2 Kings 5:1-14
July 7, 2013
I took the girls
to the pool the other day and there were some other moms at the shallow end
talking. I didn’t know any of them, but
after overhearing some snippets of conversation, and seeing a last name on the
bottom of several pool toys I think I figured out that one of the moms has been
in e-mail communication with me related to some church/community business. Part of me thought, “I should introduce
myself,” letting her know that I’m the one she’s been communicating with. But I have to confess I held back, using the
girls as my focus of attention. You
see, so many times when I’ve been in social situations outside of the church
things get really awkward when people learn I’m a pastor. It happened 15 years ago at the 4th
of July block party in my neighborhood in Lynn, it happened when I was single
and was going to contra dances, it’s happened at the hair dresser here in
town. I’ve never been that good at
entering new social situations, even just as Sarah. But when I come into secular situations as Pastor Sarah, people
have all kinds of strange reactions to me.
So at the pool, at book time in the library I’m often choose to stay
reserved than to introduce myself and risk the awkwardness when someone new
learns I’m a pastor.
Socially, that
might be ok. My excuses are
understandable. But spiritually, from
the point of view that I’m a follower of Jesus Christ who has told me to be the
salt of the earth and the light of the world it’s really just a cop-out. It is spiritually disobedient. When I pray about it, I know this is
true. If I stopped to check-in with
Jesus while I’m at the pool hesitant about introducing myself he would be
telling me, “Just do it!”
Most
of us like to think of ourselves as good people, we try not to hurt anybody, we
try to be loving and give of our time and our money for the good of
others. Yet when we are really truly
honest with ourselves and with God, we make a lot of excuses when it comes to
living out a full life as a follower of Jesus Christ.
One of the
commandments for the people of God is to honor the Sabbath Day and keep it
holy. That means that one out of every
seven days should be set apart, for community worship, and for rest. No work, no major housework, no mowing the
lawn, no shopping. Take time to hike in
the park or climb a mountain with family or friends, paddle a canoe, listen to
some lovely music, or make it yourself, read a novel, dance, linger in the
candlelight after dinner engaged in great conversation with people you
love. And the practice of weekly
worship doesn’t need to be broken when we go on vacation. That’s a perfect opportunity to meet
brothers and sisters in Christ in the place you are visiting, try a totally
different denomination, see how they do it differently, receive unexpected
blessings. When it comes to keeping a Sabbath we have a lot of excuses, but
Jesus says, “Just do it.”
Another
faith practice that some people avoid is communion. On the night before he died Jesus told his disciples, “Take,
eat…take drink…do this in remembrance of me.” But taking communion regularly
has been a problem through the ages because there is a passage of scripture
that warns against taking communion wrongly.
In the middle ages many people who knew they were sinning and
unrepentant would not take communion, often waiting until the very end of their
life to make one grand confession and receive the sacrament just before
death. Some of John Wesley’s friends
believed that one needed to feel the love and forgiveness of God in their
hearts before they could rightly take communion. In the years that the United Methodist Church has changed our
practice from quarterly communion, to monthly communion it has become obvious
that some people avoid coming to worship on communion Sundays. Again there are lots of excuses, from the
extra time it takes, to feelings of unworthiness, to discomfort with the whole
idea of eating Jesus’ body and drinking his blood. When it comes to receiving communion we have a lot of excuses,
but Jesus says, “Just do it.”
Then
there is the matter of sharing our faith with others. Jesus said to his followers, “Go into all the world and make
disciples.” He told parables which encouraged us to be light to the world,
yeast in the dough, to have an unmistakable flavor like salt. It’s not just
hard for people who have pastor in their name, it’s hard for all of us. Some Christians have created a public image
that makes us all look bad. The
church’s official stance on many issues is out of sync with the culture around
us. It can take a lot of work to explain to someone who asks that our church
isn’t like that; the Jesus I love isn’t like that. It’s just
easier to go about our business without letting others know we belong to
Jesus. It’s easier to quietly pray for
our co-workers who have troubles, than to offer to pray with them. And as for actually inviting our friends and
acquaintances to come to church with us – we tell ourselves, uh-uh – no way;
even though personal invitation is the proven most effective way to help any
church to grow in numbers. When it
comes to fully sharing the love of Christ with our neighbors we have a lot of
excuses, but Jesus says, “Just do it.”
Maybe one of the
very hardest spiritual practices of the Christian life is Jesus’ command to
love our enemies. In the very early
years of the church this, plus the commandment not to kill led most Christian
communities to expect soldiers to give up their work when they converted. But loving enemies is very spiritually
challenging in a world that loves to vilify people. We like comic books and movies about superheroes who smite the
enemy and save the day. We want to root
for the good guys and we love to hate the bad guys. Sometimes the idea seems attractive from a distance, but when we
are actually feeling threatened by an enemy – whoa! Just remember the public outcry in our state at the thought of
burying Tamerlan Tzarnaev. He and his
brother hurt our city and gave us a dreadful fright that lasted most of a
week. The vast majority didn’t even
want his body buried, let alone pray in Christian love that his soul will rest
in peace. When it comes to loving our enemies we have a lot of excuses, but
Jesus says, “Just do it.”
These
kinds of excuses go back to creation and you can see them all through the
Bible. The story we have for today
includes some people who were obedient and faithful, and others who were more
prone to making excuses. The story
takes place in the time when the Kingdom built up by David was under attack.
