The Prophet's Prescription
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Dear Fellow Preachers
A powerful thread in the lectionary texts for February 16 is healing, and we believe that's an especially timely theme. Impending war, nuclear proliferation, and a struggling economy are not the only ailments facing the people in your pews; for many of them, the crisis facing our agents of healing touches their lives even more directly.
While physicians stage protests over spiraling malpractice insurance premiums, it is becoming ever more difficult for many of us to afford the price of prescription drugs. So where can we find restorative healing for body, mind, and spirit? In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Carlos Wilton discusses that important topic, basing his approach on the colorful story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5:1-14. He suggests that all of us (both nationally and individually) could use a dose of humility.
We're providing you a wealth of material today. In addition to Carlos' work on the topic, worship resources from Larry Hard, and a children's sermon from Wesley Runk, we've also included an alternative approach from team member George Murphy related to the gospel text for the week, a dramatic sketch related to the Naaman story from Immediate Word editor Stan Purdum, and an imaginative take by noted storyteller John Sumwalt on where we might find a contemporary Naaman, as well as team comments and related illustrations. John Sumwalt's piece also appears in the current issue of StoryShare, another new subscription service offered by CSS. To learn more about StoryShare, click here.
The Prophet's Prescription
By Carlos E. Wilton
2 Kings 5:1-14
The Message on a Postcard
A wealthy and powerful visitor from abroad, afflicted with an incurable illness, tries Dr. Elisha's brand of alternative medicine. The prophet's prescription is bizarre -- but it works. What the good doctor prescribes, in the case of Naaman of Syria, is humility.
Yes, humility: a difficult virtue to achieve, for a general who's used to having his every whim satisfied. In desperation, the haughty Naaman takes the advice of a nameless slave girl and humbles himself before the ornery prophet. Turns out that's just what he needs.
Health care is front-page news these days, as doctors march up and down with placards, and lawyer-legislators fend off tort reform. There's not much humility on either side of the picket line, it seems. Maybe if we all had a bit more of that scarce virtue, we could untangle the health-care funding mess we're in.
Some Words on the Word
There is some considerable controversy as to the nature of the disease from which Naaman is suffering. Commentators have traditionally thought it to be leprosy (Hansen's Disease), although it now appears it was some other skin disease. As D.N. Freeman writes in the Anchor Bible Dictionary:
"The nature of Naaman's leprosy is not exactly clear, although it can be assumed from v. 27 that it was a disease of the skin. It was therefore not "Hansen's Disease" (Cochrane 1963; Pilch 1985), and not something for which Naaman, unlike Uzziah (2 Kings 15:5), was forced into quarantine.1
John Gray agrees: "Naaman's leprosy was obviously not of that kind which debarred him from society, so that it was an embarrassing skin disease, but not as serious as leprosy proper, for which ancient ritual law prescribed isolation (Leviticus 13:45ff.)."2
The disease described (and proscribed) in Leviticus 13 and 14 is not the sort of disease Naaman has: for he travels to Israel with an entourage, and there is no indication of quarantine. Even so, it's likely that his disease brought him suffering, as well as some degree of ritual uncleanness, from the Jewish point of view -- especially since Elisha's message encourages him to "wash ... and be clean" (5:10).
The king of Israel's extreme reaction to news of Naaman's imminent arrival is not surprising, given the current geopolitical realities. Naaman's entreaty brings the king a great diplomatic opportunity, should he be able to point his powerful visitor to a cure; but it also brings him great risk, should he be unable to help. Verse 7 indicates that the king fears Naaman's visit as a deliberate provocation, an attempt to "pick a quarrel" that the king could only lose.
Freedman again writes: "Externally, such a visit of a high-ranking officer of Aram-Damascus to Israel is most unusual against the background of the almost continual conflict between the two countries. The reign of the king was a time of warfare with only minor intervals of peace (1 Kings 20:1--34; 22:1--40)....
"During this period there were short times of peace, and from the stories of Elisha (2 Kings 8:7--15), there is an account of a close relationship between the prophet and the king of Aram-Damascus, Ben Hadad. Whether this cordiality extended to the diplomatic level is not clear, but it should be noted that the two sides were not averse to burying their differences in the face of a common enemy."3
The Naaman story is about an uneven and surprising distribution of power. Those who traditionally hold power (the king) prove unable to exercise it effectively, and those who have little or no power (Elisha, the nameless slave girl) end up making all the difference. Freedman again: "The story also contains what can only be called a comedy of manners, almost bordering on a farce. It is the servants, the slave girl (2 Kings 5:2--3) and the servants of Naaman (vv. 13--14), who aid the process of healing, whereas the important characters, such as the kings, misunderstand the situation and almost start a war."4
The big winner, of course, is Yahweh (and Elisha, who is Yahweh's prophet). The mighty Naaman ends up converting to the religion of Israel -- and is so serious about it that he begs Elisha to give him a quantity of Israelite soil, on which he may properly conduct sacrifices once he returns home. In a further twist (in the subsequent pericope, beyond the limits of today's lectionary passage), Elisha's servant Gehazi proves duplicitous, and is punished by being given the same disease from which Naaman had recently suffered.
"Thus the conversion story is concluded with an 'excommunication' story. The 'outsider' Naaman becomes an Israelite 'insider,' religiously speaking, while the 'insider' Gehazi became an Israelite outsider."5
A Map of the Message
"When your water breaks, call your lawyer." -- sign carried by a striking physician at Christ Hospital in Jersey City.6
Health has been very much in the news lately, with stories about physicians on strike, President Bush's proposal for African AIDS relief, and continuing concerns about the threat of bio-terrorism.
Illness is a great equalizer in human society. The wealthy may indeed have better access to health care than the poor, but no amount of money can completely eliminate the risk of disease. In the last analysis, wealth and power matter little: we all have bodies, and when they're sick, we're equally dependent on God to work through whatever medical techniques are available.
Elisha seems singularly unimpressed with wealth and power. When the mighty Naaman comes calling, he doesn't even come out to meet him. (This is in marked contrast to the response of the king of Israel; he's as deferential toward the visiting general as Elisha is bold.) Clearly, the author considers the prophet a more important figure than the king; for it is upon Elisha that the power of Yahweh rests.
As for the young captive girl, she's got three strikes against her in that culture: she is a youth, a captive, and a female. Yet she is the only one in the story (apart from Elisha) who has true faith. Her only hope for getting back to her homeland is the death of Naaman, but instead she has compassion and tells him where to find life. It is the powerless one who does the right thing in the midst of terrible circumstances, thereby bringing healing.
An interesting sermon angle would be to ponder the relation of money and life in our culture. To what extent do we -- consciously or unconsciously -- place a financial value on human life? We're proud of having abolished slavery, but do we not still place a value on human life, the way our health-care system is configured? A great many Americans -- particularly our older citizens -- find themselves between a rock and a hard place when it comes to paying for prescription medications. News stories have documented a significant flow of travelers between the United States and Canada or Mexico, seeking less-expensive drugs. When it comes to medical-malpractice lawsuits (the reason for the doctors' strike), there is a tendency to try to quantify the value of intangibles like pain and suffering.
What cures Naaman is not money (not even the absurd amount of precious metal he brings with him). It's the intervention of God, who is sovereign and free. Naaman encounters God only when he divests himself of everything that sets him apart as a mover-and-shaker in his society: when he enters the river, naked as on the day he was born. Elisha's teaching him a lesson in radical dependence on the Lord.
In other words, humility is a prerequisite to healing. Healing is not guaranteed to all who approach God with humility -- yet it's hard to imagine any healing taking place without a humble approach. It takes a while for Naaman to get to that point; his initial reaction to Elisha's prescription is extreme anger. (He chooses to read an ethnic slur into the prophet's insistence that the rivers of Aram are not good enough, that only the river Jordan will do.)
This story stirred up enmity between nations even centuries later, in Jesus' time. When, in Luke, Jesus preaches on this text in his home synagogue, his listeners run him out of town and try to push him over a cliff. All this is in reaction to Jesus' words in Luke 4:27: "There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman, the Syrian."
A friend who pastors a church in Rochester, Minnesota tells me he's noticed a change, in recent years, in the international clientele of that city's world-renowned Mayo Clinic. Prior to 9/11, large numbers of wealthy Arabs regularly traveled to Rochester to avail themselves of the Clinic's services. Most of them are now utilizing hospitals in Germany instead. Whether this change is due to stricter post-9/11 visa regulations, or a growing enmity toward the United States, is hard to determine. That situation is remarkably parallel to Naaman's.
Notes
1 Freedman, D. N., "Naaman," in The Anchor Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), vol. 4, 968.
2 I and II Kings (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1964 and 1970), 504.
3 Freedman, 968.
4 Freedman, 968.
5 Frank Anthony Spina, in The Lectionary Commentary: The First Readings, The Old Testament and Acts (Grand Rapids: Eeerdmans, 2001), 252.
