To be clean
Commentary
"Cleanliness is next to Godliness." We don't hear that old proverb much any more, but its meaning is still very much a part of our cultural environment. We value cleanliness and being clean. Lots of us struggle to keep our houses, cars, lawns, and all the rest of our possessions as clean as possible. Most of all, especially the affluent among us, we seem obsessed with the cleanliness of our bodies. Look at all the advertising that plays to our sense of cleanliness. Remember "squeaky clean," the slogan of a popular body soap? If cleanliness isn't next to Godliness, it's right up there near the top of the list, or at least it would seem to be.
Our desire for cleanliness may be little more than a need to feel that our lives are stainless. Keeping our bodies and our possessions clean, in many cases, expresses a deep yearning to be clean inside. The prayer of the Psalm is a very appropriate and popular one and has become part of the liturgy of a number of denominations: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (51:10). Those who have committed serious wrongs in their lives often express their plight in terms of having dirtied their lives. It is interesting that a number of religious traditions include rituals for cleansing and employ the metaphor of cleanliness for the pure life. For instance, classical Islam requires that worshipers wash themselves before praying. The concepts of dirty and clean and the yearning for a spiritual cleansing seem to be implanted deeply in human life.
The yearning to be clean arises, we suppose, from a fundamental sense that we are dirty and from a deep but vague sense of guilt. For lots of us the desire to be clean is the desire to be forgiven. In the Hebraic tradition and going right up to the time of the origin of Christianity, guilt was associated with illness and infirmity. Consequently, as we will see in our lessons for this Sunday, to be healed is expressed as a cleansing. Indeed, healing and cleansing are still near synonyms. The experience of being made clean in some inner sense is like being cured of inner illness. "To be clean" is a theme that comes to expression in different ways in the lessons for today.
2 Kings 5:1-14
This is a tale which probably first grew up around the figure of Elisha and was only later incorporated into the book of Kings. It is really independent of its context but has been nicely integrated into the cycle of Elisha stories. The point of the story is actually found, not in the reading, but in the verses that follow the conclusion of the lesson (verses 15-19a). A foreigner is converted to a worshiper of YHWH, suggesting the way in which all the nations might eventually come to believe as the Hebrew people believe.
The narrative includes remarkable detail and poignancy. The first five verses provide the setting, Naaman's condition, and how it was he learned that there was a prophet in another land who could help him. The approval of the King of Aram (i.e., Syria) indicates that those in power in other nations knew the validity of the Hebraic prophets, but the formal letter of introduction hints at the political tension between the nations. (See 1 Kings 20:1-34 and 22:1-40.) Beginning in verse 5b we have the account of Naaman's journey to Israel and his reception in the court there. Notice the elaborate detail of what he carried with him on his journey, all to emphasize his status and wealth. The King of Aram had mistakenly assumed that it was Israel's King himself who had the power to heal Naaman's leprosy or else that Elisha would be found in the royal court (v. 6). Israel's King smells a trick and thinks that the Arminians are readying themselves to go to war again with Israel. He rips his coat as a sign of distress and mourning that this should be the case. All of the narrative thus far is designed to enthrall the reader. It is a skillfuly told story!
The main character of the tale finally appears. Notice that Elisha takes the initiative to attract Naaman. However, when Naaman finally gets to the prophet's house, Elisha will not even pay him the courtesy of greeting him and inviting him in. Instead, in response to the message he gets, he sends Naaman directions what he is to do. They are simple, almost trivial instructions: Wash seven times in the Jordan River. This number seven keeps popping up, representing in some sense or another completeness and wholeness.
The Arminian general is infuriated by the message. Who does this foul Israelite think he is to treat one of Naaman's stature with such contempt? An aide has to convince him to give it a try, otherwise the general might have spat on Elisha's house and gone home. The servant's point is that these are such easy directions to follow. Now we have both a King and a humble servant indicating some sense of respect and belief in the power of the Lord's prophets. Naaman reluctantly and probably doubtfully goes and does what Elisha has suggested and is made clean. The final verses of the story (15-19a) recount Naaman's conversion. He finally meets Elisha, so that he can confess his new faith and request that he be allowed to bring Israel's God back to his nation by hauling some Israelite dirt back with him.
