Addressing the Tension of this Day 2 Kings 5:1-14 Dr. Christopher C. F. Chapman First Baptist Church, Raleigh July 3, 2016 I used to say that I felt a certain tension on July 4 because I wanted to celebrate our national independence, but needed to respect my father s feelings. My father of nurture, as many of you know, is English. He came to this country to train troops for anti-guerilla warfare in Viet Nam, after having served as an SAS operative in the Middle East. When people would note his accent and ask where he was from, he would say jokingly, South Alabama, and then more seriously, Devonshire, but he would add, I m just here checking out the colonies. He was kidding, of course. Once he decided to leave military service, marry my mother and remain here, he became an American citizen as quickly as he could. And he mocked ex-brits who pined for home while remaining here. If it s so wonderful back home, he would say, Why don t you move back? So, like my father, I was kidding. I didn t feel any tension on this holiday because my father was English. But I do feel tension this weekend every year, like most ministers I know. It is the tension that comes from trying to balance my unapologetic love for this country and appreciation for its founders and defenders with our calling as Christians to worship the God of all nations and to embrace our brothers and sisters from all over the world. There is no intrinsic conflict between patriotism and faith, but there is a kind of patriotism that elevates the love of nation over all other loves, even the love of God, and there is a word for that, a biblical word idolatry. Thus, there is tension. Addressing this tension seems critical in this day of so much anxiety about and animosity toward outsiders. It s not just our national rhetoric that raises concerns, but the rhetoric that shaped much of the UK s dialogue about leaving the EU. There is no question that there are dangerous people in this world, terrorists of many stripes who have exploited the rise in migration. There are real threats to face. But 1
perhaps the greatest threat of all is found in the rise of a kind of nationalism that can be dangerous, as we learned during World War II. So, we feel a certain tension on days like this, or at least we should. The question is what do we with it? How do address this concern? How do we balance our love for America and our calling to love the whole world? There are many ways to come at this question, but I want to address it in light of the story we have read from 2 Kings 5. It is a familiar story about the healing of Naaman, a story Jesus references in Nazareth when he articulates his calling to proclaim good news and deliver captives (Luke 4:27). But this story is about much more than the healing of one leper. It s about strength and weakness, the role the marginalized can play in God s realm and the reversal of fortunes. Perhaps most of all, it s about the interaction of people from different nations who somehow hold on to their love for their homelands while developing a greater appreciation for each other. As the story begins, we are introduced to one of the main characters, Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Aram, a land to the northeast of Israel, modern-day Syria, yes, that Syria. Naaman is a great leader who is respected by the king and who has been favored by God in battle. But, though he is a mighty warrior, Naaman has a problem, he has leprosy, or at least some kind of skin disease. If he lived in Israel, he would be outcast, considered a sinner, unclean, removed from society. Apparently this is not the case in Aram. Different cultures treat the same realities in different ways. But while he doesn t seem to be outcast, Naaman is nonetheless troubled by his malady. He would like to be well. And fortunately for him, a servant of his wife, a young girl taken in a raid from Israel and now living as a slave, knows a prophet back home in Samaria who can cure him. Even more amazingly, she actually tells her mistress about this prophet, Elisha is his name, as we learn soon enough, and her mistress tells her husband. Naaman tells the king about this hopeful possibility, and then heads off to Samaria with ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of garments, with the king promising to send a letter to the king of Israel. It s like he has a referral to the Mayo Clinic 2
with the promise of full payment for any care he receives, only the clinic is in another country, in enemy territory. But before we move too quickly to the next scene, we should note a couple of things here. The slave girl s willingness to tell her mistress about the prophet is an amazing thing. We don t know why she does it. Often we want to gloat over the suffering of an enemy. Why would she want to help the very people who have enslaved her? Does she have an ulterior motive? Is she trying to help her people? We don t really know. We just know that if she doesn t speak up, Naaman will remain a leper. It s also worth noting that Naaman believes what the slave girl says. He must have some trust in her because she could be setting him up, lying about this prophet, trying to get him back on to enemy turf. Naaman exhibits some measure of trust in this young girl, as well as a measure of humility in his willingness to