6 Iver Peterson, "New Jersey Doctors Hold Back Services in Protest," New York Times, February 4, 2003.
Team Comments
Carter Shelley responds: As usual you have a plethora of material to offer ministers choosing to preach on the Elisha, Naaman, slave girl, etc., text with the contemporary link of health concerns, their treatment and humility before prophets, God, and the limits of human ability and the human lifespan. Here are a few comments to add to an already rich offering:
I'm not sure Americans have much of a concept of humility. We are a nation of proclaimed "self-made men" (sic) even though many of us have started with a leg-up on other folks due to our being born into educated, prosperous, middle-class homes. Nevertheless, we do come with a sense of "I've worked hard to: a) become a physician, b) become wealthy, c) become a famous rapper or rock star; therefore, I can (and should) enjoy the fruits of my own labors." But, like the slave girl, there are many people in our country who work very hard and do not ever see financial or social recognition rewards worthy of their effort. Like Israel as it came to forget its previous slave status and nomadic wilderness status once they were a political nation, we tend to forget that all we have comes from God -- life, health, opportunity, success, freedom. By the grace of God we possess it, and as with Job, it can all disappear despite our own efforts to hang on to it all. Humility starts with recognition that we belong to God and all that we have comes from God and is meant to be used in the service of God.
When we focus so much of our life and energy and money on good health and the seeking of long life for all, we demonstrate our lack of faith in the future God promises in Jesus Christ after this life concludes. That doesn't mean I oppose medical research, expensive essential procedures, or even an increase in taxes to better underwrite Medicare, Medicaid, and prescription expenses for people on limited fixed incomes; I support all of those things. I do believe, though, that we want perfection from human beings who cannot provide it, and when it doesn't happen lawsuits ensue.
All doctors get sued, by the way, regardless of their skill or competence. It's like the person suing McDonalds for his current bad health after years of bad eating habits. He is accountable himself, but he wants to blame someone else and get rich in the process. This same dynamic occurs with medical physicians, those who shouldn't be in practice and those who should. Obstetricians are the most sued of physicians because so much can go wrong prior to delivery and during delivery that the doctor cannot prevent, yet he or she gets the blame.
Your biblical background information and insights offer a solid basis for a sermon this week. I particularly like your noting of the rhetorical nuances, noting who greets Naaman and who waits for Naaman to follow orders rather than give them. I presume that the seven bathings rather than one fits the same kind of motive as prayers not being answered yes or no, after one or two attempts, but requiring effort, commitment, inconvenience, and openness to God's action rather than one's own control.
Your illustration concerning the importance of living in the now and not always in the future is a sound one. My students and I read C. S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters for class last week. One of the insidious behaviors the devil Screwtape urges his nephew Wormwood to employ with the human subject assigned him is to keep the human always worried about the future. That way, he will never be able to relish the present, recognize its value, live for that present, and savor the experience. How many of us live always in the future? It is a hard thing not to do. Moreover, how many of us do not respond to a life-threatening medical diagnosis with anything but resentment, fear, and the protest, "But I haven't had enough time! I'm not ready to die yet!" Lewis points out in Screwtape that we all think time belongs to us. Thus we are irritated if anyone dares to intrude upon our time without our permission. Who ever said time was ours? Time, like everything else, belongs to God. What we do with it now is what matters.
George Murphy responds: My main concern would be that the connection between the theme of humility in the text and the current issues of healthcare -- expense, doctors striking, etc. -- is addressed only briefly and in general terms. How is the problem of availability of health care to be dealt with? Who needs a change in attitude -- doctors, lawyers, the general public -- and how will humility help them to do this?
To put it more pointedly: Suppose there's a person in the congregation with skin cancer -- a parallel to Naaman's situation. How is he or she supposed to put the "prescription" of humility into practice? Just do what the doctor says, as Naaman finally did? Most patients do that anyway but it doesn't have a lot to do with humility.
Some of your quotations suggest that we need to get rid of the idea that medicine can solve all our problems and accept our mortality. Okay, but that isn't the problem highlighted by striking doctors. Modern scientific medicine can prevent and cure a lot of ailments, give longer life, and so forth (and if this be the Enlightenment, make the most of it). The problem is that many people can't afford it and now apparently some physicians can't afford to practice it.
You write: "An interesting sermon angle would be to ponder the relation of money and life in our culture. To what extent do we place a financial value on human life? We're proud of having abolished slavery, but do we not still place a value on human life, the way our health-care system is configured?" Yes, we should not, in theory, put a financial value on human life, practice "economic triage" and so forth. But talk about the infinite value of a human life runs up against the reality that our resources aren't infinite. As long as the world is finite (something the environmental movement should have taught us to continually be aware of), we will have to make decisions about the allocation of our finite resources for health care. Certainly we can allocate more resources for that than we do, and certainly we can allocate them more fairly. But we will never be able to allocate unlimited medical expertise, medication, technology, etc., to each person in need.
Finally, what's involved in the text is not just personal but national humility: "Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?" Well, no, it turns out that they aren't!
An Alternative Approach
Soft-Hearted and Tough-Minded
George L. Murphy
Matthew 9:35-10:8, 16; Mark 1:40-45
"It was a gut-wrenching experience for him." You've probably heard that before -- it's a rather crude expression but it gets the point across. You could translate one phrase from both of the gospel readings in that way. When Jesus saw the crowds, "he was moved with compassion for them." The Greek word for having compassion comes from the word for intestines, splangchna and splangchnizomai. It was gut-wrenching for him -- or "heart-rending" if you want to be a little more polite.
That word is used several times in the gospels. When Jesus saw a widow whose son had died, "he had compassion on her." Jesus is "soft-hearted." The needs of people reach and affect him. He wants to help, and much of his ministry is one of helping people in need, and especially healing those who are sick. In the Matthew reading he extends this ministry by sending out the Twelve on the same mission. The words that describe their task are the same ones used of Jesus' work -- "to cure every disease and every sickness." And their motive -- the motive of all Jesus' disciples -- is to be the same. We are to be open to people's needs, to allow the sufferings of others to be gut-wrenching experiences for ourselves. We are called to be soft-hearted.
I don't want to push that idiom too far, but it does help us to bring out an important distinction. We are to be soft-hearted. We are not called to be soft-headed. In fact, Christians are to be not only compassionate but also tough-minded, "as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves."
Being soft-hearted means sharing the feelings of others and wanting to help. Being tough-minded means realizing that feelings alone don't solve problems. If you're really going to be able to help the other person, you have to be able to evaluate the situation coolly and objectively, without letting your emotions get in the way. If you have to go to the Emergency Room, you hope that the doctor you see will be motivated by a desire to help people, but you don't want her to be so overcome with pity that she can't assess your problem accurately.
Unfortunately the need to be tough-minded can often serve as an excuse to avoid doing anything about people in need. Yes, we really do feel compassion for the sick and hungry and oppressed -- but often their problems are their own fault. I've got my own family to look out for. We have to use our resources prudently. Business is business.
That's all, to some extent, true. But being tough-minded means looking past excuses, rationalizations, and superficial rhetoric. We are to start with compassion for those in need and then use our brains as best we can to see how to do something that actually will help them, not simply think of reasons why we can't help. Otherwise our expressions of compassion are empty.
There's an important contemporary example of this that's connected closely with the healing ministry of Jesus -- the problem of health care in our communities and in the whole country. That's the scale on which we ought to be looking at things if we're really concerned about those who are in need: Most of us won't be literally like the Good Samaritan and have individual encounters with a stranger who needs to be cared for. In modern society a ministry of healing has to be social and not just individual. And health care is especially relevant for us because it's an issue that St. Paul's Peace and Justice Committee has been looking at recently.
Very briefly, health care in the United States is technically great. We have doctors and nurses with excellent training and the latest drugs and medical technologies. But many people, especially the working poor, can't afford health insurance. For some of us that's not a problem. But if you've had to be involved with the system for those who have required extensive care, as I was with my parents, you begin to see the difficulties. There are huge hospital bills that are negotiated down and mostly paid by the insurance company. And that's great -- except that you realize how disastrous it could be for someone without insurance, or for whom even a modest co-pay would wipe out a good part of the grocery budget.
For many people looking for a job, health care benefits are almost more important than salary. Some are making ends meet by working two or three part-time jobs which don't provide any medical benefits. So they're working full time, but simply can't afford insurance.
What passes for tough mindedness on this issue is often just reciting of slogans -- "socialized medicine" and so forth. That's not an answer. If you think that some proposed solution to the problem would involve too much government interference -- okay, what's an alternative? The point is that if we really care about the needs of others, we're going to want to see that there's some way in which basic health care can be available for everybody. Details can be debated, but for Christians the basic principle shouldn't be in doubt. Saying, "Am I my brother's keeper?" and shrugging off responsibility isn't an option for us.
Prayers for healing and traditional ministries to the sick and suffering continue to be important for the church. But the cutting edge of the church's ministry of healing at this time and in this country is in the area of social justice, with the problem of making available affordable health care for everyone. That is perhaps not a very religious sounding issue, but it's where we are led if we follow the example of Jesus.