How fascinating it is that this artfully-told story should stress Naaman's pride. Even suffering as he is from his leprosy (some severe skin disease), he is not about to be snubbed by an Israelite, prophet or not. One of his status finds it hard to depend on another for healing. Naaman has to find his way through his pride and haughtiness to get to his healing. And so do lots of us! To be clean is to recognize our need, our sickness, and our dirtiness. It entails putting aside all that self-esteem that makes us think that we are too good to be dirty. In our culture, it entails jettisoning all that garbage about being an independent, self-made person, who has succeeded entirely on the basis of her or his own efforts. To be clean requires giving up on our own resources for healing.
There is another interesting feature of this story that speaks another word about being clean. If the servant is right, Naaman thought that being cured of his leprosy would entail some elaborate procedure, some magic that necessitated several steps. He is infuriated about being snubbed by Elisha, but he is also enraged that the prophet should propose such an utterly simple process.
Our healing is often as simple as Naaman's. There is no invasive surgery that requires cutting us open to remove the spiritual cancer. No, it is a most simple process: a few handfuls of water and a few simple words spoken of us. In baptism we are cleansed in the simplest of ways -- so simple in fact that we always have to be reminded of how potent this sacrament is. To be clean may be a whole lot easier than one would think.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
However, Paul doesn't think the process is all that simple. We will eventually come to how we think this passage might be related to cleansing. First, however, we need to get before us what it is Paul is talking about in this reading. Notice that it is a continuation of the second lesson read last Sunday (the Fifth Sunday After the Epiphany). So, we are still in that extended argument Paul makes on behalf of his apostleship and his insistence that he does not claim the benefits to which he is entitled. Following on the tail end of the reading for last Sunday, Paul concludes the whole argument with these four verses. Chapter 10 introduces a new topic. We should remind ourselves of Paul's declaration in verse 23: "I do it [identify with others] all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings."
Some athletic games were held near Corinth about the same time this epistle was written, so it might be that Paul is evoking a metaphor that has an immediate relevance for the first readers. In a foot race, there can be only one winner, Paul observes, and invites the Corinthians to be winners. Paul seems to have in mind here a kind of self-discipline that is comparable to the hours of training a winning athlete must invest. In this case, however, the prize is one that lasts, not one that withers, dries up, and eventually crumbles into fragments. The "gold medal" the ancient Greek athletes received was probably made of withered celery! If the Christians' prize is imperishable, all the more reason to run with determination. As if some in the Corinthian church doubt it, Paul claims that he strives intentionally toward one final goal and does not run here and then there without purpose. He switches his metaphors to say the same thing with the interesting statement, "nor do I box as though beating the air" (26b). His final statement about punishing and enslaving his body means that he suffers in his ministry and exercises self-control.
Paul is declaring his commitment to a life that is true to the gospel and his aspirations of sharing "in its blessings" (v. 23). The Christian life and its blessings are not easily attained, and the process of gaining the blessings of the gospel is a long and difficult one that demands discipline and exertion. Let's remember that this is the same Paul who is so emphatic in Romans and Galatians about being saved, not through works, but through God's grace alone. So, how are we to read this passage without supposing that Paul is lapsing back into a dedication to works righteousness?
Maybe it's simply a matter of perspective. To share in the blessings of the gospel is to be clean. Paul looks at the subject of cleanliness now from the human side. If you prefer, he is here denying any "cheap grace" that does not demand something of us after we have been received into a relationship with God. Maybe he wants to say that Christians are saved entirely by grace, but that, having been saved, we are called on to live out that grace. To do so demands self-discipline and practice, much like a runner must do to become competent. If you will, the process of becoming clean works in two stages, which have classically been called justification and sanctification. Without using those freighted terms, we suggest that Christians are called to work at the process of centering their lives more and more on God's grace and translate that into behavior. So, we don't run aimlessly or beat the air, but we have a clear and definite goal: to grow up into Christ. In life with Christ we are made clean.
