Surprised By God
If you had to choose, would you say you’re a person who likes and enjoys surprises, or do you prefer to know what’s coming? Some people enjoy surprises and others don’t; sometimes it depends on the nature of the surprise whether it is positive and nice or upsetting and even a little unnerving. One of Dr. Seuss’s best known stories is about an unexpected surprise, a guest who shows up called The Cat in the Hat. The story begins:
November 2, 2014
2 Kings 5:1-15, Surprised By God
Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
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The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play.
So we sat in the house all that cold, cold, wet day.
I sat there with Sally. We sat there, we two.
And I said, “How I wish we had something to do!”Too wet to go out And too cold to play ball.
So we sat in the house. We did nothing at all.
So all we could do was to sit! sit! sit! sit!
And we did not like it. Not one little bit.And then something went BUMP!
How that bump made us jump!
We looked! Then we saw him step in on the mat!
We looked! And we saw him! The Cat in the Hat!
The rest of the story of The Cat in the Hat is about all kinds of surprising and unexpected things that take place. Today’s Bible story is about a Syrian general who receives a surprise that isn’t good – he learns he has a terrible illness and then a series of unexpected and surprising things unfold which for almost everyone turn out pretty well in the end, but like The Cat in the Hat, not without some tense and anxious moments.
Before I read the passage from 2 Kings I want to give you a little background. In our time there are a number of diseases that no one wants to get: Ebola is the one most in the news at the moment but, Alzheimer’s, HIV/AIDS, ALS, Cancer – are also among the diseases we dread the most and many of our families have been touched by them. In biblical times, one of the most feared diseases was leprosy. The word leprosy is used in the Bible for a variety of skin diseases, the worst of which was so disfiguring and contagious that people had to leave their homes and communities and were banished to live out their days amongst other lepers, untouched, uncomforted, and away from their loved ones with nothing to do but sit, sit, sit, sit and no one liked it not one little bit.
Today’s scripture is about a very powerful man, Naaman, who is not an Israelite, who receives the dreaded diagnosis of leprosy. Listen to 2 Kings 5:1-15,
“Naaman (nay uh muhn), commander of the army of the king of Aram (Ay-ruhm), was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. 2 Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” 4 So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. 5 And the king of Aram said, “Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.”
He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. 6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” 7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.”
8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.”9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage. 13 But his servants approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.
15 Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant.”
Naaman (nay uh muhn) is a powerful and proud man, the commander of the army of Aram, what today is Syria, north of Israel. The Lord had given him victory, which implies that God is involved beyond the borders of Israel. Then at the peak of his success he receives terrible news in a way that many of us can relate to who have heard bad news from a doctor. He is told he has a terrible and slowly terminal disease that will rob him of his strength and cut him off from his wife and family and cause him to lose his position. This was obviously a huge topic of discussion with his wife. Then we meet a young woman, who was taken captive during a raid into Israel and when she learns from Naaman’s wife of her husband’s diagnosis, she replies with great confidence, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” Don’t miss what a statement of faith that is from a young woman who has been captured, taken away from her home, forced to become a servant, and yet she has not given up on God or her faith. Even though she surely couldn’t have understood why she had gone through everything she had, she still believed.
When we’re desperate we’re more likely to try anything so based on the word of a captive young woman, Naaman goes to his king and tells him what the girl said and that he wants to go to this prophet in Samaria to be healed. The king basically says, “Go ahead, whatever you want to do, I’ll send you with the appropriate papers so the king of Israel knows you come in peace, looking to be healed.” Naaman took a huge sum of money with him along with some sweet clothes to offer as a gift and as a sign of how rich and important he was and set out on the 100 mile or so journey with a company of servants and other men and came to the king of Israel.
The poor king of Israel is immediately thoroughly distraught tearing his clothes crying out in despair that the king of Aram is trying to pick a fight by asking him to do something he doesn’t think is possible. The king’s response is quite a contrast to the assured confidence of the slave woman who believed that Elisha could cure Naaman. It’s kind of a surprise, at least on the surface, that a young woman who is a servant has more faith than the kind.
The presence of this Aramean army commander obviously was front page news in The Samaria Times the next day so Elisha quickly learns about what is going on – there’s the potential for the situation to become explosive so he sends word to the King of Israel to send Naaman to see him and he will learn there is a prophet in Israel. So Naaman with his large entourage pull up to Elisha’s house with all their horses and chariots. Naaman is a proud, wealthy man used to being treated with the greatest respect and he has a terrible disease and has traveled 100 miles so he is greatly insulted when he is not even invited inside. Elisha doesn’t even come out to greet him personally.