"When he saw the crowds, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." And he sent out his disciples "to cure every disease and every illness." The ability that we have today to prevent diseases and to heal those who are ill, with all the benefits of modern medical technology, would have been considered miraculous in Jesus' time. We should thank God for the scientific advances that have made them possible and for the men and women who are skilled in their uses. But the church is called to do more than to give thanks. If we really are moved with compassion, if we really are tough-minded, we will be active in seeing that these marvels of medical science actually get to the people who need them.
A Story-Illustration
Naaman's Story
by John E. Sumwalt
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.
2 Kings 5:1
Naaman was a man like Norman Schwarzkopf or Colin Powell of our own time, a hero of the nation, a commander of the army, held in high regard by the commander-in-chief because of his victories in battle. Imagine the reaction of the American public if it became known that such a man, though a mighty warrior, had AIDS. And can you imagine what the reaction would be if the President of the United States sent our Naaman off to visit the President of Cuba, let's say, carrying a letter like the one the King of Aram sent to the King of Israel? Do you think Mr. Castro might have reason to wonder about our President's intentions?
The general would arrive in Havana on Air Force One, carrying a trunkload of American dollars, a couple of Cadillacs, and several tickets to next year's Super Bowl game. A limousine would whisk him off to the prophet's house, where he would be met by a secretary wearing latex gloves and bearing a message from the prophet telling him to go wash in the Bay of Pigs. We can understand why a general of the United States Army might be infuriated by such a suggestion. The Persian Gulf or the Panama Canal maybe, but not the Bay of Pigs!
Naaman would have been well aware that it was just east of the Jordan, in the time of the Israelite King Ahab, that his nation had suffered one of its most ignominious defeats. One hundred thousand Aramaean soldiers were slaughtered by the Israelites and the Aramaean king was captured. Wash in the Jordan indeed! But somehow his advisors were able to convince him to do it. And he was healed, as he had hoped, but not in the way he expected.
Naaman, whose power in Aram was second only to that of the king, could find no healing there. The Spirit, through the most unlikely voice of a young slave girl, sent him to another nation, to the prophet of a God he did not know.
Through whom will the spirit speak to us? In what dirty little river will God have us wash our leprous church?
(This story appears in the February 16, 2003, installment of StoryShare. To learn more about StoryShare and to view sample issues, click here.)
Related Illustrations
Our dominant cultural and medical approaches to suffering and death are characterized by complaint and optimism. People tend to be optimistic that any illness or wound can be treated and cured. If for some reason that does not seem possible, we shift into a mode of complaint -- complaint about the pain being endured, complaint that medical technology has not progressed rapidly enough, complaint that we are not devoting enough resources to saving the lives of those we care about.... In Practicing Our Faith, Amy Plantinga Pauw notes that the Christian practice of dying well should be shaped not by complaint and optimism, but by lament and hope.
-- L. Gregory Jones, dean of Duke Divinity School, in "Shaped By Lament and Hope," on the Christian Century website, April 28, 1999.
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Although a precise link cannot be established between leprosy (Hansen's Disease) and the disease from which Naaman suffered, perhaps the story of Father Damien of Molokai could still be used as an illustration: http://library.damien.edu/damienstory.htm
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At the feast of ego, everyone leaves hungry.
-- Anonymous
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It is God's nature to make something out of nothing. That is why God cannot make anything out of [one] who is not yet nothing.
-- Martin Luther
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Hidden in this broken body of the leper, Lazarus, the beggar, you find a human being who has touched the essence of his humanity, whereas many people who are rich and powerful are hiding their humanity. They don't really know who they are. They don't really know that they are a little child crying out for love. Aristotle says something quite extraordinary. He says, "If you feel you are not loved, you seek to be admired." That's to say you want to be brilliant, you want power, you want to have people looking at you, but you don't quite know who you are yourself....
-- Jean Vanier, founder of the L'Arche Christian community, dedicated to ministering to mentally disabled adults; quoted in The Prism E-Pistle, Wednesday, June 7, 2000, the bi-weekly e-zine of Evangelicals for Social Action.
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The following is reminiscent of Elisha's instruction to Naaman to go bathe in the river:
"Meister Eckhart, who repeats this message dozens of times in his writings, points out that the word 'humility' comes from the word humus or earth. In the creation tradition, then, to be humble means to be in touch with the earth, in touch with one's own earthiness, and to celebrate the blessing that our earthiness, our sensuality, and our passions are."
-- Matthew Fox, Original Blessing (Santa Fe: Bear and Co., 1983), 59.
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Perhaps there are some echoes of Elisha's treatment of Naaman in this story:
This true story happened in New England many years ago. The governor of Massachusetts, Christian Herter, was running for reelection in a tough campaign. One day he arrived late for a barbecue in a small town. It had been a hectic day. There was no time for breakfast or lunch, and Christian was famished.
As he moved down the serving line he held out his plate and received one piece of chicken ... a small, scrawny leg! The governor said to the serving lady, "Excuse me, do you mind if I have another piece of chicken. I'm very hungry." The woman replied, "Sorry, I'm supposed to give one piece to each person." He repeated, "But I haven't had any breakfast or lunch today. I'm starving." "Sorry, mister, I've got my orders. Only one piece per person."
Herter was normally a modest man, but hunger drove him to put the full weight of his office on this situation. He said, "Madam, do you know who I am? I am the governor of this state." There, that should get some action.
Undaunted, she replied, "Mister, do you know who I am? I am the lady in charge of the chicken! Now move along!"
-- Dave Beckett on Ecunet, March 30, 1995
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Nothing is as hard to do gracefully as getting down off your high horse.
-- Anonymous
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We are like the participants in a story told by Rabbi Shelton Donnell of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple:
It was Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, said Rabbi Donnell, and the Senior Rabbi of the temple was waxing eloquent before his congregation on the importance of true penitence. At the climax of his oration, he raised his arms before the Ark of the Covenant, cried, "O Lord, I am nothing, I am nothing!" and threw himself face forward onto the floor. The cantor, witnessing this great outburst of piety, realized that it must be augmented by his own confession.
Standing before the Ark, he too cried out, "O Lord, I am nothing, I am nothing!" and threw himself down beside the rabbi. It was an awkward moment for the president of the congregation, who did not wish to be outdone in holiness, so he too stood, lamented, "O Lord, I am nothing, I am nothing!" and joined the others on the floor. At this point, a small man in the balcony had become so caught up in the spirit of confession that he also stood up, cried, "O Lord, I am nothing, I am nothing!" and threw himself onto the floor. The president of the congregation, recognizing the voice from the balcony and looking up to confirm his suspicions, leaned across the cantor to the Senior Rabbi and said, "Look who thinks he's nothing!"
-- John Killinger
A Drama to Accompany the Sermon
Suggestion: You might wish to run Scene 1 before starting your sermon. Then run Scene 2 near the end of the sermon.
The Prescription*
by Stan Purdum
*(c) 1999 by Drama Ministry.
Permission is hereby granted to subscribers to The Immediate Word
to use this script in their churches.
Scene 1
Young woman talking on telephone
Kathy: (into phone) Scott, you should really try to get up here to visit Daddy. He looks awful. Maybe it would help him to see you. (listens) Yes, that's what I mean. He hasn't looked good since Mom died. (listens) What? Yes, he's been to the doctor -- several of them, in fact, including some his own doctor didn't approve of. But nothing seems to help, and it's been more than a year now. (listens) I wish you were here. I spend as much time as I can with him, but you know, with Chuck and the kids, I can't be over there as much as Daddy needs. (listens) I know, but -- (knock on door).
Oh, somebody's at the door. Yes. I'll call you later. Okay. I will. Bye.
(answers door) Daddy!
Dad: Hi, Sweetie. (steps in; kisses her)
Kathy: I was just talking to Scott. If I'd known it was you at the door I'd have kept him on the line so you could say hello.
Dad: That's okay. He calls me. I talked to him the other day.
Kathy: Here, sit down. I didn't know you were coming. (they both sit)
Dad: I have an appointment over on Seventh, and I'm a few minutes early. Am I interrupting?
Kathy: Of course not. I'm glad you stopped. What kind of appointment?
Dad: It's a doctor.
Kathy: (skeptically) A real doctor this time, I hope? That last guy you went to with the "natural herbal healing" program certainly didn't relieve you of much except several hundred dollars. And the acupuncture before that --
Dad: Well, actually, this one's a shrink.
Kathy: A psychiatrist? Well, maybe that's a good idea. Your regular doctor doesn't seem to have been able to help you.
Dad: Aw, it's not his fault. Doc Burson's okay for a pill pusher, but maybe what I'm sick with is something pills can't help.
Kathy: Does Doctor Burson at least approve of this psychiatrist?
Dad: Actually, Burson is the one who recommended him. He's supposed to be really good. Burson claims that this guy's helped people other doctors have given up on. I hope he can do something for me. I don't want to go on like this much longer.
