nine-bradley-boydston-sermon-on-miracles-of-jesus-74263

Thankfulness

Boy & Orange Story

A small boy was given an orange, which he took willingly. His mother said “What do you say?”. The boy looked at the orange and though for a moment, then said “Peel it.”

That wasn't what his mother wanted or expected. When Jesus healed the lepers he didn't get what he wanted or expected either. Maybe you can easily forgive a child, but with adults you expect a better understanding.

I will be Concentrating on Gratitude this morning. I hope we can get a better understanding of what it means to be thankful.

Background to passage

First though we must take a look at the scene we are presented with and understand what is happening here.

Verse 11 says that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. We are approaching passover, but there is a long journey yet, and lots of teaching to get through before we arrive. He would be travelling roughly southbound, from Galilee to Jerusalem, but Sameria is between the two. Jesus was going around the region of Sameria, instead of through it. Jews and Samaritans have a common ancestry, but separated after the Babylonian exile. Both sides believed they held the truth about God. Under normal circumstances they do not mix, but leprosy is a special case.

As he was entering a village some lepers called out to him. They had to call, they were not allowed to get too close. They had been excluded from their villages and were not allowed to make contact or come within a certain distance of the healthy population. That meant they were not allowed in the Temple or any other place of worship. It meant they were not allowed at a place or work. All they could do was beg. It was a sensible public health measure. Leprosy was (and still is) a horrible disease, and only since the 1930's we have had a cure. The description of Leprosy in the Bible covers many different types of skin disease – but you couldn't be too careful.

The rules for determining what is and is not a skin disease that makes someone 'unclean' are set out in Leviticus 13.

They asked Jesus to take pity on them. Leprosy was seen in Jesus' time as a punishment from God. They believed that God's mercy would make them clean again.

Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priests. Jews and Samaritans had similar rules and systems for determining if someone had recovered. It was the priests job to examine the person and determine if he was well. As they obeyed Jesus they all realised that they were cured. Their skin became normal.

One of them, just one, turned back to thank Jesus for the miracle. It turns out that he was a Samaritan.

What of the other nine? Why didn't they come back? Here's one preachers ideas:

• One waited to see if the cure was real.
• One waited to see if it would last.
• One said he would see Jesus later.
• One decided that he had never had leprosy.
• One said he would have gotten well anyway.
• One gave the glory to the priests.
• One said, "O, well, Jesus didn’t really do anything."
• One said, "Any rabbi could have done it."
• One said, "I was already much improved."

May be. May be they did think like that. It's almost impossible for us to know how we would have reacted. All I can say is that, for me, I think I would have been so excited about being able to go back to my family, back to my community, to live my normal life that I may well not have thought about my duty of thanks. Of course I would be thankful, but would not have expressed it to the very person that I should have expressed it.

Parallels to our situation

The social effects of Leprosy has parallels with the effects of sin. As Leprosy separates people from their community so sin separates us from God. It puts us outside the community that we would prefer to be inside. It breaks our contact, and leaves us in a position where we can only beg for mercy.

Gratitude

So we have a lot to be thankful for. Jesus has already answered our call for mercy. Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Before any of us had any concept of our need Christ had already died for us, so that we may not be separated from God.

What do we have to be thankful for?

There's much more than that to be thankful for though.

Rudyard Kipling

“Rudyard Kipling lived from 1865 to 1936. He was English, yet born in Bombay, India. He wrote poetry and is the author of books like Captain Courageous, How the Leopard Got His Spots, and The Jungle Books.

Kipling’s writings not only made him famous but also brought him a fortune. A newspaper reporter came up to him once and said, "Mr. Kipling, I just read that somebody calculated that the money you make from your writings amounts to over one hundred dollars a word.”

The reporter reached into his pocket and pulled out a one hundred-dollar bill and gave it to Kipling and said, “Here’s a one hundred dollar bill, Mr. Kipling. Now you give me one of your hundred dollar words.”

