“Stretch Out Your Hand”
A Meditation by the Rev. Dr. Hilary J. Barrett
Preached at Pleasantville UCC, February 15, 2009
2 Kings 5:1-27 & Mark 1:40-45

“A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him,
‘If you choose, you can make me clean.’  Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’ 
Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.”
(Mark 1:40-42)

This morning we are given two stories to study that are both so wonderful it will be hard to treat them together.  But there is value in keeping them yoked because they are, in some senses, mirror images of one another.

These two stories have one obvious thing in common.  They are both about men who are afflicted with the disease called leprosy. 

Now in the Bible, even that description is too polite.  In the Bible, for the most part, having leprosy trumps all other parts of who you are.  You are not a person “afflicted with the disease called leprosy.”  You are, rather, a leper.  Your identity is reduced to and summed up in one word.

So given how prejudiced the scriptures are against people with leprosy, it’s pretty fascinating that these stories are about men who have the disease and who are healed of it through the power of God and the compassion of two healers – the prophet Elisha, and Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Let’s hear the beginning of the first story:

“Na'aman, commander of the army of the king of Syria,
was a great man with his master and in high favor,
 because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria.  
He was a mighty man of valor,
but he was a leper.”

Na’aman, commander of the army of the king of Syria was a great man; a mighty man of valor; a great military commander who had done great things for the King of Syria – giving victory into his hand.  And for that reason he was highly valued by the King of Syria. 

Now one of the first things that we are supposed to take note of as we hear this story is the fact that it is about a military commander of the Syrian king.  Syria was one of Israel’s enemies.  Syria was regularly kicking Israel’s butt.  There is a bit of a question here as to why we should even care that Na’aman suffered with leprosy.  Why don’t we just say, “Good!  Serves him right.”

But the Hebrew scriptures are full of stories about people who are supposed to be our enemies, and how God messes with those categories we set up for ourselves and turns old enmities on their heads.  Ruth was a Moabitess.  The Good Samaritan was…well, a Samaritan..  And here we have a story about Na’aman, a military commander who has been on raids against Israel recently enough so as to have a young servant girl tending to his wife – a girl who was stolen on one of those raids from the nation of Israel.

This is a story with so many twists and turns in it, it must really be read out loud to be appreciated.  So those of you who are reading this at home, you really need to get out your Bible and read the whole story – and slowly – so that you can hear the great surprises and reversals and ironies that the story unfolds.

Na’aman is a mighty man of valor, but he is a leper.  And his leprosy is a sorrow to him and to his king, because people were so afraid of leprosy that anyone who had it was kept apart from the rest of the community.  That was their public health plan.  Separate those who had the disease and hope that the rest of the people didn’t get it.

His servant girl (whom he stole from Israel), cares enough about him that she tells her mistress (Na’aman’s wife) that there is a prophet back in Israel who can cure leprosy.

And so, Na’aman speaks with his king, and his king so values him that he writes a letter to the King of Israel.

Now when Na’aman gets ready to go on this healing journey, he doesn’t go empty handed.  He takes “ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten festal garments.”  He travels on horses and chariots.  In other words, he’s traveling in style and grandeur.  He’s traveling in a manner befitting his station in life.  He may be laid low by leprosy, but he ain’t humbled.  As a matter of fact, he’s so highly defended with all of that stuff he’s carrying, there’s no real opportunity for the kind of healing he needs.  And the thing is -- who could blame him?  When you’ve got leprosy, people talk.  They pretend they don’t, but they do.  You turn your back, and they’re talking about you.  You can feel it.  And it hurts.

Wouldn’t you load up with lots of fancy stuff to protect yourself from that?

So Na’aman arrives at the palace of the King of Israel, hands him the letter from the King of Syria, and the King of Israel shows us what he’s made of.  He whines and weeps and fears that this whole thing is a set up -- he’s been set up to disappoint the King of Syria, thus provoking a catastrophic confrontation between Israel and Syria.