Kathy: Daddy, I know how much you miss Mom, but you have to move on. Scott and I have had to. And we still need you. You have to get a grip on life again.
Dad: (halfheartedly) I know. But I just can't seem to. After 37 years together ... (starts to get weepy)
Kathy: (moves to him and puts her arm around him) Come on, Daddy. Maybe this psychiatrist will be the answer. Did Doctor Burson tell you what kind of therapy he uses?
Dad: (regaining his composure) Not really; just that he's good. But after the big buildup Burson gave him, I expect it will be some new kind of treatment. Maybe something revolutionary. It will have to be. The old methods haven't worked.
Kathy: I just hope it's covered by your medical insurance.
Dad: I won't care, as long as it works. It's got to work. It's my last hope.
Kathy: Don't say that, Daddy.
Dad: Sorry, Kathy. I know I've not been very much help to you through this. But I don't know what I'll do if this doesn't work out. I think Burson is out of ideas too. (glances at his watch) Oh, it's almost time for my appointment. I'd better go. (they both stand)
Kathy: Would you like me to go with you?
Dad: No, I've got to do some of this myself. And if he's half as good as Doc Burson says, maybe you won't have to babysit me much longer.
Kathy: (walking him to door) Okay, but why don't you stop back afterward? I'll be here all afternoon. I'm anxious to hear what he recommends.
Dad: Okay. I will. (she kisses him goodbye; he exits)
Scene 2
Kathy sits reading paper. Knock on door.
Kathy: (answering door) Hi, Daddy.
Dad: (dejected; walks in heavily; sits)
Kathy: (alarmed) What's wrong? Didn't it go well?
Dad: Complete waste of time.
Kathy: Oh, no. Why? What happened?
Dad: Not much. He just had me tell him how I felt and what I'd tried.
Kathy: That's it?
Dad: Well, he asked some questions.
Kathy: Didn't he prescribe any medication?
Dad: Nothing.
Kathy: No new therapy?
Dad: Not really.
Kathy: What do you mean, "Not really"?
Dad: (disgusted) Well, he did tell me I should learn to pray.
Kathy: (surprised, but not quite disapproving) Pray?
Dad: I can't believe it. He's a big-name guy. Powerful reputation. Supposed to be on the cutting edge of medicine. He gets a hundred bucks an hour and he tells me something I could have heard in church for nothing.
Kathy: When is the last time you went to church, Daddy?
Dad: What? Oh, not since your mother's funeral. I can't believe he told me I should learn to pray. I prayed for all I was worth when your mother was sick, and it didn't do her any good.
Kathy: We don't know that. Maybe it did something for her.
Dad: Yeah, but she still died. I'm going home. (stands)
Kathy: Daddy, I ...
Dad: I love you, Kathy. Thanks for listening. (starts for door) I gotta go.
Kathy: Daddy, wait a minute!
Dad: There's not much more to say.
Kathy: Look, if this doctor had told you to try an expensive new medicine, you'd have tried it, right?
Dad: Yeah. So?
Kathy: Or if he had recommended attending a support group, you'd have gone to it.
Dad: I guess so.
Kathy: What if he'd advised you to do some oddball physical exercise?
Dad: Look, Kathy, I feel so bad, that if he'd have told me that going out and howling at the moon would help, I'd probably have done it.
Kathy: Then maybe you should try what he did recommend.
Dad: Pray? You mean I should just pray?
Kathy: Yeah, Daddy. I guess I do.
Lights Out.
(c) 1999 by Drama Ministry. For more scripts to accompany preaching, visit www.dramaministry.com or call toll-free 866-859-7622.
Worship Resources
By Larry Hard
WORDS OF PRAISE
Leader: From God comes life and health.
People: Thanks be to God for mind and body
Leader: From God comes healing and hope
People: Thanks be to God for health care providers
Leader: From God comes the will to be well
People: Thanks be to God for the power of faith
Leader: From God comes desire to care for the sick
People: Thanks be to God for those who care and pray.
HYMNS OF PRAISE
"O Christ, the Healer"
"I'll Praise My Maker While I've Breath"
"Maker in Whom We Live"
SONGS OF PRAISE
"Jesus Be Praised" (words and music by Handt Hanson)
"Mothering God, You Gave Me Birth" (words: Jean Janzen)
"God Is Here Today"
GUIDED CONFESSION
The worship leader invites all to listen and pray in silence:
Confess to God your insensitivity to the pain of those you know who are sick and suffering. (Silence)
Confess your failure to pray for those who have health needs of body and mind (Silence)
Confess ways you do not phone, visit, or send notes of care to those who are ill at home or in the hospital (Silence)
Confess your disregard for appeals to give for the health needs of those in our country and around the world (Silence)
Confess your lack of compassion for those who live with pain and those without medical help.
PRAYER FOR PARDON
May God who came in Jesus to heal the sick and to offer forgiveness to all who receive the good news, heal us in body, mind, and spirit. Restore to us the joy of our salvation.
SUNG PRAYER RESPONSE
"Heal Us, Emmanuel, Hear Our Prayer"
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
Following each petition, respond by saying: "GOD WHO HEALS, HEAR OUR PRAYER"
We pray for persons of all nations for whom health care is not available.
We pray for those of our world who cannot afford available health care.
We pray for health care systems that are just and fair for physicians and health care providers.
We pray for those in medical research that they discover better ways to relieve suffering and cure diseases.
We pray for medical missionaries as they minister day by day in places of need around the world.
We pray that our elected leaders will place a priority on meeting health care needs in our nation and all nations.
Leader: God, in your mercy, hear our prayers. As Jesus had compassion on all who suffer in body, mind, and spirit, may that same compassion fill our hearts because we worship here today and respond to your Spirit. Amen.
HYMNS
"When Jesus the Healer Passed Through Galilee"
"Heal Me, Hands of Jesus"
SONG:
"God Weeps" (words: Shirley Murray)
"There Is a Balm in Gilead" (African-American spiritual)
A Children's Sermon
2 Kings 5:1-14
Text: 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!" (v. 11)
Object: a linen napkin
Let me tell you a story. I have a beautiful friend by the name of Nathan Napkin. Nathan is made from the finest linen. By himself he is beautiful, but when he is ironed and folded just right, he is the finest looking napkin in the whole world. Most of the time Nathan is kept in a china closet drawer with other linen napkins. They are not as beautiful as Nathan, but they are also made of fine cloth.
One day, Nathan was taken out of the drawer and placed on a beautiful dining room table. There he was with all of the fine plates and glasses and silver dinnerware. Nathan looked around and decided that this is where he really belonged. What a beautiful table, what beautiful dishes and silverware! And most of all, Nathan thought he looked the most beautiful of all. The guests arrived and the most important guest sat where Nathan was placed. In just a few minutes, the guest took Nathan and unfolded him and placed Nathan on his lap. Nathan was a little disappointed since he was no longer folded and he couldn't see the plates or silverware, but he was still proud of being on the lap of the most important guest. And then things began to happen. First, the guest dropped some of the salad dressing on Nathan. Pretty soon a drop or two of coffee plunked down on Nathan. "Oh, no," said Nathan, "I am being ruined."
But that was only the beginning. The guest picked him up and wiped his lips and now Nathan had food all over him. Nathan thought he would die, he was so humiliated. When the dinner was over the guest put Nathan back on the table as a crumpled up ball of cloth. Nathan looked around. The dishes were dirty, the silverware had been used, the candles were dripping, and everything had changed. Nothing was beautiful at all. Before long someone came and cleaned off the table and Nathan was thrown into a basket of dirty laundry. What a humiliating experience. Nathan felt like he would never again be the same. Nathan was angry and hurt, and he pouted. What else could happen to him? He tried to bury himself in the basket where no one could find him.
But someone did find Nathan and they put him into a washing machine. First there was water and then there was soap and he was jiggled all over the washing machine. He could not help himself and he was pushed next to some towels and dishrags. How awful! Finally he landed in the lap of a big tablecloth along with some other napkins. Nathan felt strange. He hated to say it, but he felt a little different. He was clean. Then he was put in a dryer with all of the other pieces of cloth and jumbled around again. Back and forth, up and down, inside, outside and very warm. When this was over, Nathan thought it was a rough ride but he felt better being both clean and dry. He was glad for his companions also. The dishrags and towels and tablecloth looked very nice as well. Pretty soon Nathan was taken to the ironing board where a very nice person stroked him with a warm iron and made him flat and beautiful. Now he only needed to be folded and put back in the drawer. It was a good feeling and he believed he had learned some things.
Nathan knew he was meant to be more than just beautiful. He was more than just a decoration. He had a purpose and that purpose was to serve important guests at a beautiful table. It was a lesson called humility, and he learned it well, so well that he never forgot for as long as he lived.
This is the kind of lesson all of us must learn. We must learn that we are children of God and that we are to follow the plan that God has for us. If we follow his word, and we will not always understand why we should do things God asks us to do, we will be made better people and true servants of a holy God.
The Immediate Word, February 16, 2003, issue.