Mark 1:40-45
This Gospel lesson is the reason for reading the story of Naaman's healing on this day. We continue our trek through the early chapters of Mark, this time hearing a story of a healing unlike any of the previous stories (such as Jesus' healing Peter's mother-in-law). Next week Mark will treat us to still another kind of healing (the paralytic, 2:1-12). This healing story follows the pattern of most passages of this type: The afflicted is presented or presents him or herself; there is a brief exchange with Jesus; Jesus heals the person; and finally some acknowledgment that the healing was effective is reported. However, this little story has some unique features.
Leprosy, of course, was a category for a number of serious skin diseases, but it was thought to be extremely contagious. Hence, lepers were isolated and ostracized. This leper takes the initiative (as Naaman does) and approaches Jesus -- a daring thing for such a diseased person to do. He immediately offers Jesus a statement of faith: I know you can do this for me, if you choose to do it. To present oneself to Jesus presupposes some kind of elementary faith in his power to make a difference. We are next told that Jesus was "moved with pity." The Greek word translated pity here is relatively rare in the New Testament. The verb is derived from a word for the entrails, the "guts," we would say. It was the inner seat of emotions. Pity is perhaps a weak translation (although there isn't anything much better). It means that a powerful feeling of compassion arose in Jesus from the very heart of his being. Some manuscripts read "anger" instead of "pity." If "anger" is the original reading, it would indicate Jesus' indignation that human life was so distorted by illness. The healing is effected by a touch and a few simple words. The touch is what we should notice. To touch a leper was, of course, to run the danger of contracting the dreadful disease. The lepers were quite literally the "untouchables." Yet Jesus breaks through all the social stigma and propriety with a simple touch.
With the healing accomplished, Jesus gives him two instructions. "Sternly warning" is actually much stronger in the Greek and indicates strong feelings, even anger. One instruction has to do with the official documentation of his healing. According to Leviticus (14:1-32), the priests were responsible for certifying that an affliction was no longer evident in a person's life (see Luke 17:14). It was sort of "a clean bill of health." The other instruction is the command to silence. It is another occasion of this feature of the Markan "messianic secret," like the one we saw in 1:34. Jesus may not have wanted to become known as a simple healer. If commands to silence like this (see also 5:43) are intended as a bit of reverse psychology, then this one really works. The leper openly disobeys Jesus, blabs about Jesus to everyone he meets, and manages to make it impossible for Jesus to travel in the region.
The leper wants to be clean (v. 40), and Jesus declares he is clean after touching him (v. 41). The leper is willing to take some risks in order to find a source of healing. Unlike Naaman, he has no reservations about admitting his illness and doing whatever is necessary to be made clean. This story makes two valuable contributions to our exploration of cleansing. The first is that we need a kind of initial faith in order to approach our Healer. Call it the foreshadowing of faith or an embryonic faith; but, whatever you call it, it indicates a basic belief that Christ can help us. The point is that the leper is not a full and mature believer; he is only someone in deep and desperate need. Nonetheless, he is willing to entrust his well-being to Jesus. That is essentially what we still need today -- not a mature, full-grown faith, but only a need and a basic trust that God can help us. To be clean does not require that we have reached the epitome of faith. In that sense, it is not a "faith healing" we seek. It is not our faith but Christ's power that can make us clean.
The second contribution this gospel story offers us is that being made clean does not have other kinds of prerequisites. Our cleansing does not necessitate that we have a fully mature faith. Neither does it require that we be a certain kind of person or a person of some specific social status. The leper was an outcast, a social throwaway, and one shut out of society. Let's remember that. To be made clean does not require that we be morally correct, socially proper, or acceptable. The church dare not insist on any kind of requirements for access to the gospel, except that of a desire to be cleansed and made whole. If we are inclined sometimes to think that we are so unworthy that Christ would not bother with us, then let this poor leper's experience embolden us. Our Lord reaches out and touches all those who seek to be clean, and even now he continues to offer us his healing touch.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
2 Kings 5:1-14
This text from 2 Kings 5 was the stated lesson also for Sunday, July 5, Proper 9, in Cycle C. The preacher may therefore want to refer back to the exposition for that Sunday. Despite the multitudinous variety of possible preaching texts in the Old Testament, the lectionary seems to prefer to specify some of the more popular texts.
Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Syria, is afflicted with leprosy. In some passages in the Old Testament, leprosy is considered to be a punishment from God (Numbers 12:10-15; 2 Kings 5:27; 15:5; 2 Chronicles 26:20-21), but our text makes no mention of such punishment in Naaman's case. Further, Syrian attitude toward Naaman's leprosy differs widely from the attitude found in Israel, because a leprous person in Israel was banned from all human contact. Even his clothing and garments were considered to be contaminated and in need of purification (cf. the many laws concerning leprosy in Leviticus 13). Naaman, however, continues in his military post in Syria and has free contact with those around him.
The difference is due to the fact that leprosy rendered the Israelite ritually unclean and unable to enter into the presence of God in the tabernacle or temple (cf. Leviticus 15:31). It is for this reason that a leper in Israel was commanded to show himself to the priest after being cured (Mark 1:43). The priest alone could certify that the cured individual was once again ritually clean.
Many different skin diseases and even mold on clothing or the walls of houses are called leprosy in the Old Testament, and they bear no relation to genuine leprosy or Hansen's disease. But certainly leprosy was a contagious scourge in the ancient Middle East and continued so throughout the poorer regions of the world up until the time of modern medicine. I can recall very vividly pictures of my aunt, a medical missionary in India, administering shots to lepers who came to her hospital for cure, many of them with their fingers or feet or faces eaten away by the disease.
Certainly our text concentrates itself on the figure of Naaman, who has to rid himself of his pride and self-importance before he can be cured. Naaman has to die to himself before he can live. That approach to the text is discussed at further length in Proper 9 of Cycle C.
The thrust of both this passage and the Markan text, however, is the emphasis on the power of God to cure the dread disease of leprosy. Elisha states, in verse 8, "Let him (i.e. Naaman) come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel." And Jesus, touching the leper in pity, with no fear of the disease, says simply, "Be clean," and the man is cleansed.
In both cases, God cures through the power of his word. Elisha commands, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean." That word, if obeyed, effects Naaman's cure, just as Jesus' word effects the cleansing of the leper who has come to him. Through his mighty word, God restores to wholeness. Every Christian who has ever had his or her life transformed by the word of scripture or preaching knows that God's word, written or spoken, can make of human beings new creatures. And our text is one more example of that newness bestowed.
It is significant in our text, moreover, that the Word of God is conveyed finally, not by great and powerful men, but by those whom we consider to be the least of humanity. It is first of all a captured slave girl who tells Naaman's wife that there is a prophet in Israel who can cure leprosy. And then, toward the end of the story, the servants of Naaman are the ones who urge him to follow the Word of God given by Elisha (v. 13). The least among the characters in the story convey God's word that leads to healing. Is that not the case also in the transmission of the gospel, that it often has been passed on by unimportant folk like us -- by a mother to her child, by a neighbor to another, by a Sunday school teacher to an adolescent, by a Scout leader to a camper, by a friend to another in distress?
And often we may not even know what a difference we have made in another's life. But we must speak out of a living faith, as did that captive slave girl in our story. She knew that God could heal through his prophet and word. She simply passed on that certain knowledge to her mistress.
When we read these stories from the scriptures, the ultimate question to ask, however, is, "What do they say about God?" And certainly both our Old and New Testament texts tell us that God wishes human beings to be whole. Throughout the stories of Elisha in 2 Kings, we find him healing, providing, ministering; there is no more pastoral figure in the Old Testament. And of course in the New Testament, Jesus goes about healing the sick and curing the lame and blind, forgiving the sinners, and uplifting the downtrodden and poor. He is the ultimate pastor among us. But what Jesus does is what God wants and does. God wills for all persons to be whole -- even commanders like Naaman of foreign forces arrayed against his people. God wants good for us. God wants us to have abundant life. He is above all else the God of love, who wills for us the blessed fruits of his love.
The abundance of that love is shown to us by the common grace that the Lord heaps upon us all -- by the beauty of the natural world around us, by the sun that he makes to rise on the evil and the good, by the rain that he sends on the just and unjust (Matthew 5:45), by placing us in the circle of family, and by setting us in community.
