Prime of Life

First Lesson: 2 Kings 5: 1-14
Responsive Reading: Psalm 30
Second Lesson: Galatians 6: (1-6), 7-16
Gospel Lesson: Luke 10: 1-11, 16-20

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Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
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Back when I was in college, I worked summers selling flooring at Menard’s in Maplewood.  I remember a hot day at the end of July.  It was one of those days around 100 degrees with high humidity that we dread during Minnesota summers.  On this day, word had come over the radio that one of the Minnesota Vikings best players Korey Stringer collapsed after practice due to heat stroke and had to go to the hospital.  I went to bed figuring it to be nothing, as guys like Korey Stringer weren’t supposed to die.  Stringer had just been in the Pro-Bowl; he was truly in the prime of life.  The next morning, I turn on the radio as soon as I get up to hear Denny Green, Cris Carter, and Randy Moss just sobbing, Korey Stringer had died!  It wasn’t supposed to be this way.  Great warriors like Stringer just don’t die to a nasty roll of dice.  Stringer’s tale brings us to a story of another great warrior named Namaan.

Namaan was the greatest soldier of his day conquering the people of Israel.  Namaan seemingly had it all.  The scriptures describe Namaan as a “great man” with “power and authority[1]”.  Namaan was best friends with the King of Aram.  One day though Naaman's life takes an unexpected turn.  His skin began to swell.  The swelling became a rash.  The outbreak became discolored.  The discoloring develops into scales.  Naaman started going to the finest physicians searching for answers and received no useful answers.  Namaan kept developing more and more scales.  Naaman was a leper!

Now to understand this story, you need to understand the meaning of Leprosy within Namaan’s day.  Leprosy in Jewish culture was considered to be a cause of someone’s failure or sin.  Such questioning can be found in John 9 when the Disciples ask Jesus “Who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind[2]!”  Lepers weren’t outcasts because they were contagious.  Lepers were rather outcasts because their scaley skin seemed to point to some source of shame existing in their life. 

Your family was hoping that other people wouldn’t notice.  Lepers were the type of company that good people didn’t keep especially religious people.  So Naaman was going to seek out any solution he could find.  I imagine that if Naaman lived in 2016 that he would be googling “leprosy cure” like mad.  Naaman finally hears of a cure from his wife’s slave girl. 

How the slave girl fits into Naaman's story is interesting[3]?

In Naaman's day, when soldiers would win a battle they would claim all the valuables that they could from the land, even people.  So the slave girl who is not named was a daughter of Israel now working as Namaan’s slave in the land of Aram.  Now to picture the slave girl, I want you to contrast her with Namaan.  I picture Namaan as one of the biggest, strongest guys around looking like a football player, whereas the slave girl was probably tiny and timid.  Namaan had bullied the slave girl in her capture; now Namaan is so desperate that he turns to the bullied for advice.  The slave girl tells Naaman about a prophet named Elisha from her land of Israel.

Elisha is another unlikely character in Naaman's story.  Elisha was known for his bald head.  Schoolchildren made fun of Elisha when they saw him[4].  In fact, people throughout the nation of Israel saw Elisha as a joke.  Elisha was the voice of God of a country that Namaan’s army crushed in battle.  When Naaman arrived at Elisha’s house, he appeared to be a recluse and a quack.  Elisha wouldn’t even come out to face Namaan; he sent a messenger out instead[5].  Naaman didn’t like his advice with Elisha telling him to ‘Go wash in the Jordan River.’

As you picture the Jordan River this morning, I want you to think of the bluest lakes that you’ve ever seen, for a lot of us in might be Lake Superior which signifies that we’re home in Silver Bay.  Now what I want to you to picture is a swamp, a mud hole.  When you think of the mud hole now imagine the Jordan River.  The Jordan River was nothing special; it was merely the boundary between Namaan’s people and the land of Israel.

Namaan surely thought that if he was going to wash that a more picturesque river would do[6].  Elisha's advice was the water didn’t matter, it didn’t matter the amount of water, or how far Namaan dunked himself into the water.  What mattered was Elisha offering God’s promise with the water. 
Naaman finally decided to give into Elisha’s request.  Namaan was the guy that had purchased everything he saw on a Late Night TV infomercial no matter how dubious it appeared.  Any possible solution to the Leprosy problem he would try.  Namaan figured it certainly couldn’t hurt anything if he dipped himself into the Jordan River.  Naaman finally did what Elisha told him to do, not expecting that water could change anything.  Water would soon change everything!

Naaman's skin quickly became like it was born-again.  Naaman's skin looked like that not of a hardened warrior with leprosy, but rather like a young boy.  Elisha’s promise had come true!  Namaan was now a believer in the God of his slave girl!