Copyright 2003 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
A powerful thread in the lectionary texts for February 16 is healing, and we believe that's an especially timely theme. Impending war, nuclear proliferation, and a struggling economy are not the only ailments facing the people in your pews; for many of them, the crisis facing our agents of healing touches their lives even more directly.
While physicians stage protests over spiraling malpractice insurance premiums, it is becoming ever more difficult for many of us to afford the price of prescription drugs. So where can we find restorative healing for body, mind, and spirit? In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Carlos Wilton discusses that important topic, basing his approach on the colorful story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5:1-14. He suggests that all of us (both nationally and individually) could use a dose of humility.
We're providing you a wealth of material today. In addition to Carlos' work on the topic, worship resources from Larry Hard, and a children's sermon from Wesley Runk, we've also included an alternative approach from team member George Murphy related to the gospel text for the week, a dramatic sketch related to the Naaman story from Immediate Word editor Stan Purdum, and an imaginative take by noted storyteller John Sumwalt on where we might find a contemporary Naaman, as well as team comments and related illustrations. John Sumwalt's piece also appears in the current issue of StoryShare, another new subscription service offered by CSS. To learn more about StoryShare, click here.
The Prophet's Prescription
By Carlos E. Wilton
2 Kings 5:1-14
The Message on a Postcard
A wealthy and powerful visitor from abroad, afflicted with an incurable illness, tries Dr. Elisha's brand of alternative medicine. The prophet's prescription is bizarre -- but it works. What the good doctor prescribes, in the case of Naaman of Syria, is humility.
Yes, humility: a difficult virtue to achieve, for a general who's used to having his every whim satisfied. In desperation, the haughty Naaman takes the advice of a nameless slave girl and humbles himself before the ornery prophet. Turns out that's just what he needs.
Health care is front-page news these days, as doctors march up and down with placards, and lawyer-legislators fend off tort reform. There's not much humility on either side of the picket line, it seems. Maybe if we all had a bit more of that scarce virtue, we could untangle the health-care funding mess we're in.
Some Words on the Word
There is some considerable controversy as to the nature of the disease from which Naaman is suffering. Commentators have traditionally thought it to be leprosy (Hansen's Disease), although it now appears it was some other skin disease. As D.N. Freeman writes in the Anchor Bible Dictionary:
"The nature of Naaman's leprosy is not exactly clear, although it can be assumed from v. 27 that it was a disease of the skin. It was therefore not "Hansen's Disease" (Cochrane 1963; Pilch 1985), and not something for which Naaman, unlike Uzziah (2 Kings 15:5), was forced into quarantine.1
John Gray agrees: "Naaman's leprosy was obviously not of that kind which debarred him from society, so that it was an embarrassing skin disease, but not as serious as leprosy proper, for which ancient ritual law prescribed isolation (Leviticus 13:45ff.)."2
The disease described (and proscribed) in Leviticus 13 and 14 is not the sort of disease Naaman has: for he travels to Israel with an entourage, and there is no indication of quarantine. Even so, it's likely that his disease brought him suffering, as well as some degree of ritual uncleanness, from the Jewish point of view -- especially since Elisha's message encourages him to "wash ... and be clean" (5:10).
The king of Israel's extreme reaction to news of Naaman's imminent arrival is not surprising, given the current geopolitical realities. Naaman's entreaty brings the king a great diplomatic opportunity, should he be able to point his powerful visitor to a cure; but it also brings him great risk, should he be unable to help. Verse 7 indicates that the king fears Naaman's visit as a deliberate provocation, an attempt to "pick a quarrel" that the king could only lose.
Freedman again writes: "Externally, such a visit of a high-ranking officer of Aram-Damascus to Israel is most unusual against the background of the almost continual conflict between the two countries. The reign of the king was a time of warfare with only minor intervals of peace (1 Kings 20:1--34; 22:1--40)....
"During this period there were short times of peace, and from the stories of Elisha (2 Kings 8:7--15), there is an account of a close relationship between the prophet and the king of Aram-Damascus, Ben Hadad. Whether this cordiality extended to the diplomatic level is not clear, but it should be noted that the two sides were not averse to burying their differences in the face of a common enemy."3
The Naaman story is about an uneven and surprising distribution of power. Those who traditionally hold power (the king) prove unable to exercise it effectively, and those who have little or no power (Elisha, the nameless slave girl) end up making all the difference. Freedman again: "The story also contains what can only be called a comedy of manners, almost bordering on a farce. It is the servants, the slave girl (2 Kings 5:2--3) and the servants of Naaman (vv. 13--14), who aid the process of healing, whereas the important characters, such as the kings, misunderstand the situation and almost start a war."4
The big winner, of course, is Yahweh (and Elisha, who is Yahweh's prophet). The mighty Naaman ends up converting to the religion of Israel -- and is so serious about it that he begs Elisha to give him a quantity of Israelite soil, on which he may properly conduct sacrifices once he returns home. In a further twist (in the subsequent pericope, beyond the limits of today's lectionary passage), Elisha's servant Gehazi proves duplicitous, and is punished by being given the same disease from which Naaman had recently suffered.
"Thus the conversion story is concluded with an 'excommunication' story. The 'outsider' Naaman becomes an Israelite 'insider,' religiously speaking, while the 'insider' Gehazi became an Israelite outsider."5
A Map of the Message
"When your water breaks, call your lawyer." -- sign carried by a striking physician at Christ Hospital in Jersey City.6
Health has been very much in the news lately, with stories about physicians on strike, President Bush's proposal for African AIDS relief, and continuing concerns about the threat of bio-terrorism.
Illness is a great equalizer in human society. The wealthy may indeed have better access to health care than the poor, but no amount of money can completely eliminate the risk of disease. In the last analysis, wealth and power matter little: we all have bodies, and when they're sick, we're equally dependent on God to work through whatever medical techniques are available.
Elisha seems singularly unimpressed with wealth and power. When the mighty Naaman comes calling, he doesn't even come out to meet him. (This is in marked contrast to the response of the king of Israel; he's as deferential toward the visiting general as Elisha is bold.) Clearly, the author considers the prophet a more important figure than the king; for it is upon Elisha that the power of Yahweh rests.
As for the young captive girl, she's got three strikes against her in that culture: she is a youth, a captive, and a female. Yet she is the only one in the story (apart from Elisha) who has true faith. Her only hope for getting back to her homeland is the death of Naaman, but instead she has compassion and tells him where to find life. It is the powerless one who does the right thing in the midst of terrible circumstances, thereby bringing healing.
An interesting sermon angle would be to ponder the relation of money and life in our culture. To what extent do we -- consciously or unconsciously -- place a financial value on human life? We're proud of having abolished slavery, but do we not still place a value on human life, the way our health-care system is configured? A great many Americans -- particularly our older citizens -- find themselves between a rock and a hard place when it comes to paying for prescription medications. News stories have documented a significant flow of travelers between the United States and Canada or Mexico, seeking less-expensive drugs. When it comes to medical-malpractice lawsuits (the reason for the doctors' strike), there is a tendency to try to quantify the value of intangibles like pain and suffering.
What cures Naaman is not money (not even the absurd amount of precious metal he brings with him). It's the intervention of God, who is sovereign and free. Naaman encounters God only when he divests himself of everything that sets him apart as a mover-and-shaker in his society: when he enters the river, naked as on the day he was born. Elisha's teaching him a lesson in radical dependence on the Lord.
In other words, humility is a prerequisite to healing. Healing is not guaranteed to all who approach God with humility -- yet it's hard to imagine any healing taking place without a humble approach. It takes a while for Naaman to get to that point; his initial reaction to Elisha's prescription is extreme anger. (He chooses to read an ethnic slur into the prophet's insistence that the rivers of Aram are not good enough, that only the river Jordan will do.)
This story stirred up enmity between nations even centuries later, in Jesus' time. When, in Luke, Jesus preaches on this text in his home synagogue, his listeners run him out of town and try to push him over a cliff. All this is in reaction to Jesus' words in Luke 4:27: "There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman, the Syrian."
A friend who pastors a church in Rochester, Minnesota tells me he's noticed a change, in recent years, in the international clientele of that city's world-renowned Mayo Clinic. Prior to 9/11, large numbers of wealthy Arabs regularly traveled to Rochester to avail themselves of the Clinic's services. Most of them are now utilizing hospitals in Germany instead. Whether this change is due to stricter post-9/11 visa regulations, or a growing enmity toward the United States, is hard to determine. That situation is remarkably parallel to Naaman's.
Notes
1 Freedman, D. N., "Naaman," in The Anchor Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), vol. 4, 968.
2 I and II Kings (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1964 and 1970), 504.
3 Freedman, 968.
4 Freedman, 968.
5 Frank Anthony Spina, in The Lectionary Commentary: The First Readings, The Old Testament and Acts (Grand Rapids: Eeerdmans, 2001), 252.