Rudyard Kipling looked at the money, put it in his pocket and said, "Thanks!"

Some things to be thankful for.

I'd certainly say “Thanks” for £50, and I bet most of you would too.

Here are some other things that you might be thankful for:

-If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.

-If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish somewhere, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.

-If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week

-If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

-If you can attend church meetings without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than three billion in the world.

-If your parents are still alive and still married, you are fairly rare.

[What else might we be thankful for?]

A different perspective

Perhaps we just need to change our perspective to see what we can be really thankful for.

Jewish Story – (of the goat)

There is an old Jewish story that illustrates this point. There is a man who goes to the rabbi and complains, "Life is unbearable. There are nine of us living in one room. What can I do?" The rabbi answers, "Take your goat into the room with you." The man in incredulous, but the rabbi insists. "Do as I say and come back in a week." A week later the man comes back looking more distraught than before. "We cannot stand it," he tells the rabbi. "The goat is filthy." The rabbi then tells him, "Go home and let the goat out. And come back in a week." A radiant man returns to the rabbi a week later, exclaiming, "Life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there’s no goat -- only the nine of us."

The situation was the same as at first, but now his perception had changed. He realized that he was blessed to begin with.

Why be grateful?

Does that help to make you think of the things you can be thankful for?

Sometime though, it takes a doctor or an expert to tell us what to do, before we will change our habits.

because it's good for you!

Here's and extract from a book called “Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier”

 By Robert A. Emmons

"We discovered scientific proof that when people regularly engage in the systematic cultivation of gratitude, they experience a variety of measurable benefits: psychological, physical, and interpersonal. The evidence on gratitude contradicts the widely held view that people have a "set-point" of happiness that cannot be reset by any known means: in some cases, people have reported that gratitude led to transformative life changes. And, even more important, the family, friends, partners, and others that surround them consistently report that people who practice gratitude seem measurably happier and are more pleasant to be around."

Now Robert is saying that you actually have to do 'being thankful', not just think about what you might be thankful for. He's saying that the act of thanking changes your life.

That is surprisingly exactly what the Bible says.

Philippians. 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

Colossians 2:6-7 "As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving."

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Part of living with Christ, of being a Christian is that we practice thankfulness.

Farmer and Pig Story

An old farmer once had an ungodly relative visit him. After the farmer had bowed his head and thanked God for the food they were about to eat, the relative rudely said, "What did you do that for? There's no God. We live in an age of enlightenment." The old farmer smiled and said, "There is one on the farm who doesn't thank God before he eats." The relative sat up and said, "Who is this enlightened one?" To which the farmer quietly replied, “My pig.”

Let's end with a prayer

"Thank you, dear God
For all You have given me,
For all You have taken away from me,
For all You have left me."
(unknown)

What happened to the other nine?

Introduction – the obvious question

What happened to the other nine?

Sometimes when you read a passage of scripture there is a most obvious question there that isn't answered in the passage. What happened to the other nine? We like our stories to be cut and dried, with all the loose ends tied up, but this isn't Harry Potter, this is real life. Why hasn't Luke finished the story. He says that he has carefully recorded all that is going on. Well most probably because he doesn't know the answer any more than we do, or perhaps because it is not relevant to the story he is telling. They went off to show themselves to the priest and didn't return. We can only speculate on what they did next, maybe they were certified as clean and went home to their families and lived happily ever after.

Before we attempt to answer the question in more detail, lets make sure we have a better understanding of what's going on....

Geography & Chronography

Jesus is wandering about on the borders between Gallille and Samaria. Heading in a generally southerly direction, but not necessarily by the most direct route. [Show Map]. This section of Luke's narratives is made up of parables and stories that Jesus used to teach his followers. Then in Luke 19 we have the start of the Easter story, with the Triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

Lepers & Leprosy

Leprosy covered at least 7 types of skin diseases, but the Jewish people knew that the disease was easily transmittable to others, so they restricted those who had the disease to a fixed distance, and forced them to make themselves known to those they came near to. Can you imagine having to announce yourself as “unclean” as you see someone approaching you? The rules for lepers are in Leviticus 13 & 14, and contain a very detail diagnostic scheme. These lepers obeyed the rules. Healing from leprosy was very rare.