And somewhere, off in the distance, somewhere offstage you can almost hear the prophet Elisha sigh and say, “Oy.”  “Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel."  In other words, let him come to me so he can know there is still someone in Israel who has some sense.

So Na’aman leaves the palace of the King of Israel and makes his way to the humble abode of the prophet Elisha.  But when he gets there, Elisha doesn’t come out to meet him.  As a matter of fact, Elisha just sends one of his servants to convey a message to this mighty man of valor.  "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean."

Well, that wasn’t exactly what Na’aman was looking for.  I mean, Na’aman is a mighty man.  He came all this way with lots of stuff on big horses and with chariots.  He expected something big as a result.  And Elisha sends a servant out to tell him to wash in the river?!  No.  That ain’t right.

So Na’aman storms off in a rage because his pride and ego have been offended by the great prophet Elisha.

Now Na’aman must have been a good master because his servants actually seem to care about him.  And they come after him and they persuade him to go back and try the remedy that Elisha has proposed.  They hit the nail on the head when they say:

"My father, if the prophet had commanded you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much rather, then, when he says to you, `Wash, and be clean'?"

Na’aman is in need of healing, but it may not be the leprosy that’s the biggest problem for him at this point.  There is something else he must do in order to be healed; and that something is to humble himself.  Elisha knows this, and that’s why he set him up the way he did.

So Na’aman goes to the Jordan and washes in it seven times, and the Scriptures tell us that “his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.”

You know, our passage ends here – and that’s certainly a fine place to end.  But the story goes on to include two more additional stories.  The first is that, after being healed, Na’aman returns to show himself to Elisha and give praise to the God of Israel.  He is so grateful that he wants to give presents to Elisha, but Elisha refuses, so Na’aman asks that he be permitted to take home with him some soil from Israel so he can build an altar to the God of Israel and forever worship Him.  Na’aman is permitted to take the earth and is sent forth with a blessing.

The story could end there too.  That’s another great place to end.  But the story continues.

After Na’aman departs, Elisha’s servant, Geha’zi, wonders why his master has not accepted any of the wonderful, valuable gifts that Na’aman brought with him.  So he thinks up a plan.  He goes after Na’aman and makes up some story about Elisha needing the presents after all and Na’aman sends Geha’zi back with two talents of silver and two festal garments.  Geha’zi drops off the gifts at his home and then returns to his master, Elisha.

Now, if your master is a prophet, it’s probably not a good idea to try to pull a fast one over on him.  So Elisha knows what his servant has done, and his rewards for this kind of greed and deceit is the final and perfect conclusion to the story.  The leprosy which left Na’aman transfers to Geha’zi and Elisha promises that this disease will cleave to him and to his descendants forever.  “So he went out from his presence a leper, as white as snow.”

It’s a wonderful story, in and of itself.  But this morning it has been paired with a gospel story which is not nearly so long, nor so complex, but it is in some respects a mirror image of Na’aman’s story because the leper who meets Jesus knows right from the start that he needs healing.  Not only does he know it, but he approaches Jesus in a position of utmost humility: on his knees and begging.

This man does not need to be humbled.  His own awareness of his low estate causes Jesus to have compassion for him and it is Jesus who stretches out his hand to him to heal him.

Two lepers.  Two men in need of healing.  Two men filled with the power of God.  Two stories, though wildly different, share one thing in common.  Healing is something that you have to need.  Healing is something you have to want.  Healing is something that you have to reach for, even as the Lord of Life reaches out to you.

The question is, which leper are you more like?  Are you more likely to come to Jesus on your knees, begging and pleading for healing; aware of your brokenness?  Or are you more likely to show up at the healer’s house, trying to prove how strong you are?  Wanting healing, but wanting it on your terms?  Evidently, according to both of these stories, it matters.

The Lord of Life desires that we be healed.  Our God wants to make us clean.  To all who are in need of healing Jesus says: I choose to make you well.  Stretch out your hand and know that I am with you always, even to the end of the age. 

Stretch out your hand.  Amen.