seek help, from the enemy. Anyway, as the story continues. Naaman travels to Israel, Samaria, to be precise, where the prophet Elisha is, and yes, that Samaria. It is ironic that the good guy in this story, the hero, works out of a city that becomes symbolic of the enemy in the future. Anyway Naaman travels to Israel and while he does, his king s letter reaches Israel s king. Rather than greeting this as an opportunity to mend fences, build a better relationship with a border nation, the king of Israel tears his clothes and cries out, Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me. He is filled with fear and mistrust. This is what happens when nations interact in hostile and threatening ways for years. Even when one party decides to act peacefully, it is difficult for the other to accept the act as genuine. But Elisha knows what is going on. He tells the king to let Naaman come. When he arrives, Elisha sends a messenger to tell Naaman to wash in the Jordan River seven times and he will be well. It is a simple request, but Naaman is offended that Elisha doesn t come out and heal him. He is humble enough to embrace the counsel of a slave girl and seek healing from an enemy prophet, but arrogant enough to think he deserves special treatment, a lot of fanfare, not some clerk telling him to go do something. He is a complicated character. 3
Furthermore, his national pride is offended. What does the Jordan River have that the great Abana and Pharphar Rivers in his homeland don t? Even Naaman s view of nations is complicated. He is willing to embrace the idea that the other land possesses something his doesn t, a prophet capable of healing, but he isn t willing to sell out his homeland. Fortunately, his servants convince him to get over his hardheadedness and try what the prophet requests, and again he benefits from listening to his servants. He bathes in the Jordan, his flesh is restored to health, and we are left to wonder whether perhaps Elisha went about the healing in this way for a reason. Perhaps he was willing to heal Naaman, but only if Naaman swallowed his pride, only if he was willing to humble himself and follow instructions, only if he was willing to embrace his healing as the gift that it was, a gift ultimately from God. Perhaps But we know this much. After our reading, Naaman confesses faith in the God of Israel and offers payment for the miracle he has experienced. Elisha refuses the payment, but his servant, Gehazi, goes behind his back and accepts it. Elisha finds out, confronts Gehazi, who lies to cover up his betrayal, and the story ends with Elisha cursing him with the leprosy from which Naaman was healed. So, a proud outsider, an enemy commander, humbles himself, is healed and believes in God; while a deceitful, greedy insider, a servant of the prophet, loses his way and is cursed. It is an incredible reversal of fortunes, one more fascinating detail in a rich and complex narrative. But what can we learn from this story? What does it have to offer us as we address the tension that exists between expressing love for our nation while seeking to love the whole world God has made and all the people in it? One thing the story seems to underscore is that it is O.K. to love our homeland; in fact, it is more than O.K. It is a good and noble thing to do. Both Naaman and Elisha hold on to their love for Aram and Israel as do the two kings in this story. Neither party is required to abandon love for home in order to see good in the other. Patriotism is O.K even for people of faith. We do need to realize that we have a higher loyalty, to God, and we need to recognize the many different ways people can express their 4
love for our nation. Sometimes we confuse a different perspective on some issue, like whether we agree with a certain policy or legislative act or even a decision to go to war, with being patriotic or unpatriotic. Love of country does not require agreement on such issues. One person expresses love of country by supporting a war effort while another expresses the same level of love by opposing it. And we should note that we can support troops with either position. As many a retired general has said, one of the best ways to support troops is by making sure elected leaders make wise decisions about when to go to war. Politicians make these decisions, not military leaders. One person expresses his patriotism by supporting a state or national leader s action while another person expresses her patriotism by disagreeing with the same action on the basis of conscience and in keeping with the First Amendment s guarantee of free speech. This often puts patriots in conflict with one another, but that is what makes this country great. We have the freedom, the privilege, the right and the responsibility to participate in public life, to express our views. When we do, we express love for this nation, which is a good and noble thing. One of my favorite July 4 stories took place in 2001. Dana and I were with a group from Wake Forest Divinity School studying the history of religious dissent in England and Scotland. On July 4, we ended up in the quad at Regent s Park, the Baptist College in Oxford. James Dunn was with us, the same James Dunn who spent his life defending the religious liberty clauses in the First Amendment and who died on July 4 of last year, joining three American presidents who did that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams in 1826 and James Monroe in 1831. I should have expected something from James that night. As we sat there, noting the irony of being in England on our day of declaring independence from England, James pulled out small American flags for each of us to hold and sparklers that he somehow had managed to smuggle in. So, we sang patriotic songs, held up our flags and waved our sparklers, giving thanks that we would probably not be arrested for doing so. Expressing appropriate love for our nation is a good thing, a noble thing, even for people of faith, indeed perhaps especially for people of faith. 5
