Greed
Stories
Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit
Series VI, Cycle C
Object:
Scripture offers a wealth (if I may use that term) of material about greed, about the love of money or possessions, and the disastrous consequences that kind of love can have. Of course, there is Judas who, in his greed, became an accessory to murder; Ananias and Sapphira who lied about the sale price of their property so they could keep some of the money for themselves; the rich young ruler who wanted to follow Jesus but could not bring himself to get rid of his possessions first. First Timothy says, "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (6:10).
There is nothing inherently wrong with money, nor is there anything wrong with having some. Some of the greatest men of the Bible were also some of the richest: Abraham, David, Solomon. To be sure, they had their faults, but the love of money was not one of them. Over the years, some have tried to take Jesus' instruction to one very specific young man about selling what he had and giving it to the poor and make it the rule for every Christian, and that's wrong. It is just as wrong as when people defend their drinking habits on the basis of what Paul told Timothy: "Take a little wine for your stomach's sake" (1 Timothy 5:23 cf). But I guarantee you this -- more people have taken a little wine for the sake of Timothy's stomach than ever sold what they had and gave to the poor for the sake of the rich young ruler. It is just too easy for us to become possessed by our possessions or our desire for them.
Consider our text -- three main characters: Naaman, the wealthy Syrian general; Elisha, the prophet of God; and Gehazi, Elisha's servant and right-hand man. Naaman, powerful though he was, had a serious problem: He was a leper, and nothing anyone had ever tried had been able to cure him. But in the course of one of his battles, one of the prisoners taken was a young girl from Israel who ended up serving Naaman's wife as a handmaid. That young servant must have been a compassionate girl. She saw the misery that the husband of her mistress was in with his leprosy and felt sorry for him. One day, as she saw his pain and anguish, she looked sadly and said, "It's too bad he is not in Israel, because there's a prophet there who could cure him" (2 Kings 5:3 cf).
But you know the story. Naaman did come and was cured after he followed Elisha's instructions. Great stuff. And here is where the story ends if we stop where the lectionary says we can. But if we do, we miss out on so much more.
If we continue, we find a very grateful general who wanted to do something or give something to the prophet in thanks for his deliverance from that dread disease. But Elisha would have none of it. He just sent Naaman on his way back to Syria with the blessing, "Go in peace" (1 Kings 5:19).
What a magnificent story of the grace of God! Simply by coming to him in faith, believing, we can be healed from our sins. There is no gift that we need bring in return. Our salvation, our spiritual healing, is the free gift of a merciful God.
As you know, the story does not end there. Before Naaman got too far down the road, Gehazi came chasing after. He had concocted a little story that would see to it that the general would leave some of his Syrian wealth right there in Samaria, and not just anywhere in Samaria, but with him.
Gehazi probably thought, "What's the difference? He can afford it. He offered it to Elisha anyway. He even seemed a little hurt when the prophet refused to take anything. Now he wouldn't feel so bad. Gehazi, my boy, you just drip with the milk of human kindness. Anyway, why should the general figure that there was no price to be paid? Nothing in this world that's worthwhile is free! It would be good for Naaman's soul to make some sacrifice in payment for his healing. And no one could possibly complain when the recipient of such an offering should turn out to be the humble servant of the prophet of God." Gehazi's greed had gotten the better of him.
Gehazi got to Naaman, told him his little fairy tale, and ended up getting even more than he had asked for. The general was a very generous man and most grateful for what had happened to him. So Gehazi had the money and clothes loaded on his mule and headed back to town. I wouldn't be surprised if, as soon as he got out of sight of Naaman's caravan, he began to sing and dance. Hey, hey, hey! -- magnificent visions of what he would do with his newfound wealth began to pop back and forth in his mind: chariots, women, travel, women, fine food, women. He had never seen such beautiful clothes as those Naaman gave him: Hart, Schaffner, and Lebanon, the best tailors in the Middle East. It was about to become a great life.
But it didn't quite work out that way. Elisha confronted him when he got back home. "Where have you been?" "Nowhere." "Don't lie to me. I know where you've been. You shouldn't have done it, and you're going to have to pay the price. You know that leprosy Naaman lost? Congratulations, you just found it" (2 Kings 5:25-27).
Wow. That was awfully tough punishment for Gehazi's crime. Couldn't Elisha have just fired him? Or even had him arrested? But, leprosy? But then when we think about it, Elisha wasn't doing anything more than completing the process that had already been started by the servant himself. Gehazi's soul had been rotted by greed. Now the body would simply be the mirror of that soul with its rotten flesh. It sounds harsh, but a rotten soul sounds worse.
When scripture says, "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil," we have no problem agreeing. We have a drug problem because people can make big money selling the stuff. We have the Enrons and Worldcoms of Wall Street because people made huge fortunes ripping off the system. We have a system of values that says professional athletes and entertainers are worth far more to society than school teachers or nurses or, dare I suggest it, ministers, and we put our money where our societal mouth is when we set those compensation levels. Maybe the best description of it is "leprous."
So how do we overcome greed? The simplest place to begin is with the realization that we don't really own anything. The psalmist says, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof." That means all of it, even that little bit we think belongs to us. If you own a wristwatch, who will own it in a hundred years? Probably no one ... it will long since have been consigned to the scrap heap. Do you own a pair of shoes? Whose will they be in a hundred years? Probably no one's. They'll have fallen apart. Do you have money? Will you have it in a hundred years? Of course not. You'll be dead. Will your heirs have it? They might, if they don't squander it and inflation doesn't eat it up. The point is that what you think you own, you most assuredly do not! At best, you have it for the length of your earthly life and then it will pass on to someone else.