But God's extraordinary grace is given to those who receive his word in faith -- to a Naaman who forgets himself and bathes obediently seven times in the muddy waters of the Jordan, and to a leper who kneels in the dust before his Lord to implore that Lord's will. Sometimes our faith even results in a healing of some infirmity that we have, as in our texts. But always trust in the Lord gives that joy and certainty that the world can neither give nor ever take away.
Our desire for cleanliness may be little more than a need to feel that our lives are stainless. Keeping our bodies and our possessions clean, in many cases, expresses a deep yearning to be clean inside. The prayer of the Psalm is a very appropriate and popular one and has become part of the liturgy of a number of denominations: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (51:10). Those who have committed serious wrongs in their lives often express their plight in terms of having dirtied their lives. It is interesting that a number of religious traditions include rituals for cleansing and employ the metaphor of cleanliness for the pure life. For instance, classical Islam requires that worshipers wash themselves before praying. The concepts of dirty and clean and the yearning for a spiritual cleansing seem to be implanted deeply in human life.
The yearning to be clean arises, we suppose, from a fundamental sense that we are dirty and from a deep but vague sense of guilt. For lots of us the desire to be clean is the desire to be forgiven. In the Hebraic tradition and going right up to the time of the origin of Christianity, guilt was associated with illness and infirmity. Consequently, as we will see in our lessons for this Sunday, to be healed is expressed as a cleansing. Indeed, healing and cleansing are still near synonyms. The experience of being made clean in some inner sense is like being cured of inner illness. "To be clean" is a theme that comes to expression in different ways in the lessons for today.
2 Kings 5:1-14
This is a tale which probably first grew up around the figure of Elisha and was only later incorporated into the book of Kings. It is really independent of its context but has been nicely integrated into the cycle of Elisha stories. The point of the story is actually found, not in the reading, but in the verses that follow the conclusion of the lesson (verses 15-19a). A foreigner is converted to a worshiper of YHWH, suggesting the way in which all the nations might eventually come to believe as the Hebrew people believe.
The narrative includes remarkable detail and poignancy. The first five verses provide the setting, Naaman's condition, and how it was he learned that there was a prophet in another land who could help him. The approval of the King of Aram (i.e., Syria) indicates that those in power in other nations knew the validity of the Hebraic prophets, but the formal letter of introduction hints at the political tension between the nations. (See 1 Kings 20:1-34 and 22:1-40.) Beginning in verse 5b we have the account of Naaman's journey to Israel and his reception in the court there. Notice the elaborate detail of what he carried with him on his journey, all to emphasize his status and wealth. The King of Aram had mistakenly assumed that it was Israel's King himself who had the power to heal Naaman's leprosy or else that Elisha would be found in the royal court (v. 6). Israel's King smells a trick and thinks that the Arminians are readying themselves to go to war again with Israel. He rips his coat as a sign of distress and mourning that this should be the case. All of the narrative thus far is designed to enthrall the reader. It is a skillfuly told story!
The main character of the tale finally appears. Notice that Elisha takes the initiative to attract Naaman. However, when Naaman finally gets to the prophet's house, Elisha will not even pay him the courtesy of greeting him and inviting him in. Instead, in response to the message he gets, he sends Naaman directions what he is to do. They are simple, almost trivial instructions: Wash seven times in the Jordan River. This number seven keeps popping up, representing in some sense or another completeness and wholeness.
The Arminian general is infuriated by the message. Who does this foul Israelite think he is to treat one of Naaman's stature with such contempt? An aide has to convince him to give it a try, otherwise the general might have spat on Elisha's house and gone home. The servant's point is that these are such easy directions to follow. Now we have both a King and a humble servant indicating some sense of respect and belief in the power of the Lord's prophets. Naaman reluctantly and probably doubtfully goes and does what Elisha has suggested and is made clean. The final verses of the story (15-19a) recount Naaman's conversion. He finally meets Elisha, so that he can confess his new faith and request that he be allowed to bring Israel's God back to his nation by hauling some Israelite dirt back with him.