6 Iver Peterson, "New Jersey Doctors Hold Back Services in Protest," New York Times, February 4, 2003.
Team Comments
Carter Shelley responds: As usual you have a plethora of material to offer ministers choosing to preach on the Elisha, Naaman, slave girl, etc., text with the contemporary link of health concerns, their treatment and humility before prophets, God, and the limits of human ability and the human lifespan. Here are a few comments to add to an already rich offering:
I'm not sure Americans have much of a concept of humility. We are a nation of proclaimed "self-made men" (sic) even though many of us have started with a leg-up on other folks due to our being born into educated, prosperous, middle-class homes. Nevertheless, we do come with a sense of "I've worked hard to: a) become a physician, b) become wealthy, c) become a famous rapper or rock star; therefore, I can (and should) enjoy the fruits of my own labors." But, like the slave girl, there are many people in our country who work very hard and do not ever see financial or social recognition rewards worthy of their effort. Like Israel as it came to forget its previous slave status and nomadic wilderness status once they were a political nation, we tend to forget that all we have comes from God -- life, health, opportunity, success, freedom. By the grace of God we possess it, and as with Job, it can all disappear despite our own efforts to hang on to it all. Humility starts with recognition that we belong to God and all that we have comes from God and is meant to be used in the service of God.
When we focus so much of our life and energy and money on good health and the seeking of long life for all, we demonstrate our lack of faith in the future God promises in Jesus Christ after this life concludes. That doesn't mean I oppose medical research, expensive essential procedures, or even an increase in taxes to better underwrite Medicare, Medicaid, and prescription expenses for people on limited fixed incomes; I support all of those things. I do believe, though, that we want perfection from human beings who cannot provide it, and when it doesn't happen lawsuits ensue.
All doctors get sued, by the way, regardless of their skill or competence. It's like the person suing McDonalds for his current bad health after years of bad eating habits. He is accountable himself, but he wants to blame someone else and get rich in the process. This same dynamic occurs with medical physicians, those who shouldn't be in practice and those who should. Obstetricians are the most sued of physicians because so much can go wrong prior to delivery and during delivery that the doctor cannot prevent, yet he or she gets the blame.
Your biblical background information and insights offer a solid basis for a sermon this week. I particularly like your noting of the rhetorical nuances, noting who greets Naaman and who waits for Naaman to follow orders rather than give them. I presume that the seven bathings rather than one fits the same kind of motive as prayers not being answered yes or no, after one or two attempts, but requiring effort, commitment, inconvenience, and openness to God's action rather than one's own control.
Your illustration concerning the importance of living in the now and not always in the future is a sound one. My students and I read C. S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters for class last week. One of the insidious behaviors the devil Screwtape urges his nephew Wormwood to employ with the human subject assigned him is to keep the human always worried about the future. That way, he will never be able to relish the present, recognize its value, live for that present, and savor the experience. How many of us live always in the future? It is a hard thing not to do. Moreover, how many of us do not respond to a life-threatening medical diagnosis with anything but resentment, fear, and the protest, "But I haven't had enough time! I'm not ready to die yet!" Lewis points out in Screwtape that we all think time belongs to us. Thus we are irritated if anyone dares to intrude upon our time without our permission. Who ever said time was ours? Time, like everything else, belongs to God. What we do with it now is what matters.
George Murphy responds: My main concern would be that the connection between the theme of humility in the text and the current issues of healthcare -- expense, doctors striking, etc. -- is addressed only briefly and in general terms. How is the problem of availability of health care to be dealt with? Who needs a change in attitude -- doctors, lawyers, the general public -- and how will humility help them to do this?
To put it more pointedly: Suppose there's a person in the congregation with skin cancer -- a parallel to Naaman's situation. How is he or she supposed to put the "prescription" of humility into practice? Just do what the doctor says, as Naaman finally did? Most patients do that anyway but it doesn't have a lot to do with humility.
Some of your quotations suggest that we need to get rid of the idea that medicine can solve all our problems and accept our mortality. Okay, but that isn't the problem highlighted by striking doctors. Modern scientific medicine can prevent and cure a lot of ailments, give longer life, and so forth (and if this be the Enlightenment, make the most of it). The problem is that many people can't afford it and now apparently some physicians can't afford to practice it.
You write: "An interesting sermon angle would be to ponder the relation of money and life in our culture. To what extent do we place a financial value on human life? We're proud of having abolished slavery, but do we not still place a value on human life, the way our health-care system is configured?" Yes, we should not, in theory, put a financial value on human life, practice "economic triage" and so forth. But talk about the infinite value of a human life runs up against the reality that our resources aren't infinite. As long as the world is finite (something the environmental movement should have taught us to continually be aware of), we will have to make decisions about the allocation of our finite resources for health care. Certainly we can allocate more resources for that than we do, and certainly we can allocate them more fairly. But we will never be able to allocate unlimited medical expertise, medication, technology, etc., to each person in need.
Finally, what's involved in the text is not just personal but national humility: "Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?" Well, no, it turns out that they aren't!
An Alternative Approach
Soft-Hearted and Tough-Minded
George L. Murphy
Matthew 9:35-10:8, 16; Mark 1:40-45
"It was a gut-wrenching experience for him." You've probably heard that before -- it's a rather crude expression but it gets the point across. You could translate one phrase from both of the gospel readings in that way. When Jesus saw the crowds, "he was moved with compassion for them." The Greek word for having compassion comes from the word for intestines, splangchna and splangchnizomai. It was gut-wrenching for him -- or "heart-rending" if you want to be a little more polite.
That word is used several times in the gospels. When Jesus saw a widow whose son had died, "he had compassion on her." Jesus is "soft-hearted." The needs of people reach and affect him. He wants to help, and much of his ministry is one of helping people in need, and especially healing those who are sick. In the Matthew reading he extends this ministry by sending out the Twelve on the same mission. The words that describe their task are the same ones used of Jesus' work -- "to cure every disease and every sickness." And their motive -- the motive of all Jesus' disciples -- is to be the same. We are to be open to people's needs, to allow the sufferings of others to be gut-wrenching experiences for ourselves. We are called to be soft-hearted.
I don't want to push that idiom too far, but it does help us to bring out an important distinction. We are to be soft-hearted. We are not called to be soft-headed. In fact, Christians are to be not only compassionate but also tough-minded, "as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves."
Being soft-hearted means sharing the feelings of others and wanting to help. Being tough-minded means realizing that feelings alone don't solve problems. If you're really going to be able to help the other person, you have to be able to evaluate the situation coolly and objectively, without letting your emotions get in the way. If you have to go to the Emergency Room, you hope that the doctor you see will be motivated by a desire to help people, but you don't want her to be so overcome with pity that she can't assess your problem accurately.
Unfortunately the need to be tough-minded can often serve as an excuse to avoid doing anything about people in need. Yes, we really do feel compassion for the sick and hungry and oppressed -- but often their problems are their own fault. I've got my own family to look out for. We have to use our resources prudently. Business is business.
That's all, to some extent, true. But being tough-minded means looking past excuses, rationalizations, and superficial rhetoric. We are to start with compassion for those in need and then use our brains as best we can to see how to do something that actually will help them, not simply think of reasons why we can't help. Otherwise our expressions of compassion are empty.
There's an important contemporary example of this that's connected closely with the healing ministry of Jesus -- the problem of health care in our communities and in the whole country. That's the scale on which we ought to be looking at things if we're really concerned about those who are in need: Most of us won't be literally like the Good Samaritan and have individual encounters with a stranger who needs to be cared for. In modern society a ministry of healing has to be social and not just individual. And health care is especially relevant for us because it's an issue that St. Paul's Peace and Justice Committee has been looking at recently.
Very briefly, health care in the United States is technically great. We have doctors and nurses with excellent training and the latest drugs and medical technologies. But many people, especially the working poor, can't afford health insurance. For some of us that's not a problem. But if you've had to be involved with the system for those who have required extensive care, as I was with my parents, you begin to see the difficulties. There are huge hospital bills that are negotiated down and mostly paid by the insurance company. And that's great -- except that you realize how disastrous it could be for someone without insurance, or for whom even a modest co-pay would wipe out a good part of the grocery budget.
For many people looking for a job, health care benefits are almost more important than salary. Some are making ends meet by working two or three part-time jobs which don't provide any medical benefits. So they're working full time, but simply can't afford insurance.
What passes for tough mindedness on this issue is often just reciting of slogans -- "socialized medicine" and so forth. That's not an answer. If you think that some proposed solution to the problem would involve too much government interference -- okay, what's an alternative? The point is that if we really care about the needs of others, we're going to want to see that there's some way in which basic health care can be available for everybody. Details can be debated, but for Christians the basic principle shouldn't be in doubt. Saying, "Am I my brother's keeper?" and shrugging off responsibility isn't an option for us.
Prayers for healing and traditional ministries to the sick and suffering continue to be important for the church. But the cutting edge of the church's ministry of healing at this time and in this country is in the area of social justice, with the problem of making available affordable health care for everyone. That is perhaps not a very religious sounding issue, but it's where we are led if we follow the example of Jesus.
