Scripture Text:
Sermon:
When I was about seven years old, one of my godparents’ three daughters went to Texas. She came back with a plastic flyswatter. This flyswatter was about five feet long, and the head of it was about nine inches wide. It was a Texas Fly Swatter. So, naturally, it was big. It also, of course, had a Lone Star molded into the business end.
They like things big in Texas. It’s a big state, with big cars, big hats, big boots, big ranches, for the ladies big hair, for the men, big hats, and apparently for the tourists, big flyswatters. I like to eat a good doughnut, so when I visited Texas myself for the first time a couple of years ago, I went to Round Rock Doughnuts just outside Austin, and ordered their famous Texas Doughnut. You may have seen this doughnut on TV. It was good that I had friends along- because this doughnut was about fifteen inches around, and weighed over two pounds. I know- it sounds disgusting. The surprising thing was that the Texas Doughnut isn’t just big- it’s actually delicious, too.
In our first reading today, we read about Naaman, the commander of the army of the King of Aram. Every time I read this story, I picture Naaman as the stereotypical Texan. Big hat. Big boots. Big belt buckle. Perhaps he could be played by Larry Hagman. Naaman is the kind of guy who’s large and in charge. He’s used to getting what he wants when he wants it. And he likes things big.
But Naaman has leprosy- and it seems like he’s had it for a while. He’s probably tried various methods to cure it- he’s probably tired of visiting the doctors. So he’s got a big problem. And he’s looking for a big solution. When he hears there’s a prophet in Israel, he arrives with a royal caravan, bringing the King of Israel quite a bonus- half a ton of silver, thousands of gold coins, and ten of the finest suits. But the King is terrified- he thinks this must be the beginning of some sort of international incident.
Until Naaman hears from the prophet himself- Elisha, the healer that Naaman had heard about back in Syria. And all Elisha has to offer are instructions- send by a messenger- “go and bathe in the Jordan River seven times.” The Jordan River? Just get in and splash around? Naaman wants an impressive treatment from an impressive man, not just to bathe in a rather paltry little river out in the sticks.
The healing Naaman is looking for is hardly challenging- the hard part for him is getting beyond his expectations. He cannot be made clean until he is willing to listen to the kinds of people he is accustomed to ignoring- the slave girl, the messenger, and the holy prophet. He cannot be made clean until he realizes that what he is looking for is not costly but free of charge. He cannot be made clean until he is willing to relinquish his own sense of command and control.
There comes a time in each of our lives when we look for a miracle cure. There comes a time when we come to circumstances that we believe we have to control. Our medical culture is based on the idea that we can gain control over the processes and functions of our bodies- that we can add and remove, that we can raise and lower, that we can diagnose and cure. And thanks be to God for the progress that we have made in medicine. But even today with all of the treatments and technologies available to us, we are not in control. Our ailments combine and make treatments more complex- and each intended effect creates side effects that ricochet off each other. The cures we seek for many ailments come at a tremendous cost to our quality of life. And in the course of seeking medical treatment, nearly all of us have heard or eventually will have to hear our doctors say, “There’s nothing more we can do.”
I am sure the leper who came begging to Jesus knew all about that. He’d probably been told over and over that there was nothing to be done for him. He had probably sought cure after cure until his resources were exhausted. But he comes to Jesus with a remarkable statement. He knows there is something Jesus CAN do.
“If you choose, you can make me clean.” What a confession of faith. What trust and confidence are in these eight words. Free of complaint, free of posturing, full of hope and full of need.
What does he see in Jesus- how does he know this man is the one who can do what no-one else could or would do? He has none of the options left that Naaman the Commander had- no power, no servants, no money, no letter of introduction from the King. If he had any letter at all it would be a letter of rejection. All he has left is his trust in God’s concern for him, and God’s ability to do what others will not. All he has left is the unshakeable sense that Jesus is the living embodiment of God’s will- of God’s providential care for those who suffer.
Naaman had the ability to say to Elisha the Prophet, “If *I* choose, you can make me clean.” Instead, this leper must say to Jesus, “If *you* choose, you can make me clean.” And the words in reply come from Jesus, “I do choose.” I do choose. These words contain not only “I choose to make you clean,” but also, “I choose you.”
In our own day and age, we continue this ministry of healing in the Church. We continue to bear the message that Christ does choose. What we offer by Christ’s choice is not a miracle cure. It is not a way of gaining command or control over an illness. Instead, it is a mark of God’s grace to bear our suffering with courage and peace, and a sign that Christ does in fact choose us.
When we come to receive it, we have something in common with Naaman and with the unnamed leper of Mark’s Gospel. We only have room for the grace and peace of God’s healing when we are willing relinquish our claim to be in control. When we put our trust in what is freely offered, rather than what is bought and sold. And when we put our trust in the love with which Jesus chooses us, and calls us each by name.