How fascinating it is that this artfully-told story should stress Naaman's pride. Even suffering as he is from his leprosy (some severe skin disease), he is not about to be snubbed by an Israelite, prophet or not. One of his status finds it hard to depend on another for healing. Naaman has to find his way through his pride and haughtiness to get to his healing. And so do lots of us! To be clean is to recognize our need, our sickness, and our dirtiness. It entails putting aside all that self-esteem that makes us think that we are too good to be dirty. In our culture, it entails jettisoning all that garbage about being an independent, self-made person, who has succeeded entirely on the basis of her or his own efforts. To be clean requires giving up on our own resources for healing.
There is another interesting feature of this story that speaks another word about being clean. If the servant is right, Naaman thought that being cured of his leprosy would entail some elaborate procedure, some magic that necessitated several steps. He is infuriated about being snubbed by Elisha, but he is also enraged that the prophet should propose such an utterly simple process.
Our healing is often as simple as Naaman's. There is no invasive surgery that requires cutting us open to remove the spiritual cancer. No, it is a most simple process: a few handfuls of water and a few simple words spoken of us. In baptism we are cleansed in the simplest of ways -- so simple in fact that we always have to be reminded of how potent this sacrament is. To be clean may be a whole lot easier than one would think.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
However, Paul doesn't think the process is all that simple. We will eventually come to how we think this passage might be related to cleansing. First, however, we need to get before us what it is Paul is talking about in this reading. Notice that it is a continuation of the second lesson read last Sunday (the Fifth Sunday After the Epiphany). So, we are still in that extended argument Paul makes on behalf of his apostleship and his insistence that he does not claim the benefits to which he is entitled. Following on the tail end of the reading for last Sunday, Paul concludes the whole argument with these four verses. Chapter 10 introduces a new topic. We should remind ourselves of Paul's declaration in verse 23: "I do it [identify with others] all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings."
Some athletic games were held near Corinth about the same time this epistle was written, so it might be that Paul is evoking a metaphor that has an immediate relevance for the first readers. In a foot race, there can be only one winner, Paul observes, and invites the Corinthians to be winners. Paul seems to have in mind here a kind of self-discipline that is comparable to the hours of training a winning athlete must invest. In this case, however, the prize is one that lasts, not one that withers, dries up, and eventually crumbles into fragments. The "gold medal" the ancient Greek athletes received was probably made of withered celery! If the Christians' prize is imperishable, all the more reason to run with determination. As if some in the Corinthian church doubt it, Paul claims that he strives intentionally toward one final goal and does not run here and then there without purpose. He switches his metaphors to say the same thing with the interesting statement, "nor do I box as though beating the air" (26b). His final statement about punishing and enslaving his body means that he suffers in his ministry and exercises self-control.
Paul is declaring his commitment to a life that is true to the gospel and his aspirations of sharing "in its blessings" (v. 23). The Christian life and its blessings are not easily attained, and the process of gaining the blessings of the gospel is a long and difficult one that demands discipline and exertion. Let's remember that this is the same Paul who is so emphatic in Romans and Galatians about being saved, not through works, but through God's grace alone. So, how are we to read this passage without supposing that Paul is lapsing back into a dedication to works righteousness?
Maybe it's simply a matter of perspective. To share in the blessings of the gospel is to be clean. Paul looks at the subject of cleanliness now from the human side. If you prefer, he is here denying any "cheap grace" that does not demand something of us after we have been received into a relationship with God. Maybe he wants to say that Christians are saved entirely by grace, but that, having been saved, we are called on to live out that grace. To do so demands self-discipline and practice, much like a runner must do to become competent. If you will, the process of becoming clean works in two stages, which have classically been called justification and sanctification. Without using those freighted terms, we suggest that Christians are called to work at the process of centering their lives more and more on God's grace and translate that into behavior. So, we don't run aimlessly or beat the air, but we have a clear and definite goal: to grow up into Christ. In life with Christ we are made clean.
Mark 1:40-45
This Gospel lesson is the reason for reading the story of Naaman's healing on this day. We continue our trek through the early chapters of Mark, this time hearing a story of a healing unlike any of the previous stories (such as Jesus' healing Peter's mother-in-law). Next week Mark will treat us to still another kind of healing (the paralytic, 2:1-12). This healing story follows the pattern of most passages of this type: The afflicted is presented or presents him or herself; there is a brief exchange with Jesus; Jesus heals the person; and finally some acknowledgment that the healing was effective is reported. However, this little story has some unique features.