But Jesus said don't worry about it anyway: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven ... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21). That's interesting. We've all heard "You can't take it with you," but Jesus says, in effect, we can send it on ahead. Perhaps the best way to overcome a greedy nature is to channel it in a heavenly direction.
Greed. Most of us have a little Gehazi in us. Be careful.
There is nothing inherently wrong with money, nor is there anything wrong with having some. Some of the greatest men of the Bible were also some of the richest: Abraham, David, Solomon. To be sure, they had their faults, but the love of money was not one of them. Over the years, some have tried to take Jesus' instruction to one very specific young man about selling what he had and giving it to the poor and make it the rule for every Christian, and that's wrong. It is just as wrong as when people defend their drinking habits on the basis of what Paul told Timothy: "Take a little wine for your stomach's sake" (1 Timothy 5:23 cf). But I guarantee you this -- more people have taken a little wine for the sake of Timothy's stomach than ever sold what they had and gave to the poor for the sake of the rich young ruler. It is just too easy for us to become possessed by our possessions or our desire for them.
Consider our text -- three main characters: Naaman, the wealthy Syrian general; Elisha, the prophet of God; and Gehazi, Elisha's servant and right-hand man. Naaman, powerful though he was, had a serious problem: He was a leper, and nothing anyone had ever tried had been able to cure him. But in the course of one of his battles, one of the prisoners taken was a young girl from Israel who ended up serving Naaman's wife as a handmaid. That young servant must have been a compassionate girl. She saw the misery that the husband of her mistress was in with his leprosy and felt sorry for him. One day, as she saw his pain and anguish, she looked sadly and said, "It's too bad he is not in Israel, because there's a prophet there who could cure him" (2 Kings 5:3 cf).
But you know the story. Naaman did come and was cured after he followed Elisha's instructions. Great stuff. And here is where the story ends if we stop where the lectionary says we can. But if we do, we miss out on so much more.
If we continue, we find a very grateful general who wanted to do something or give something to the prophet in thanks for his deliverance from that dread disease. But Elisha would have none of it. He just sent Naaman on his way back to Syria with the blessing, "Go in peace" (1 Kings 5:19).
What a magnificent story of the grace of God! Simply by coming to him in faith, believing, we can be healed from our sins. There is no gift that we need bring in return. Our salvation, our spiritual healing, is the free gift of a merciful God.
As you know, the story does not end there. Before Naaman got too far down the road, Gehazi came chasing after. He had concocted a little story that would see to it that the general would leave some of his Syrian wealth right there in Samaria, and not just anywhere in Samaria, but with him.
Gehazi probably thought, "What's the difference? He can afford it. He offered it to Elisha anyway. He even seemed a little hurt when the prophet refused to take anything. Now he wouldn't feel so bad. Gehazi, my boy, you just drip with the milk of human kindness. Anyway, why should the general figure that there was no price to be paid? Nothing in this world that's worthwhile is free! It would be good for Naaman's soul to make some sacrifice in payment for his healing. And no one could possibly complain when the recipient of such an offering should turn out to be the humble servant of the prophet of God." Gehazi's greed had gotten the better of him.
Gehazi got to Naaman, told him his little fairy tale, and ended up getting even more than he had asked for. The general was a very generous man and most grateful for what had happened to him. So Gehazi had the money and clothes loaded on his mule and headed back to town. I wouldn't be surprised if, as soon as he got out of sight of Naaman's caravan, he began to sing and dance. Hey, hey, hey! -- magnificent visions of what he would do with his newfound wealth began to pop back and forth in his mind: chariots, women, travel, women, fine food, women. He had never seen such beautiful clothes as those Naaman gave him: Hart, Schaffner, and Lebanon, the best tailors in the Middle East. It was about to become a great life.
But it didn't quite work out that way. Elisha confronted him when he got back home. "Where have you been?" "Nowhere." "Don't lie to me. I know where you've been. You shouldn't have done it, and you're going to have to pay the price. You know that leprosy Naaman lost? Congratulations, you just found it" (2 Kings 5:25-27).
Wow. That was awfully tough punishment for Gehazi's crime. Couldn't Elisha have just fired him? Or even had him arrested? But, leprosy? But then when we think about it, Elisha wasn't doing anything more than completing the process that had already been started by the servant himself. Gehazi's soul had been rotted by greed. Now the body would simply be the mirror of that soul with its rotten flesh. It sounds harsh, but a rotten soul sounds worse.
When scripture says, "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil," we have no problem agreeing. We have a drug problem because people can make big money selling the stuff. We have the Enrons and Worldcoms of Wall Street because people made huge fortunes ripping off the system. We have a system of values that says professional athletes and entertainers are worth far more to society than school teachers or nurses or, dare I suggest it, ministers, and we put our money where our societal mouth is when we set those compensation levels. Maybe the best description of it is "leprous."
So how do we overcome greed? The simplest place to begin is with the realization that we don't really own anything. The psalmist says, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof." That means all of it, even that little bit we think belongs to us. If you own a wristwatch, who will own it in a hundred years? Probably no one ... it will long since have been consigned to the scrap heap. Do you own a pair of shoes? Whose will they be in a hundred years? Probably no one's. They'll have fallen apart. Do you have money? Will you have it in a hundred years? Of course not. You'll be dead. Will your heirs have it? They might, if they don't squander it and inflation doesn't eat it up. The point is that what you think you own, you most assuredly do not! At best, you have it for the length of your earthly life and then it will pass on to someone else.
But Jesus said don't worry about it anyway: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven ... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21). That's interesting. We've all heard "You can't take it with you," but Jesus says, in effect, we can send it on ahead. Perhaps the best way to overcome a greedy nature is to channel it in a heavenly direction.
Greed. Most of us have a little Gehazi in us. Be careful.