Naaman wanted some show, he wanted some impressive sounding prayers, a little physical demonstration, some good old time supernatural intervention that would be impressive and worthy of a man of his stature. Instead, Elisha’s servant tells him to take a bath. This is not what he was expecting and his ego and his nationalism come through clearly – “I deserve more personal attention, the rivers in my country are better than any rivers in Israel.” God has always been concerned about and seeking to bring healing to those who are sick and suffering from diseases and to alleviate the pain and isolation that so often are a part of illness. In the story, Naaman is asked to do something he doesn’t understand, to wash in the river. Sometimes God will ask us to do things we don’t understand. The only way to understand is to obey. The key idea is when God tells us to do something – do it. We’re called by God to be instruments of the Lord’s healing, our task is to submit to God and apply what we know we’re to do.
Naaman was healed when he was willing to submit himself to the seemingly silly ritual of taking a bath in the river. He expected something much more dramatic or difficult. But salvation came to him thanks to the testimony of a faithful witness (the young woman), the words of the prophet, and it entailed taking a bath. God cleanses not so much through a dramatic performance of a human healer, but through a simple act of obedience. Salvation comes mysteriously when we submit to God’s script and not our own.
In our church, people confess their faith and then they’re baptized in the water. Naaman comes out of the water a new man and then confesses his faith. Naaman’s experience of healing and restoration leads to his confession of faith in the Lord. God initiated the whole process of salvation for Naaman and for us.
God healed and cleansed Naaman when he did what he was told without understanding anything of the mystery of the experience. Titus 3:4-5 says, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” Even when Naaman proclaimed his faith, it was simplistic, inadequate, and not without distractions or hesitation. Elisha didn’t condemn him because his understanding was far from mature and his commitment was not yet one hundred percent commitment at this early stage. Elisha sends him away with a blessing, “Go in peace!” There was room for grace in Elisha’s theology and there should be in ours as well.
If we keep reading in 2 Kings 5 after verse 15 we learn that Elisha’s servant Gehazi is not gracious, he is disdainful, greedy and opportunistic and he tries to profit from Naaman’s illness, desperation, and gratitude. He puts a squeeze on Naaman to profit himself and ends up instead with a terrible case of leprosy. In every age there are people looking to use the name of the Lord to enrich themselves – this story is a stern warning against such ungodly behavior.
What a contrast to the young, unnamed woman who even though she was a captive in a foreign land, she remained faithful while the right hand man of Elisha was corrupt and the king of Israel was despairing and fearful.
I need to say one last thing about this story and that is it highlights the inclusivity of God’s saving activity. God gives victory (the Hebrew word also means “deliverance” or “salvation”) to Naaman as a general. It appears to be God’s will to bring salvation to Naaman, even though Naaman was not among God’s chosen people. There is an ironic reversal in the story: the Gentile, Syrian commander is restored, while the Israelite Gehazi, the servant of the prophet is cursed.
Jesus points to this story to justify the inclusivity of his own ministry in Luke 4:25-30. “But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, & none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.” Luke 4:25-30
Just as the prophet Elijah ministered to a Phoenician widow of Zarephath when there was a terrible famine, and Elisha shared the mercy of God to Naaman the Aramean, Jesus also proclaimed the good news to outcasts and outsiders and even healed those with leprosy which was a surprise. When God shows up unexpected things often happen that may make us anxious like the brother, sister, and fish in The Cat in the Hat, or the folks in Jesus’ hometown synagogue.
The end of the Dr. Seuss story is:
And then! Who was back in the house? Why, the cat!
“Have no fear of this mess,” said the Cat in the Hat.
“I always pick up all my playthings and so…
I will show you another good trick that I know!”Then we saw him pick up all the things that were down.
He picked up the cake, and the rake, and the gown,
And the milk, and the strings, and the books, and the dish,
And the fan, and the cup, and the ship, and the fish.
And he put them away. Then he said, “That is that.”
And then he was gone with a tip of his hat.
Then our mother came in and she said to us two,
“Did you have any fun? Tell me. What did you do?”And Sally and I did not know what to say.
Should we tell her the things that went on there that day?
Should we tell her about it? Now, what SHOULD we do?
Well… what would YOU do if your mother asked YOU?
Sally and her brother had quite a story to share with their mother. Naaman had quite a story to share with his wife and family as well; can you imagine their reunion? I’ll bet the servant girl got a raise. What about us? What can we share with others about what the Lord has done for us and how we have at times been surprised by God.
Surprised By God 2 Kings 5:1-15
Questions for Reflection or Discussion
- If you had to choose, would you say you’re a person who likes and enjoys surprises, or do you prefer to know what’s coming?
- There are all kinds of diseases and afflictions that might strike us while we live. If you could pick one disease or illness and know you’d never get it, which one would you pick and why?
- A close reading of the story of Naaman, the Syrian General, in 2 Kings 5 reveals that it contains a number of surprises. What do you find surprising in this story?
- What does this story teach us about faith? Which character(s) show(s) the most faith in God to be able to heal and act in the world? Which one(s) seem(s) to have the least faith in God’s power? Is that surprising?
- Why is Naaman mad when he is told to go wash in the Jordan River? What do you think he was expecting?
- Why do you think Jesus used this story in his sermon in Luke 4:20-30?
- What does Naaman’s story teach us about the breadth of God’s love and what does that mean for us?