Leprosy, of course, was a category for a number of serious skin diseases, but it was thought to be extremely contagious. Hence, lepers were isolated and ostracized. This leper takes the initiative (as Naaman does) and approaches Jesus -- a daring thing for such a diseased person to do. He immediately offers Jesus a statement of faith: I know you can do this for me, if you choose to do it. To present oneself to Jesus presupposes some kind of elementary faith in his power to make a difference. We are next told that Jesus was "moved with pity." The Greek word translated pity here is relatively rare in the New Testament. The verb is derived from a word for the entrails, the "guts," we would say. It was the inner seat of emotions. Pity is perhaps a weak translation (although there isn't anything much better). It means that a powerful feeling of compassion arose in Jesus from the very heart of his being. Some manuscripts read "anger" instead of "pity." If "anger" is the original reading, it would indicate Jesus' indignation that human life was so distorted by illness. The healing is effected by a touch and a few simple words. The touch is what we should notice. To touch a leper was, of course, to run the danger of contracting the dreadful disease. The lepers were quite literally the "untouchables." Yet Jesus breaks through all the social stigma and propriety with a simple touch.
With the healing accomplished, Jesus gives him two instructions. "Sternly warning" is actually much stronger in the Greek and indicates strong feelings, even anger. One instruction has to do with the official documentation of his healing. According to Leviticus (14:1-32), the priests were responsible for certifying that an affliction was no longer evident in a person's life (see Luke 17:14). It was sort of "a clean bill of health." The other instruction is the command to silence. It is another occasion of this feature of the Markan "messianic secret," like the one we saw in 1:34. Jesus may not have wanted to become known as a simple healer. If commands to silence like this (see also 5:43) are intended as a bit of reverse psychology, then this one really works. The leper openly disobeys Jesus, blabs about Jesus to everyone he meets, and manages to make it impossible for Jesus to travel in the region.
The leper wants to be clean (v. 40), and Jesus declares he is clean after touching him (v. 41). The leper is willing to take some risks in order to find a source of healing. Unlike Naaman, he has no reservations about admitting his illness and doing whatever is necessary to be made clean. This story makes two valuable contributions to our exploration of cleansing. The first is that we need a kind of initial faith in order to approach our Healer. Call it the foreshadowing of faith or an embryonic faith; but, whatever you call it, it indicates a basic belief that Christ can help us. The point is that the leper is not a full and mature believer; he is only someone in deep and desperate need. Nonetheless, he is willing to entrust his well-being to Jesus. That is essentially what we still need today -- not a mature, full-grown faith, but only a need and a basic trust that God can help us. To be clean does not require that we have reached the epitome of faith. In that sense, it is not a "faith healing" we seek. It is not our faith but Christ's power that can make us clean.
The second contribution this gospel story offers us is that being made clean does not have other kinds of prerequisites. Our cleansing does not necessitate that we have a fully mature faith. Neither does it require that we be a certain kind of person or a person of some specific social status. The leper was an outcast, a social throwaway, and one shut out of society. Let's remember that. To be made clean does not require that we be morally correct, socially proper, or acceptable. The church dare not insist on any kind of requirements for access to the gospel, except that of a desire to be cleansed and made whole. If we are inclined sometimes to think that we are so unworthy that Christ would not bother with us, then let this poor leper's experience embolden us. Our Lord reaches out and touches all those who seek to be clean, and even now he continues to offer us his healing touch.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
2 Kings 5:1-14
This text from 2 Kings 5 was the stated lesson also for Sunday, July 5, Proper 9, in Cycle C. The preacher may therefore want to refer back to the exposition for that Sunday. Despite the multitudinous variety of possible preaching texts in the Old Testament, the lectionary seems to prefer to specify some of the more popular texts.
Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Syria, is afflicted with leprosy. In some passages in the Old Testament, leprosy is considered to be a punishment from God (Numbers 12:10-15; 2 Kings 5:27; 15:5; 2 Chronicles 26:20-21), but our text makes no mention of such punishment in Naaman's case. Further, Syrian attitude toward Naaman's leprosy differs widely from the attitude found in Israel, because a leprous person in Israel was banned from all human contact. Even his clothing and garments were considered to be contaminated and in need of purification (cf. the many laws concerning leprosy in Leviticus 13). Naaman, however, continues in his military post in Syria and has free contact with those around him.