The Jewish kings were not so faithful, prophets like Elijah and Elisha were
living on the edges of society, trying to bring the people back to
faithfulness, but having little success. The enemy was capturing people and making
them live in exile. Naaman was a
commander of an enemy army of the land of Aram. He had beaten the army of Israel and he brought home a young girl
from Israel and gave her to his wife as a slave. We learn that Naaman had a chronic illness, a skin disease. Now to the world this girl had every reason
in the world to consider Naaman her enemy, to do as little work as possible for
his family, to be angry and bitter that she was being held captive. And of all the excuses for not sharing the
love of God with someone, being that persons’ slave is on the top of the
list. But this girl just did the will
of God. She saw Naaman suffering and
she had compassion on him, saying to Naaman’s wife, “Oh, if only my master
could meet the prophet of Samairia, he would be healed.” In this simple statement she shared the love
of God with her enemy.
Naaman
was excited, and knowing that some diplomacy would be required for him to go
behind enemy lines in search of the prophet, he turned to his king for a formal
letter of introduction. And just for
good measure he brought along some extravagant gifts. 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold and ten sets of designer
clothing.
Naaman’s king
assumed that the prophet would be famous and employed in the royal court of
Israel, so his letter simply asked the king to heal Naaman of his skin
disease. But the King of Israel was not
so faithful, and clearly didn’t even know that Elisha existed, or that there
were any prophets still in Israel.
Instead, being rather self-centered, the king assumes that the enemy
king is making an impossible request. Perhaps it was a scheme. Failure to comply could provide an excuse
for another raid. Israel’s king was not
prone to showing compassion for Naaman’s skin disease because he thought of Naaman
firstly as an enemy. If it were up to
the king of Israel the will of God that Naaman be healed would have been
blocked.
But the news of
this tense diplomatic meeting made its way to Elisha – who knew right away that
Naaman was really looking for him, as God’s prophet. Elisha sends word to the palace that there is a prophet in Israel
and the king should send Naaman to him.
No
Naaman was excited. He had suffered for so long and gone to such lengths to
find healing. His expectations were
high. This prophet would treat him as
an international guest of honor, perform a very fancy mystical ritual and cure
him. So when he got to Elisha’s house,
and the prophet neither came out, or invite Naaman in, but sent a messenger
telling Naaman to simply duck under the Jordan River seven times Naaman was
indignant. What, he won’t even meet me
personally! Wash in that dinky little
dirty river when we have two much nicer rivers back home in Damasus! Naaman stomped off, mad as a hornet.
But
the voice of God came to Naaman, through his servants. “Just do it.” You came all this way, made all this effort to be healed. If the prophet had asked you to do something
hard you would have. So just do
it. Just go and wash in the river over
there. So Naaman swallowed his pride,
went down to the river and did as the prophet of God instructed. He washed in the Jordan seven times and he
was healed, his skin was smooth and good as new. As a result of his healing, Naaman was also converted,
proclaiming that there is no other god in all the earth except in Israel. And
just so he would remember to worship the God of Israel when he got back home,
he brought along a load of dirt from Israel, so he could stand on earth from
Israel as he prayed to the God of Israel.
God’s
word for us today is “Just do it.”
Whatever spiritual practices you have heard about but haven’t tried yet,
whatever commandments no matter how hard.
Don’t make excuses. Just do
it. Just keep the Sabbath, try
setting aside the whole day and doing only holy things, worship, enjoying God’s
creation, enjoying the special people God has put in your life and
resting. No excuses, just do it.
When your friends and neighbors are in need of healing and strength tell them
about Jesus and pray with them. No
excuses, just do it. When you are talking with someone and they let you know
they don’t have a faith community tell them about ours and all the blessings we
receive from coming together as the Body of Christ. No excuses, just do it. When you find an enemy before you – an
annoying person at work, a driver who cut you off, a family member who did
something that feels unforgivable, a Yankees fan. Love them. Pray for them. Ask for God to do far more than you can ask or imagine to turn
this enemy into a beloved brother or sister in Christ. No excuses, just do it! Take communion as often as you can. Don’t feel you need to be right with God, or
need to understand it better before you come.
John Wesley was clear that the sacrament of communion is a sure and
certain means of receiving God’s grace. Receiving communion can help us get right with God. His brother Charles put it this way, “Do not begin to make excuse; ah!
Do not you God’s grace refuse; your worldly cares and pleasures leave, and take
what Jesus hath to give. Come sinners,
to the gospel feast, let every soul be Jesus’ guest. Ye need not one be left
behind, for God hath bid all humankind.
No excuses, just do it.
I
do need to make two thing clear here.
First, these spiritual practices are not magic. They are not things we
do so that we can get God to do our will.
It’s not as if a person who carefully observes the Sabbath every week
will be protected from all bad things that could happen. We know from
experience the world doesn’t work that way. But these practices, these
commandments of God are, instead, aspects of God’s will for our lives. They are like the instruction manual that
comes with a VCR. When we follow the manufacturer’s instructions things just
work better. When we do what God asks of us our lives, and the lives of those
around us open to more of God’s blessings.
Second,
God’s work of salvation is not dependant on whether we are faithful and
obedient. As we can see with the story
of Elisha and Naaman God can work with us, or in spite of us. God worked with the slave girl in Naaman’s
house. God worked in spite of the King of Israel who had little interest or
knowledge of God’s prophets. God will
keep on saving the world from sin no matter what we do. But what a blessing, what a privilege, what
a joy to be able to participate in the unfolding of God’s will being done here
on earth as it is in heaven. This is
the exciting part of being in ministry, of being part of a church who together
as the Body of Christ is serving the world.
This is when “Just do it” turns from a command, to a cheer. Jesus Christ is offering you and me the
opportunity to be instruments of salvation, and has given us specific practices
and spiritual disciplines to use in that goal.
So what are we waiting for?
Let’s do it!
