The 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, 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. (2 Kings 4.1-14 NRSV)

A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, "If you choose, you can make me clean." 41 Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "I do choose. Be made clean!" 42 Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. 43 After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, 44 saying to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." 45 But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter. (Mark 1.40-45 NRSV)


“THE SHORTEST DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO POINTS”

As we know from geometry, a line is the shortest distance between two points. Most of us take the direct route to something we want, while others and we ourselves, at certain times, may take a longer route with some twists and turns. The readings this morning have to do with healing. The first is the story of Naaman commander of the Aramean army. He suffers from leprosy. On one of their raids the Arameans took a young girl captive from the Israelites and she knows what he should do, go to the prophet Elisha in Samaria. Elisha will cure him of the leprosy. It seems straightforward, until the king sends a letter of recommendation which insults the king of Samaria. The king mistakenly assumes that it is up to him and he is unable to cure him, but the prophet hears about the scene in the palace and directs the king to send Namaan his way. When he does, he sends word that he is to wash in the Jordan and be made clean. It is as simple as that. Except that Naaman feels that is not elaborate enough for a person of his stature and refuses to do it. His pride gets in the way. At several points it looks like he is not going to get that healing, except for those who intervened to keep him looking for it. Eventually he does go to the Jordan and washes and is made clean. Everyone except Elisha is making it more complicated. Some are helping, some hindering.
The Gospel reading is also about a man with leprosy. This man came to Jesus and asked him to cure him. He went right to the one who was able to do it. The two, Naaman and the leper from the Gospel, are very different. They both suffer from a disease which marked them as unclean, which separated them from people. They both seek a cure. Naaman, though, has to be talked into it; the leper from the Gospel seeks out Jesus directly. Naaman and the king of Aram thought that gifts were required to gain the favor of the king and prophet who heals. The leper from the Gospel simply asks. Jesus does not need to be talked into it, but is very willing. There is no mention of Naaman after the healing, but the leper from the Gospel is filled with joy and proclaims what Jesus had done. In fact, when others heard about it, they also sought Jesus out for healing. Jesus is able to heal. The picture of Jesus this gives us is of a person who is willing to heal.
These different men who looked for a cure for their disease remind us of our reactions to illness. Some, like Naaman, make it more difficult by the barriers they throw up. For them, it is not a straight line to healing. Others seek out what they need more directly. Sometimes our healing is through people like the prophet in Samaria or the doctors in Rochester. God often works through people and we need not to forget that. But even when we go to the doctor, we know that the healing that occurs still comes from God. Even that straight line of healing can have a couple stops along the way.
Other times, or, for other people, it is not a straight line to the healing. Things can get in the way. Maybe the healing that needs to take place first is that of attitude. Some people can make their own way difficult. Maybe there is a healing that needs to take place before the healing. There are things that can stop us from getting what we need. It can be fear, or unwillingness to try something new, or clinging to the past, the idea that we ought to be healthy and not sick, that somehow these things do not happen to us. There are many ways we can be led off the path that leads to wholeness. Those are things that need healing also, maybe before anything else can take place. God can do that too.
It is wise to pay attention to all of life, not just the places and times when we are not well. Maybe the time before illness deserves attention, too. John Sherrill tells this story from a trip on a narrow-gauge railroad, which he examined in great detail and with delight. He asked the engineer about a train accident from years ago and asked why that sort of thing didn’t happen all the time. The answer is in the safety valve, which releases the pressure before it can get too high. Exploding boilers are usually the result of tampering to get extra power. John thought about how that is like our lives. We can drive ourselves too hard and then suffer the consequences. Perhaps we need to consider safety valves for our own lives, things like time with friends and family and walks.
How we approach life can matter much for our health, both in preventing illness and in how we find healing when it happens.

We find grace in healing whether it comes through ordinary or extraordinary means. It is from God’s goodness that we find medical care, or time, or that special touch which changes our situations. Scott Walker is a pastor in Texas who saw the long scar on his wrist and recalled how he came to have it. Thirty-six years previously he was working on the assembly line at a school bus factory. He cut through a steel beam with a blow torch, and his wrist grazed the sharp, hot steel beam. He was cut to the bone. Over the years the scar has gone from prominent and jagged and painful to smooth and faded. He attributes this to time’s healing power. But he notes that deaths of family members have hurt him more than that accident. But even then there is healing power from God, as he notes: “A grief we feared would consume us; a disappointment so intense that it maimed us; a shameful mistake that seared our self-image—all of these things can be healed by time and the loving grace of God.”

When we need healing, we might be like the leper in the Gospel, seeking out those things and persons who can help us. Or we might be like Naaman, who almost let his pride prevent him from getting what he wanted. Both found it in God. We might find it quickly, or over a long time, but healing is from God. That is what we see in the stories of these two men and in the stories of many more, that God cares for our lives and is willing to make them right when they are not. God cares for our bodies and souls, the whole person, the before and the after of our maladies. God is a healer that we can come to.