"When he saw the crowds, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." And he sent out his disciples "to cure every disease and every illness." The ability that we have today to prevent diseases and to heal those who are ill, with all the benefits of modern medical technology, would have been considered miraculous in Jesus' time. We should thank God for the scientific advances that have made them possible and for the men and women who are skilled in their uses. But the church is called to do more than to give thanks. If we really are moved with compassion, if we really are tough-minded, we will be active in seeing that these marvels of medical science actually get to the people who need them.
A Story-Illustration
Naaman's Story
by John E. Sumwalt
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.
2 Kings 5:1
Naaman was a man like Norman Schwarzkopf or Colin Powell of our own time, a hero of the nation, a commander of the army, held in high regard by the commander-in-chief because of his victories in battle. Imagine the reaction of the American public if it became known that such a man, though a mighty warrior, had AIDS. And can you imagine what the reaction would be if the President of the United States sent our Naaman off to visit the President of Cuba, let's say, carrying a letter like the one the King of Aram sent to the King of Israel? Do you think Mr. Castro might have reason to wonder about our President's intentions?
The general would arrive in Havana on Air Force One, carrying a trunkload of American dollars, a couple of Cadillacs, and several tickets to next year's Super Bowl game. A limousine would whisk him off to the prophet's house, where he would be met by a secretary wearing latex gloves and bearing a message from the prophet telling him to go wash in the Bay of Pigs. We can understand why a general of the United States Army might be infuriated by such a suggestion. The Persian Gulf or the Panama Canal maybe, but not the Bay of Pigs!
Naaman would have been well aware that it was just east of the Jordan, in the time of the Israelite King Ahab, that his nation had suffered one of its most ignominious defeats. One hundred thousand Aramaean soldiers were slaughtered by the Israelites and the Aramaean king was captured. Wash in the Jordan indeed! But somehow his advisors were able to convince him to do it. And he was healed, as he had hoped, but not in the way he expected.
Naaman, whose power in Aram was second only to that of the king, could find no healing there. The Spirit, through the most unlikely voice of a young slave girl, sent him to another nation, to the prophet of a God he did not know.
Through whom will the spirit speak to us? In what dirty little river will God have us wash our leprous church?
(This story appears in the February 16, 2003, installment of StoryShare. To learn more about StoryShare and to view sample issues, click here.)
Related Illustrations
Our dominant cultural and medical approaches to suffering and death are characterized by complaint and optimism. People tend to be optimistic that any illness or wound can be treated and cured. If for some reason that does not seem possible, we shift into a mode of complaint -- complaint about the pain being endured, complaint that medical technology has not progressed rapidly enough, complaint that we are not devoting enough resources to saving the lives of those we care about.... In Practicing Our Faith, Amy Plantinga Pauw notes that the Christian practice of dying well should be shaped not by complaint and optimism, but by lament and hope.
-- L. Gregory Jones, dean of Duke Divinity School, in "Shaped By Lament and Hope," on the Christian Century website, April 28, 1999.
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Although a precise link cannot be established between leprosy (Hansen's Disease) and the disease from which Naaman suffered, perhaps the story of Father Damien of Molokai could still be used as an illustration: http://library.damien.edu/damienstory.htm
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At the feast of ego, everyone leaves hungry.
-- Anonymous
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It is God's nature to make something out of nothing. That is why God cannot make anything out of [one] who is not yet nothing.
-- Martin Luther
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Hidden in this broken body of the leper, Lazarus, the beggar, you find a human being who has touched the essence of his humanity, whereas many people who are rich and powerful are hiding their humanity. They don't really know who they are. They don't really know that they are a little child crying out for love. Aristotle says something quite extraordinary. He says, "If you feel you are not loved, you seek to be admired." That's to say you want to be brilliant, you want power, you want to have people looking at you, but you don't quite know who you are yourself....
-- Jean Vanier, founder of the L'Arche Christian community, dedicated to ministering to mentally disabled adults; quoted in The Prism E-Pistle, Wednesday, June 7, 2000, the bi-weekly e-zine of Evangelicals for Social Action.
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The following is reminiscent of Elisha's instruction to Naaman to go bathe in the river:
"Meister Eckhart, who repeats this message dozens of times in his writings, points out that the word 'humility' comes from the word humus or earth. In the creation tradition, then, to be humble means to be in touch with the earth, in touch with one's own earthiness, and to celebrate the blessing that our earthiness, our sensuality, and our passions are."
-- Matthew Fox, Original Blessing (Santa Fe: Bear and Co., 1983), 59.
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Perhaps there are some echoes of Elisha's treatment of Naaman in this story:
This true story happened in New England many years ago. The governor of Massachusetts, Christian Herter, was running for reelection in a tough campaign. One day he arrived late for a barbecue in a small town. It had been a hectic day. There was no time for breakfast or lunch, and Christian was famished.
As he moved down the serving line he held out his plate and received one piece of chicken ... a small, scrawny leg! The governor said to the serving lady, "Excuse me, do you mind if I have another piece of chicken. I'm very hungry." The woman replied, "Sorry, I'm supposed to give one piece to each person." He repeated, "But I haven't had any breakfast or lunch today. I'm starving." "Sorry, mister, I've got my orders. Only one piece per person."
Herter was normally a modest man, but hunger drove him to put the full weight of his office on this situation. He said, "Madam, do you know who I am? I am the governor of this state." There, that should get some action.
Undaunted, she replied, "Mister, do you know who I am? I am the lady in charge of the chicken! Now move along!"
-- Dave Beckett on Ecunet, March 30, 1995
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Nothing is as hard to do gracefully as getting down off your high horse.
-- Anonymous
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We are like the participants in a story told by Rabbi Shelton Donnell of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple:
It was Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, said Rabbi Donnell, and the Senior Rabbi of the temple was waxing eloquent before his congregation on the importance of true penitence. At the climax of his oration, he raised his arms before the Ark of the Covenant, cried, "O Lord, I am nothing, I am nothing!" and threw himself face forward onto the floor. The cantor, witnessing this great outburst of piety, realized that it must be augmented by his own confession.
Standing before the Ark, he too cried out, "O Lord, I am nothing, I am nothing!" and threw himself down beside the rabbi. It was an awkward moment for the president of the congregation, who did not wish to be outdone in holiness, so he too stood, lamented, "O Lord, I am nothing, I am nothing!" and joined the others on the floor. At this point, a small man in the balcony had become so caught up in the spirit of confession that he also stood up, cried, "O Lord, I am nothing, I am nothing!" and threw himself onto the floor. The president of the congregation, recognizing the voice from the balcony and looking up to confirm his suspicions, leaned across the cantor to the Senior Rabbi and said, "Look who thinks he's nothing!"
-- John Killinger
A Drama to Accompany the Sermon
Suggestion: You might wish to run Scene 1 before starting your sermon. Then run Scene 2 near the end of the sermon.
The Prescription*
by Stan Purdum
*(c) 1999 by Drama Ministry.
Permission is hereby granted to subscribers to The Immediate Word
to use this script in their churches.
Scene 1
Young woman talking on telephone
Kathy: (into phone) Scott, you should really try to get up here to visit Daddy. He looks awful. Maybe it would help him to see you. (listens) Yes, that's what I mean. He hasn't looked good since Mom died. (listens) What? Yes, he's been to the doctor -- several of them, in fact, including some his own doctor didn't approve of. But nothing seems to help, and it's been more than a year now. (listens) I wish you were here. I spend as much time as I can with him, but you know, with Chuck and the kids, I can't be over there as much as Daddy needs. (listens) I know, but -- (knock on door).
Oh, somebody's at the door. Yes. I'll call you later. Okay. I will. Bye.
(answers door) Daddy!
Dad: Hi, Sweetie. (steps in; kisses her)
Kathy: I was just talking to Scott. If I'd known it was you at the door I'd have kept him on the line so you could say hello.
Dad: That's okay. He calls me. I talked to him the other day.
Kathy: Here, sit down. I didn't know you were coming. (they both sit)
Dad: I have an appointment over on Seventh, and I'm a few minutes early. Am I interrupting?
Kathy: Of course not. I'm glad you stopped. What kind of appointment?
Dad: It's a doctor.
Kathy: (skeptically) A real doctor this time, I hope? That last guy you went to with the "natural herbal healing" program certainly didn't relieve you of much except several hundred dollars. And the acupuncture before that --
Dad: Well, actually, this one's a shrink.
Kathy: A psychiatrist? Well, maybe that's a good idea. Your regular doctor doesn't seem to have been able to help you.
Dad: Aw, it's not his fault. Doc Burson's okay for a pill pusher, but maybe what I'm sick with is something pills can't help.
Kathy: Does Doctor Burson at least approve of this psychiatrist?
Dad: Actually, Burson is the one who recommended him. He's supposed to be really good. Burson claims that this guy's helped people other doctors have given up on. I hope he can do something for me. I don't want to go on like this much longer.
