Getting clean by getting your hands dirty

 This week's Bible study is on 2 Kings 5:1-14:

Now Naaman, the commander of the king of Syria’s army, was esteemed and respected by his master, for through him the Lord had given Syria military victories. But this great warrior had a skin disease. Raiding parties went out from Syria and took captive from the land of Israel a young girl, who became a servant to Naaman’s wife. She told her mistress, “If only my master were in the presence of the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his skin disease.”

Naaman went and told his master what the girl from the land of Israel had said. The king of Syria said, “Go! I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman went, taking with him 10 talents of silver, 6,000 shekels of gold, and 10 suits of clothes. He brought the letter to the king of Israel. It read: “This is a letter of introduction for my servant Naaman, whom I have sent to be cured of his skin disease.” When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill or restore life? Why does he ask me to cure a man of his skin disease? Certainly you must see that he is looking for an excuse to fight me!”

When Elisha the prophet heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent this message to the king, “Why did you tear your clothes? Send him to me so he may know there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood in the doorway of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent out a messenger who told him, “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan; your skin will be restored and you will be healed.” Naaman went away angry. He said, “Look, I thought for sure he would come out, stand there, invoke the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the area, and cure the skin disease. The rivers of Damascus, the Abana and Pharpar, are better than any of the waters of Israel! Could I not wash in them and be healed?” So he turned around and went away angry. His servants approached and said to him, “O master, if the prophet had told you to do some difficult task, you would have been willing to do it. It seems you should be happy that he simply said, ‘Wash and you will be healed.’ So he went down and dipped in the Jordan seven times, as the prophet had instructed. His skin became as smooth as a young child’s and he was healed.

In these verses, a young victim of human trafficking nearly causes an international incident by witnessing to her employer. Her employer happened to be the wife of a kingpin in the organization that captured the young girl, and an enemy of her people.

Innocently, this girl points out that God could heal the medical condition her husband has suffered with for so long. The man is so desperate for healing that he's willing to go into enemy territory with a huge amount of wealth, just for a chance at it. When the king of that nation, Israel, hears what he's been asked, he panics! He imagines it's some impossible test he's being set up to fail at, so that his neighbors will have a pretext for all-out war.

Luckily the prophet Elisha finds out and intervenes. He suggests a ridiculous thing: Naaman should go ritually cleanse himself in the dirty nearby river.

Imagine hearing instructions like that, if you had a skin infection. Imagine if you brought a ton of money and had big hopes for a cure, and you instead receive what sounds like an idiot's advice. Naaman is furious and disappointed! He storms off, but his servants talk sense into him and convince him to give Elisha's instructions a try.

Surprisingly it works. He is completely healed.

The most interesting thing about these verses isn't Naaman's miraculous healing, or the way that young slave girl is used to glorify God, but how similar this is to the Christian life. Naaman is looking for a great religious spectacle and to justify that spectacle through his own financial gifts and contributions. Instead, he is asked to go through the motions of atonement in a way that could not possibly accomplish it, while God does sovereign work in a way that could not be mistaken for anything else.

When we approach the Christian life like Naaman, we want showy miracles, not quiet changes. We want to be able to say we've paid our own way, through tithes and offerings, volunteer work, and so on. We'll stay up all night shouting and praying for a manifestation of God's presence, but never read the Bible to find out what he'd probably have said if he'd showed up like we asked. We want the gifts of the Spirit but not to live out its fruits.

When we approach the Christian life like Naaman, the ordinary annoys us. We don't like getting our hands dirty. We don't want to do the common sense good thing. We want fairy tale quests and the ground opening up before us to swallow our enemies. But the path God offers us is less like the outcome Naaman hoped for and more like the miracle Naaman got.

I think, on some level, that a fulfilling experience of God's supernatural favor depends on us doing the mundane things that are asked of us in the Bible. Not in an "earning grace" sense, but because there is a blessing in being obedient. The things we are being asked to do are the things we need to do. They are good for us. Instead of despising the apparent pointlessness of them, we should carry them out in an act of faith.

Enemy Naaman, the outsider, would never have found healing if he had insisted on receiving it only on his terms. No amount of money and treasure could buy what he wanted. Instead, his humble act of obedience unlocked the blessings that were waiting for him.

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