The difference is due to the fact that leprosy rendered the Israelite ritually unclean and unable to enter into the presence of God in the tabernacle or temple (cf. Leviticus 15:31). It is for this reason that a leper in Israel was commanded to show himself to the priest after being cured (Mark 1:43). The priest alone could certify that the cured individual was once again ritually clean.
Many different skin diseases and even mold on clothing or the walls of houses are called leprosy in the Old Testament, and they bear no relation to genuine leprosy or Hansen's disease. But certainly leprosy was a contagious scourge in the ancient Middle East and continued so throughout the poorer regions of the world up until the time of modern medicine. I can recall very vividly pictures of my aunt, a medical missionary in India, administering shots to lepers who came to her hospital for cure, many of them with their fingers or feet or faces eaten away by the disease.
Certainly our text concentrates itself on the figure of Naaman, who has to rid himself of his pride and self-importance before he can be cured. Naaman has to die to himself before he can live. That approach to the text is discussed at further length in Proper 9 of Cycle C.
The thrust of both this passage and the Markan text, however, is the emphasis on the power of God to cure the dread disease of leprosy. Elisha states, in verse 8, "Let him (i.e. Naaman) come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel." And Jesus, touching the leper in pity, with no fear of the disease, says simply, "Be clean," and the man is cleansed.
In both cases, God cures through the power of his word. Elisha commands, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean." That word, if obeyed, effects Naaman's cure, just as Jesus' word effects the cleansing of the leper who has come to him. Through his mighty word, God restores to wholeness. Every Christian who has ever had his or her life transformed by the word of scripture or preaching knows that God's word, written or spoken, can make of human beings new creatures. And our text is one more example of that newness bestowed.
It is significant in our text, moreover, that the Word of God is conveyed finally, not by great and powerful men, but by those whom we consider to be the least of humanity. It is first of all a captured slave girl who tells Naaman's wife that there is a prophet in Israel who can cure leprosy. And then, toward the end of the story, the servants of Naaman are the ones who urge him to follow the Word of God given by Elisha (v. 13). The least among the characters in the story convey God's word that leads to healing. Is that not the case also in the transmission of the gospel, that it often has been passed on by unimportant folk like us -- by a mother to her child, by a neighbor to another, by a Sunday school teacher to an adolescent, by a Scout leader to a camper, by a friend to another in distress?
And often we may not even know what a difference we have made in another's life. But we must speak out of a living faith, as did that captive slave girl in our story. She knew that God could heal through his prophet and word. She simply passed on that certain knowledge to her mistress.
When we read these stories from the scriptures, the ultimate question to ask, however, is, "What do they say about God?" And certainly both our Old and New Testament texts tell us that God wishes human beings to be whole. Throughout the stories of Elisha in 2 Kings, we find him healing, providing, ministering; there is no more pastoral figure in the Old Testament. And of course in the New Testament, Jesus goes about healing the sick and curing the lame and blind, forgiving the sinners, and uplifting the downtrodden and poor. He is the ultimate pastor among us. But what Jesus does is what God wants and does. God wills for all persons to be whole -- even commanders like Naaman of foreign forces arrayed against his people. God wants good for us. God wants us to have abundant life. He is above all else the God of love, who wills for us the blessed fruits of his love.
The abundance of that love is shown to us by the common grace that the Lord heaps upon us all -- by the beauty of the natural world around us, by the sun that he makes to rise on the evil and the good, by the rain that he sends on the just and unjust (Matthew 5:45), by placing us in the circle of family, and by setting us in community.
But God's extraordinary grace is given to those who receive his word in faith -- to a Naaman who forgets himself and bathes obediently seven times in the muddy waters of the Jordan, and to a leper who kneels in the dust before his Lord to implore that Lord's will. Sometimes our faith even results in a healing of some infirmity that we have, as in our texts. But always trust in the Lord gives that joy and certainty that the world can neither give nor ever take away.
