October 14, 2007

What if Naaman were alive today? How would this story read?

A motorcade arrives at the White House in Washington D.C. with police lights and motorcycle escorts. The arriving V.I.P. is the highest ranking military officer in the Taliban of Afghanistan.

A military leader of the opposition is unwelcome. And yet telling him to get lost might create even more international tension. A President might grudgingly agree to meet an enemy leader.

After the photo op, the brief rose garden announcement, they retire to a private space. The President, (and I'm speaking here of a generic President, not a particular office-holder) the President receives this dignitary with public welcome, but privately wonders what this man wants.

State meetings are usually concerned with state affairs- treaties, trade agreements, military strategy, war material, or perhaps the diplomacy aimed at avoiding war. But not this time. Behind closed doors, the warlord asks for help. Not for his nation, for himself. Medical help. He's sick.

The President asks, "Why come to me? If the President cannot deliver, will this not lead to embarrassment? Perhaps the Taliban is hoping to make the President look bad. IS this a plot? Or could they be that desperate?

And there is complicated history here. We would LIKE to have Afghanistan as a true ally. But can any agreement hold in such an unstable time? Will the White House be seen as magnanimous, or simply weak?

The White House press corps is assembled. They will be asking awkward questions. Before things turn ugly, the White House Chief of Staff receives an e-mail. It says, simply, "I can cure the Afghan warlord, send him to me."

The motorcade is sent to a small faith-based clinic in rural West Virginia. Before the general can get out of the car, he is met by a part-time LPN nurse. She tells the Limousine driver to go to the drive-through pharmacy. There will be some pills. If the warlord takes them everything will be fine.

The Warlord is insulted, and outraged at this shabby treatment. He wanted the MAYO CLINIC! He shouts, 'The Saudi Royal Family gets the Mayo Clinic! Me they send to a poverty clinic in West Virginia? And then the doctor doesn't even see me! This is outrageous!"

His Limo driver says, Sir, why not give it a try? You were prepared to undergo major surgery! Why not just take the pills?

I have painted this scenario to give us a modern flavor of what's going on in the Old Testament Lesson. The military General, Naaman is cured of leprosy. Naaman was from Aram. The Arameans were enemies with Israel. In fact the Arameans defeated Israel in a conflict recorded in FIRST Kings, ch. 22. They even took Israelites as slaves. No one in Israel really wants to welcome this guy.

As I composed this modern parallel, I had no trouble in finding an enemy of the United States to stand in for that old enemy of Israel. I had no trouble placing an elected President in the part of the King of Israel.

But then I got stumped. Who is the prophet for us? Where is the American prophet? Billy Graham? Perhaps he is the closest thing to a truly national religious voice. But he never claimed to be a faith-healer that I know of. I'm not ruling out miracles. I do question T.V. preachers who seem to be in the miracle business.

Do we have prophets now? Where does the power of God reside? Or is the power of God absent? Some have asked whether we may be living in a time when there IS no Word from the Lord. And there IS a biblical foundation for this sad idea.

In the book of AMOS, chapter 8 the prophet says this: (verse11)
"The time is surely coming, says the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD."

God sent this warning through Amos because too many people were concentrating on getting wealthy off the backs of the poor. Is our money-hungry nation under the same warning? The shoe does seem to fit.

The text says God granted victory to Naaman against Israel. This can only mean that God's people, whomever they may be, are not exempt from God's displeasure.

This story speaks warning to anyone who thinks they automatically have God's blessing. But do we have a prophet? We will return to the question of God's spokesperson in a few moments.

This story has warnings. It also speaks hope to anyone who is an outsider.

Even an enemy of Israel can receive God's mercy. That was a radical thing to say back then, and it still is, for when Desmond Tutu says the same thing, people react.

Naaman was a pagan. A military enemy. A gentile. A foreigner. As if that were not enough, Naaman was also a leper. This story is hammering the fact that Naaman was an outsider. Naaman was as outside as you can get, and yet God spared Naaman from his dreaded illness. God's people are called to be a blessing to others: to our foes, to those we fear, those we loathe.

And for what reason? So outsiders will begin to know and worship the one true God. Naaman was not merely released from an illness. He came into a relationship with the God of creation. He came for medicine, and he left with a new identity. His skin was like that of a child, AND I dare say his soul was also cleansed, just as innocent as that child with soft skin. Healing always includes forgiveness and life.

Naaman got his cure. But the first thing that he had to be cured of was his pride. In this story, every important plot development begins with words from a lowly person. A slave girl says thee is a prophet in Israel. Another servant says to the mighty general- my boss says go wash in the river. And when the high-and-mighty Naaman feels snubbed- another lowly servant says- if you were prepared to do something difficult, why not try something easy?

It seems the humble are better able to hear the voice of God. Now we can return to the question of whether and when God speaks in the here and now.

The story reminds us of our own need to have God put on some kind of show. This deep desire explains so much of what passes for spirituality in the religious melting pot in which we live. We want sparks, we want fireworks. We want incantations and we want instant results.

But God tells us to be washed in baptism. Some water and some words.
Martin Luther might have been talking about Naaman when he asked, "How can water do such great things?"

Luther's answer to his own question- it is not water only. But water together with God's word. Sisters and brothers, when you are here, the Living Word speaks. God says, "Your sins are forgiven" God sends this message through lowly unimportant servants, -ordinary voices- so the Word from God seems anti-climactic. God chooses some under-whelming voices, but God speaks. A simple servant will say 'you will be clean,' and it is true. Your soul arises from the announcement of forgiveness as clean and wholesome and innocent as the child with that soft skin. In the hearing of the word YOU are that child. Here and now.

Naaman became like a child. What better image for forgiveness of sins. Jesus said the kingdom was for those like a child. God gives us the way to become that whole, that pure, that innocent.

And it is in the quiet voices of the Bible, the unpretentious waters of baptism, in the repeated words of absolution- the forgiveness of sins. The voices that speak for God are common. I'll be the first to say these voices are not that appealing, these voices fail to impress the Regal Ego.

But the servants of God speak. And God has many servants. More every day. Those with ears to hear, let them hear.