But another thing our story seems to underscore is that it is important to realize the good in other nations as well. Naaman loves his homeland, he even bristles at the notion that the Jordan may be able to do something the rivers back home cannot, but he goes to Israel believing it may have a resource his home does not and ultimately is healed because he does. Elisha expresses no great love for Aram and the future is complicated, but he heals Naaman, he expresses God s concern for the other, the outsider, the enemy, who becomes a believer in God. No matter how much love these two feel for their homelands and the people in them, they see good and value in the other and benefit from doing so. What might this say to us as we think about the world in which we live, the nations that border ours, the immigrants and refugees who come our way, the people who share this planet with us? I m not talking politics. I m talking about our attitudes toward people we know - immigrants who come to our clothing ministry; refugees the Wyatts help at Welcome House; those we serve among in places like Honduras, Kenya, Ukraine and Greece; those who become a part of this church. Other nations have various kinds of government which present various challenges and opportunities. But all of those nations are made up of people, also known as children of God, our brothers and sisters. In 2012, when our mission team in Kenya was worshipping with the Sisit Community where we helped build a bridge, I was asked to preach, in the middle of the service. As you know, I prefer a little time to prepare, but I have done this before, and what I felt led to proclaim was a brief word about what it means to be made in the image of God. It is a core claim of Judeo-Christian faith, rooted in the narrative of Genesis 1, that we are each made in the image of God. What this means, I said, is not just that our lives have value, but that each of us reflects something distinctive about the character of God. Thus, if we reject our brother or sister, we not only refuse to see his/her true value, we fail to see a part of who God is. That s what is at stake in our view of other nations, not in our few of other governments or policies or actions, but of the people who make up those nations, people of all cultures and ethnicities. Each reflects a 6
part of who God is and thus, each deserves our respect. We don t have to deny love for our land and people to offer this respect. We just have to make room the love of another land and the respect of other people. When we do that, we have an opportunity to lessen the tension between patriotism and faithfulness, and we do a lot of that here. We have welcomed a rich diversity of people into this church, people from many different nations. We have supported missionaries around the world and partnered with those missionaries. We are doing more and more with the Wyatts who recently welcomed a refugee family from Syria, perhaps descendants of Naaman. We welcome immigrants to our clothing ministry and set aside a day each week to work with refugees. Even the interfaith build we just did through Habitat for Humanity involved people from many different national backgrounds. When we stood together at the house last Sunday afternoon for the dedication, person after person affirmed that, in a time of much chaos, this is what is right with the world and with our nation - the coming together of people from different backgrounds to do good things, like build a home with a family in need and build community with each other. There was no tension between the love of nation and the love of the world. The great African-American theologian Howard Thurman wrote a book entitled The Search for Common Ground in which he explored our tendency to build walls between each other and our need to tear down those walls. Thurman closed his book with these words (p. 104). Let us now go forth to save the land of our birth from the will to quarantine and to separate ourselves behind self-imposed walls. For this is why we were born: Men, all men belong to each other, and he who shuts himself away diminishes himself, and he who shuts another away from him destroys himself. And all the people said Amen. Indeed. Amen! It is a good word vis a vis the challenges of race that still exist to this day and it is a good word for how we relate to people who come from other lands. We can love our land, as others love theirs, and still find common ground between us. As human beings, as children of God, we can do that, no matter how many obstacles we face, because in the end, it is God s desire that we do. 7