Matthew, Mark and Luke record the story of the healing of a leper Matthew 8:1-3

“When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. I am willing, he said. Be clean! Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.”

There are two other healings of Lepers in scripture:

• Miriam – Aaron's wife – caught leprosy because she and Aaron disobeyed God. They expected God to speak through them as he did through Moses. She was excluded from the camp for 7 days, and then allowed back – so presumably cured. Numbers 12.

• Naaman Healed of Leprosy - 2 Kings 5. He was a highly respected commander, but also a foreigner – he worked for the King of Aram. They had a Jewish slave who introduced them to the prophet in Israel. Elisha told Naaman to wash seven times in the Jordan, which he eventually did. Then he was cured. After that he went back to Elisha to thank him, and make a gift to him, but Elisha refused the gift, so Naaman took soil from Israel, and promised to make all his sacrifices only the Lord.

Lepers have no income, they are unable to work – even if they could work without injuring themselves, they would not be allowed to, for fear of infecting someone else, so they have to rely on the kindness of others. Typically they would be supported by their families, who would bring them food on a regular basis. The could of course also beg. Here they have joined together in a small group, perhaps hoping that that would receive more that way. They were hated, not just because of the disease and the terrible effects it has, but also because it was seen as a punishment from God.

I wonder what they expected from Jesus. They had most certainly heard of him and the miracles he performed. They may have heard of the previous healing, so, perhaps they expected to be healed, or perhaps they just expected that he would provide them with food for a while.

Leprosy now

Leprosy, which we now call Hansen's disease, can be healed, although it is still not a simple process. In the 1940's the first useful drug was found, but by the 1960's the disease was already showing resistance to the drug. It was not until 1981 that the modern treatment regime began to be used. Based on three drugs used together the disease can be overcome. In 1997 the time that the drugs had to be taken was reduced from two years to one year. India has the greatest number of cases, with Brazil second and Myanmar third.

Samaritans & Lepers

Samaritans were always considered outsiders. After the defeat of the Northern kingdom by Assyria (2King 17), the population intermarried with their conquerors, and as a result the Judeans had considered that they were the only true Jews. It would have been very rare for a Samaritan to be accepted by a group of Jews. As they are all unclean, and being punished by God, they have somehow put aside their differences and are now cooperating. It is likely though that the Samaritan, (or possibly Samaritans) was still at the bottom of the pecking order, and in some ways still an outsider.

Note that they were healed (made clean) as they obeyed Jesus' command. Here they are not asked to have faith, just to obey.

We cannot tell the time frame of the return of the leper. There is nothing that says it was immediate, or even that it was not a longish time. There would have been plenty of priests around for them to show themselves to.

Thanks

Thank you Letters

[Mike's 18^th letter] I wonder what you're like when it comes to writing thank you letters? This is the one that Jo helped Mike create for the things he received on his 18^th birthday. Perhaps you find it a joy and a pleasure. I know that some of you do, because on various occasions we have received some marvellous letters. Perhaps like me, though, you find it a bit of a chore. I can remember being sat at the kitchen table when I was a child, and forced to write them. It was my duty to thank anyone who had given me anything for either my birthday or Christmas. To a young boy it was the ideal way to ruin a school holiday. I was sat at the kitchen table so that my mother could keep a very close eye on me – to be sure I was actually writing, and not doing anything else. I never knew what to write beyond “thank you for the ... whatever”, but you can't write a letter that short – or so I was told. So the chore went on twice a year, every year, throughout my whole child hood. Its not that I wasn't thankful, just that I wasn't particularly good at writing, and certainly not at saying the same thing in 10 different ways – just in case my Aunts and Uncles shared the letters – a very unlikely event I'm sure.