You see the story of Naaman and Elisha isn't’ a story about Baptism, but it's rather a story that points to Baptism[7]. 

Baptism for many is thought to be something to be embraced (once we’re ready for it). 

The thing about Baptism though is you are never really ready.  Namaan would have never entered the Jordan River if everything had to be right within his life for him to receive it.  Instead, Baptism serves as the great equalizer of the Christian faith.  Baptism brings one back to the place of their birth, the place of their beginning.  The Gospel breaks down walls of success and failure, beauty and age, money and poverty.  What the Gospel says is that the very youngest baby is equal to the most powerful military commander in the eyes of God.  There is no purer expression of our Gospel than Baptism. 

Let me tell you a story this morning based on a true story about two girls that we’ll call Miranda and Heather[8].  Heather picked on Miranda all throughout elementary school and high school.  Miranda had no idea what she had done to make Heather so mad, but she began hating Heather right back.  Heather was vicious calling Miranda every nasty name, pulling every sort of nasty joke, turning everyone that she could against Miranda.  Miranda was grateful to graduate high school and hopefully never see Heather again.

About a year after high school, Heather tries contacting Miranda on Facebook[9].  Miranda is immediately suspicious of Heather’s motives.  Miranda decides to respond and they quickly discover they have a lot in common.  After a couple of months, Miranda and Heather meet for lunch.  Miranda figures that if Heather was Heather that she could tell her off and leave.  Heather begins to apologize for all the misery that she had put Miranda through over the years.  Heather didn’t know why she acted so harsh towards Miranda.  Heather started to cry and beg for forgiveness, even though Heather knew she didn’t deserve it.  Miranda did forgive Heather and they became the best of friends afterward[10].

For those that might seem different from you on this day: those who are always demeaning others like Heather are probably coming from a place of pain and isolation.  People are more broken on the inside then they care to admit regardless of the masks they give to the world around them.   When you get down to it perhaps Namaan, his slave girl, and Elisha weren’t that different after all and the washing in the Jordan River was what brought them together.

Namaan was changed in the Jordan River on this day.  Namaan transformed from spiritual despair to a place of peace.  Namaan was permanently changed in these might river waters.  Namaan was in the prime of life, struck down, and born again.  The reason, Baptism is so important for us as Christian people because in the end “everybody dies”, all accomplishments go with us to the grave. 

Final story for today, a former professor of mine described going to a string of funerals and always went home disappointed.  Every different preacher would go on and on with all the reasons that the deceased person should have hope beyond the grave.  Every person that died the pastor would describe as a mighty hero like Namaan.  The problem with Namaan though is the prime of life is fading.  Even heroes die.  The prime of life always fading is why our hope as Christian people must come from something that we can grasp onto whatever stage of life we’re currently in.  The professor then attends a funeral in Western North Dakota.  The preacher on this day was a guy named Joe Burgess.

Someone, I know described going to Joe Burgess's house this way: “You open the oven all that’s in there are books,” “You open up the fridge all that’s in there are books.” Joe was part of the International Lutheran-Catholic dialogues and perhaps the brightest person that I’ve ever come across.  Joe gets up for this funeral sermon, the professor wonders what Joe might say with his encyclopedia of knowledge.  Joe proceeds to read the following scripture passage from Romans 6:
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his[11].”

Joe then proceeds to sit down.  These three verses from Romans was all Joe needed to say. The professor starts shaking his hand in the air as it was the best funeral sermon that he had heard in years. 

Elisha said to Naaman: ‘Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be made clean[12].’  It seemed too simple; Naaman couldn’t believe this was true.  Naaman couldn’t figure out the catch.  Baptism there has to be a catch.  Namaan would soon find out though there is no catch to God’s promises, God’s promises will indeed soon come true!  Amen
 


[1] 2 Kings 5:1
[2] John 9:2.
[3] 2 Kings 5:2.
[4] 2 Kings 2:23-24. 
[5] 2 Kings 5:10-11. 
[6] 2 Kings 5:12
[7] A really good sermon that I came across this week on Text Week was Christy Lohr Sapp’s “Dip Into Faith” preached at Duke Divinity Chapel on July 7th, 2013.  Lohr Sapp does an excellent job of making the connection between Namaan’s healing in the Jordan River and Baptism. 
[8] The story is based on a Reddit comment by a deleted poster from a post entitled “Former bullies of Reddit, are you sorry? Would you like to apologize to your victims?” Ask Reddit (sub-reddit). 20 May 2014. Web. Jun.28.2016. 
[9]  Deleted Poster. “Former bullies of Reddit, are you sorry?”
[10] Deleted Poster. “Former bullies of Reddit, are you sorry?”
[11] Romans 6:3-5
[12] 2 Kings 5:10