Kathy: Daddy, I know how much you miss Mom, but you have to move on. Scott and I have had to. And we still need you. You have to get a grip on life again.
Dad: (halfheartedly) I know. But I just can't seem to. After 37 years together ... (starts to get weepy)
Kathy: (moves to him and puts her arm around him) Come on, Daddy. Maybe this psychiatrist will be the answer. Did Doctor Burson tell you what kind of therapy he uses?
Dad: (regaining his composure) Not really; just that he's good. But after the big buildup Burson gave him, I expect it will be some new kind of treatment. Maybe something revolutionary. It will have to be. The old methods haven't worked.
Kathy: I just hope it's covered by your medical insurance.
Dad: I won't care, as long as it works. It's got to work. It's my last hope.
Kathy: Don't say that, Daddy.
Dad: Sorry, Kathy. I know I've not been very much help to you through this. But I don't know what I'll do if this doesn't work out. I think Burson is out of ideas too. (glances at his watch) Oh, it's almost time for my appointment. I'd better go. (they both stand)
Kathy: Would you like me to go with you?
Dad: No, I've got to do some of this myself. And if he's half as good as Doc Burson says, maybe you won't have to babysit me much longer.
Kathy: (walking him to door) Okay, but why don't you stop back afterward? I'll be here all afternoon. I'm anxious to hear what he recommends.
Dad: Okay. I will. (she kisses him goodbye; he exits)
Scene 2
Kathy sits reading paper. Knock on door.
Kathy: (answering door) Hi, Daddy.
Dad: (dejected; walks in heavily; sits)
Kathy: (alarmed) What's wrong? Didn't it go well?
Dad: Complete waste of time.
Kathy: Oh, no. Why? What happened?
Dad: Not much. He just had me tell him how I felt and what I'd tried.
Kathy: That's it?
Dad: Well, he asked some questions.
Kathy: Didn't he prescribe any medication?
Dad: Nothing.
Kathy: No new therapy?
Dad: Not really.
Kathy: What do you mean, "Not really"?
Dad: (disgusted) Well, he did tell me I should learn to pray.
Kathy: (surprised, but not quite disapproving) Pray?
Dad: I can't believe it. He's a big-name guy. Powerful reputation. Supposed to be on the cutting edge of medicine. He gets a hundred bucks an hour and he tells me something I could have heard in church for nothing.
Kathy: When is the last time you went to church, Daddy?
Dad: What? Oh, not since your mother's funeral. I can't believe he told me I should learn to pray. I prayed for all I was worth when your mother was sick, and it didn't do her any good.
Kathy: We don't know that. Maybe it did something for her.
Dad: Yeah, but she still died. I'm going home. (stands)
Kathy: Daddy, I ...
Dad: I love you, Kathy. Thanks for listening. (starts for door) I gotta go.
Kathy: Daddy, wait a minute!
Dad: There's not much more to say.
Kathy: Look, if this doctor had told you to try an expensive new medicine, you'd have tried it, right?
Dad: Yeah. So?
Kathy: Or if he had recommended attending a support group, you'd have gone to it.
Dad: I guess so.
Kathy: What if he'd advised you to do some oddball physical exercise?
Dad: Look, Kathy, I feel so bad, that if he'd have told me that going out and howling at the moon would help, I'd probably have done it.
Kathy: Then maybe you should try what he did recommend.
Dad: Pray? You mean I should just pray?
Kathy: Yeah, Daddy. I guess I do.
Lights Out.
(c) 1999 by Drama Ministry. For more scripts to accompany preaching, visit www.dramaministry.com or call toll-free 866-859-7622.
Worship Resources
By Larry Hard
WORDS OF PRAISE
Leader: From God comes life and health.
People: Thanks be to God for mind and body
Leader: From God comes healing and hope
People: Thanks be to God for health care providers
Leader: From God comes the will to be well
People: Thanks be to God for the power of faith
Leader: From God comes desire to care for the sick
People: Thanks be to God for those who care and pray.
HYMNS OF PRAISE
"O Christ, the Healer"
"I'll Praise My Maker While I've Breath"
"Maker in Whom We Live"
SONGS OF PRAISE
"Jesus Be Praised" (words and music by Handt Hanson)
"Mothering God, You Gave Me Birth" (words: Jean Janzen)
"God Is Here Today"
GUIDED CONFESSION
The worship leader invites all to listen and pray in silence:
Confess to God your insensitivity to the pain of those you know who are sick and suffering. (Silence)
Confess your failure to pray for those who have health needs of body and mind (Silence)
Confess ways you do not phone, visit, or send notes of care to those who are ill at home or in the hospital (Silence)
Confess your disregard for appeals to give for the health needs of those in our country and around the world (Silence)
Confess your lack of compassion for those who live with pain and those without medical help.
PRAYER FOR PARDON
May God who came in Jesus to heal the sick and to offer forgiveness to all who receive the good news, heal us in body, mind, and spirit. Restore to us the joy of our salvation.
SUNG PRAYER RESPONSE
"Heal Us, Emmanuel, Hear Our Prayer"
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
Following each petition, respond by saying: "GOD WHO HEALS, HEAR OUR PRAYER"
We pray for persons of all nations for whom health care is not available.
We pray for those of our world who cannot afford available health care.
We pray for health care systems that are just and fair for physicians and health care providers.
We pray for those in medical research that they discover better ways to relieve suffering and cure diseases.
We pray for medical missionaries as they minister day by day in places of need around the world.
We pray that our elected leaders will place a priority on meeting health care needs in our nation and all nations.
Leader: God, in your mercy, hear our prayers. As Jesus had compassion on all who suffer in body, mind, and spirit, may that same compassion fill our hearts because we worship here today and respond to your Spirit. Amen.
HYMNS
"When Jesus the Healer Passed Through Galilee"
"Heal Me, Hands of Jesus"
SONG:
"God Weeps" (words: Shirley Murray)
"There Is a Balm in Gilead" (African-American spiritual)
A Children's Sermon
2 Kings 5:1-14
Text: 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!" (v. 11)
Object: a linen napkin
Let me tell you a story. I have a beautiful friend by the name of Nathan Napkin. Nathan is made from the finest linen. By himself he is beautiful, but when he is ironed and folded just right, he is the finest looking napkin in the whole world. Most of the time Nathan is kept in a china closet drawer with other linen napkins. They are not as beautiful as Nathan, but they are also made of fine cloth.
One day, Nathan was taken out of the drawer and placed on a beautiful dining room table. There he was with all of the fine plates and glasses and silver dinnerware. Nathan looked around and decided that this is where he really belonged. What a beautiful table, what beautiful dishes and silverware! And most of all, Nathan thought he looked the most beautiful of all. The guests arrived and the most important guest sat where Nathan was placed. In just a few minutes, the guest took Nathan and unfolded him and placed Nathan on his lap. Nathan was a little disappointed since he was no longer folded and he couldn't see the plates or silverware, but he was still proud of being on the lap of the most important guest. And then things began to happen. First, the guest dropped some of the salad dressing on Nathan. Pretty soon a drop or two of coffee plunked down on Nathan. "Oh, no," said Nathan, "I am being ruined."
But that was only the beginning. The guest picked him up and wiped his lips and now Nathan had food all over him. Nathan thought he would die, he was so humiliated. When the dinner was over the guest put Nathan back on the table as a crumpled up ball of cloth. Nathan looked around. The dishes were dirty, the silverware had been used, the candles were dripping, and everything had changed. Nothing was beautiful at all. Before long someone came and cleaned off the table and Nathan was thrown into a basket of dirty laundry. What a humiliating experience. Nathan felt like he would never again be the same. Nathan was angry and hurt, and he pouted. What else could happen to him? He tried to bury himself in the basket where no one could find him.
But someone did find Nathan and they put him into a washing machine. First there was water and then there was soap and he was jiggled all over the washing machine. He could not help himself and he was pushed next to some towels and dishrags. How awful! Finally he landed in the lap of a big tablecloth along with some other napkins. Nathan felt strange. He hated to say it, but he felt a little different. He was clean. Then he was put in a dryer with all of the other pieces of cloth and jumbled around again. Back and forth, up and down, inside, outside and very warm. When this was over, Nathan thought it was a rough ride but he felt better being both clean and dry. He was glad for his companions also. The dishrags and towels and tablecloth looked very nice as well. Pretty soon Nathan was taken to the ironing board where a very nice person stroked him with a warm iron and made him flat and beautiful. Now he only needed to be folded and put back in the drawer. It was a good feeling and he believed he had learned some things.
Nathan knew he was meant to be more than just beautiful. He was more than just a decoration. He had a purpose and that purpose was to serve important guests at a beautiful table. It was a lesson called humility, and he learned it well, so well that he never forgot for as long as he lived.
This is the kind of lesson all of us must learn. We must learn that we are children of God and that we are to follow the plan that God has for us. If we follow his word, and we will not always understand why we should do things God asks us to do, we will be made better people and true servants of a holy God.
The Immediate Word, February 16, 2003, issue.
Copyright 2003 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