duty of thanks

Within my family it was seen as a duty, when you received something to thank the person who gave it to you. This is more than just polite, and usually meant more than just saying “Thanks” as you received whatever it was. It seems that in the passage before us today, that Jesus also expects that there will be some sort of thanks.

duty vs gratitude

So why do we thank people? What is it about showing our gratitude that is so important? Do we make our thanks known because being thankful is a natural reaction, or ...?

thanks and your view of the giver

It would seem that your thanks say something about your view of yourself and of the giver. Going back to my childhood again, I remember on one birthday, being given a pen-knife. I can also remember the slight shock in my parents voice when they saw what I'd been given. There were a few hushed conversations, and I was allowed to keep the gift, with some very strong warnings about using it responsibly. I was very pleased to receive it. There's something about the assumptions of maturity that go with giving that sort of gift, and it something that at that age I would never have been allowed to buy for myself. I held my older cousins parents in a different light after that.

This story illustrates one of the most important things about thanks – that we are acknowledging that the gift we are given is something that we could not have acquired for our selves. Now you must make allowances for auntie Maud's jumper, or the regular gift of socks at Christmas, that you've had for the last twenty years. Thy are not quite what I'm trying to get at.

When I received that pen-knife it was something I wanted (but not something I had asked for, or even thought about asking for). I could not have got it any other way. I was therefore dependant on other people to take a step forward in my life, to take on a new responsibility – owning a knife. No doubt the thank you letter was just as hard, but I hope the thanks came through.

Being thankful changes your view of the giver. The fact that you have received something, you could not otherwise have had somehow leaves you in-debt to the giver.

Who do we owe a duty of thanks to

I have a list of people here who you may have cause to be thankful to, as I go through the list see if you can remember a particular person in each category.

Parents – for their love and support at all times during childhood
Other Family members
Teachers – perhaps one or two more than the others, and not only the professional ones.
Bosses (the one who offered you the job you now have)
Close Friends
Doctors and medical staff

And of course there are other categories and other people I have not covered.

God / Jesus

Advantages of Being Thankful

Being thankful leads us to humility because it give us a better understanding of our rightful abilities, and helps to put them into the context of those of the others around us. I can stand here and talk to you, but I could not lead worship, I can neither sing, nor play an instrument, and I am thankful for those who can and do

A world without thanks

In a world without thanks we would all be like ungrateful teenagers, or grumbling old men and women because we couldn't get what we wanted.

Results of Thankfulness

Naaman's thankfulness changed his lifestyle, and his life forever. Ours thankfulness may not be so dramatic, but it will also change us, just that little bit..

My Thanks – my acceptance speech.

Now seems to be an appropriate time for for me to say my thanks to a few people. Thanks to all those who have supported me through the very log time that it has taken for me to finally get here.

Jo, and the children, especially Elizabeth, who has recently been a great help.
Warner
Paul Hinckley
Gavin & Fran – for the first attempt
The church – various people who are too many to list.....
My Tutors, the selectors, and other leaders of the courses

Last but not least – Jesus – for seeing me through

What happened to the other nine?

So I had better return to the original question before you think I've forgotten about it altogether.

What happened to the other nine?

Lets have a closer look at the words Jesus used.

V 14 – cleansed, is a word that means clean in the ritual sense, it is the word the priest will use to certify that they no longer have leprosy. It is also used for physical cleaning, and for moral purity.

v19 – well has the sense of “to make whole “. It is the word that is some time use to describe freedom from sin.

So the answer to my question depends upon our view of God. Jesus sounds pretty annoyed in the passage, and if you believe that He is angry enough, the maybe their leprosy would return.

I believe they were given the gift of being cleansed as an act of grace by Jesus. Once they are cleansed they have their new life and are free to do with it as they please. If they want to go back to their families and pick up their lives where they left off, so be it. If they are thankful, and turn back and recognise the gift and the giver, then there are some much more exciting possibilities.