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Sermon
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THE HEALING WATERS OF GOD He goes to king Ahab of Israel and gives him the letter. Ahab takes one look at the letter from the Aramean king and becomes very angry. “What sort of a trick is this? Ben-Hadad wants to hold me responsible for the cure of an Aramean commander. I’m not God! When I fail, he will say that I refused to heal him and use it as a reason to declare war and attack us.” But the prophet Elisha heard about Ahab’s anger and he sent word telling him to send Naaman to him and not to worry. But Elisha will not see Naaman when he arrives at the prophet’s house. Now waiting around outside a house with a caravan of silver and gold and expensive clothes for the occupant is not an everyday event for a rich and powerful Aramean commander. Naaman, of course, was not to know that this occupant was an advisor and minister to kings and governments – the anointed successor to the prophet Elijah. Eventually Naaman receives a note from Elisha telling him to wash himself seven times in the river Jordan. Naaman is furious! Here is yet another insult. “Surely I deserve his presence. He should come out and call on his God and wave his healing hands over my sore. I haven’t come all this way to wash in an Israelite creek when I could have washed in one of the two mighty rivers of Aram!” But his servants persuade Naaman. “Master, if he had set you a really difficult task, you would have cheerfully done it. Should you not be thankful that he has only asked you to wash that you might be clean?” And so Naaman goes to the Jordan and washes and is healed. Earlier we heard Psalm 30 – a magnificent expression of thanks to God for the recovery from illness. In this church we place great emphasis on the Psalms because they reflect so clearly human experience. And so it is with the story of Naaman. We can easily identify with his quest for healing. But it is much more than this. From the moment Naaman hears of the prophet of Israel, he sets out on a journey of faith. I suspect that when most Christians today hear the word ‘faith’ they immediately think of its connexion to ‘belief’. If asked about their faith they will express it in propositional terms such as in the creeds or traditional expressions of belief. “I believe that God created heaven and earth” or “I believe that Jesus was the Son of God”. There are many difficulties if we limit ourselves to thinking about faith being based on a set of beliefs alone. Propositional statements of belief can easily become fixed in people’s minds through tradition and pronouncement. If it becomes necessary to change our understanding of the beliefs it can lead to a sense that a person’s faith has been compromised or to a concern that a person may lose their faith. Friedrich Schleiermacher, whose life we celebrate today, introduced a radically new way of looking at religion. He considered that before morality and belief there is an experience of absolute dependence on God. Furthermore, he considered this religious awareness to be common to all humanity. Today we would probably express this as ‘everyone has a spiritual need in their lives’. It is important to have this the right way round. Faith is not the product of our beliefs. Beliefs illuminate our faith. Beliefs are certainly important as our understanding of what we believe affects how we act and view others. So let us take the experience of faith as our starting point. The story of Naaman shows very clearly the way that faith was viewed in the Jewish writings. It was a journey, not in the realm of the intellect, but of the heart. And by ‘heart’ I mean that it takes place at the very core of a person – far deeper than mind or emotion. The journey takes place because of ‘trust’ – a trust in God. Søren Kierkegaard, the great Danish religious philosopher of the nineteenth century, says that faith is like floating on water. If you let yourself go, you float; if you struggle and tense up, you sink. Marcus Borg says, “Faith as trust is trusting in the buoyancy of God. Faith is trusting in the sea of being in which we live and move and have our being.” We all know that on our journey there are times when we are struggling in that sea. We cannot exist without being confronted by evil or sickness or pain or fear. These are part of our world; they are part of living. Sometimes people have the idea that these things magically disappear if one has faith. It is almost as though being a Christian is an immunization against life’s difficulties. Faith is not like that. Faith enables us to recognise those things for what they are and to work our way through them. Consider Naaman’s journey. He is filled with hope when he starts out but he has a setback outside Elisha’s house. Things do not turn out the way he expected. Fear and doubt surface and Naaman rages against Elisha. Does this experience sound familiar? How often do we say “I will be alright if only this happens.” “I will be happy if only I can get this house.” “I will be successful if only I get this job.” “I will be OK if only my health gets better.” The reality is that these may not turn out that way. Faith, on the other hand, says “Live today as if this happens.” The amazing thing about this is that these can become self-fulfilling. In a sense this is “looking on the bright side” but it is not self-delusion. It is looking squarely at the reality and taking positive steps to move on with courage. It is the courage to continue, How do Naaman’s servants convince him to go on? They remind him that it is within his ability to wash away the fear and to be transformed. There are inner reserves within us that have their source in God. Sometimes our fears are groundless but they will not be exposed unless they are examined as in this saying: Fear knocked at the door.But nor should we forget that healing is often a painful process. The part Elisha plays in the story is also fascinating. Why does he refuse to see Naaman and perform the healing himself? Elisha knows that if he had done this, Naaman would have placed his faith in him and not God. By forcing Naaman to continue his journey was to ensure that he understood exactly where his faith came from. Notice how completely wrong Naaman was. First, he thought it was some magical incantation or act that was required. Then he thought it was the river that was all important and he was prepared to give up and go back to his own river. The healing was not dependent on any magic or special qualities of the river but on Naaman’s faith. He had to keep going, moving on through the difficult time. Jesus used neither magical words nor objects, but he frequently said, “Your faith has healed you.” The vast treasure that Naaman was prepared to pay for his healing was likewise rejected by Elisha. God’s gifts are free. This is the meaning of grace. Faith cannot be purchased or bargained with. Nor is it subject to rules and codes because it comes from the heart. There are two final questions we are bound to ask. What initiated Naaman’s journey? And who kept Naaman on his journey? The answer to the first is ‘a captured slave girl’ and to the second, ‘slaves’. We must never underestimate the surprises that are in store for those on their journey. Naaman’s journey would not have been possible without the help of those servants of God. Nor are our journeys! Our faith is strengthened whenever we experience God. And we experience God: Whenever we are encouraged by those who are not preoccupied by themselves.In every case there is a self-abandonment that releases us into the sea that supports us. And this is what we must do if we are to experience God’s gifts of freedom, peace, joy and love. When we talk about God as the buoyancy in the sea we have a metaphor that is profoundly close to the meaning of ‘God is love’. Think of Naaman at his journey’s end, bathing in the river Jordan. He walks into the river with his affliction until he is completely submerged. And then he emerges completely healed. As Christians, we cannot help but think of John baptising in the same river Jordan. Here, there is also a washing away of the old; a cleansing. And then there is a re-emergence from the water, completely healed – a new person. This is Naaman’s ultimate goal – to emerge from the water. ‘Emerging from the water’ is the universal symbol of the human psyche for birth. It is to be found time and time again in the literature and stories of every culture. It is found, as well, in our dreams. The breaking of the waters... Thanks be to God!
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A sermon presented by Robert Sanderson at St Aidan's Uniting Church
North Balwyn, on 12th February,
2006
IT MAY BE REPRODUCED WITH ACKNOWLEDGMENT. |
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Page updated 13/02/06