Episcopal Church of the
Incarnation
The Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany (B)
2
Kings 5.1-14 Psalm 30 1
Corinthians 9.24-27 Mark 1.40-45
May the Lord be in my mind, on my lips, and in my heart, that
I may rightly and truly proclaim His holy Word. Amen.
Outline of a
Sermon Delivered Extemporaneously
1) I love what the servants say
to Naaman: “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, ‘
a) This is sort of like the
child in the old story who points and laughs, and exclaims “The emperor has no
clothes on!”
b) It’s really just stating the
obvious: Do what is commanded in the
name of God.
i) Just as Elisha says, “be
clean” Jesus says “be clean” to the leper.
ii) In each case the leper is to
recognize a new reality which God has effected.
2) Are we any different from
Naaman?
a) We want to make matters of
faith and spiritual growth into something of a challenge, so that we can claim
some credit when we do in fact grow.
b) We kind of like it when
things are complicated. It’s sort of
like the old joke of the boy walking down
i) He doesn’t remember which
cross street to turn on to to get to where there will be a concert, so he asks
a police officer: “Excuse me, officer,
but can you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?”
(1) The officer replies,
“Practice, my boy! Practice!”
c) We’re sometimes caught in
our own trap that we have to “Practice, my boy! Practice!”, when the kind of direction we need
is there already, as in “Turn south at
3) In the fourth chapter of
Luke, Jesus uses the story of Naaman the Syrian in a way that so enrages the
members of his own home synagogue that they try to kill Him (Luke 4.27-29).
a) They are enraged because
Jesus uses the story to say their status as Jews does not guarantee God’s
grace; that a foreigner can be chosen by God.
i) In other words, Jesus is
saying that status is immaterial, but that relationship matters.
(1) Are we trusting in God, do
we have faith, or do we “trust” because of who we are?
(2) Or, to go back to the
example of Carnegie Hall, are we focusing so much on what to do that we’re
ignoring who’s in charge?
(a) As if we’re going to figure
out our salvation on our own!
4) So, let’s step back. Let’s put ourselves in the position of
Naaman, even though we might not be a man mighty in war.
a) Let’s step back and think
not about how things work, but focus on who is in charge.
i) Maybe that’s what Jesus is
getting at when He says in Matthew, “... unless you turn and become like
children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18.3).
b) When we focus on who is in
charge, then if we’re Naaman we’re going to focus on doing what God commands.
i) We’re not going to fuss over
a “better” idea we might have in mind.
(1) What is it that he
says? “I thought that for me he would
surely come out, and stand and call o n the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot ...!”
ii) No, instead of focusing on
what our idea of what should happen may be, we’ll focus on who is talking. It’s God.
5) It’s God. The same God who every time we fall down
helps us to get back up and turn to Him, if we do one thing.
a) If we accept Him into our
heart to allow Him to work in us, knowing–in the words of the collect–that “...
in our weakness we can do nothing good without [God]”.
6) So, here we are, and in ten
days Lent will begin.
a) And in Lent we focus on
what?
i) On repentance, on turning to
God; on putting God first, whether this is accomplished in how we give
something up or take something on.
b) Suppose, however, that we
don’t think of the renunciation of a luxury or the assumption of an additional
duty of service as something that happens only in Lent.
i) Suppose, instead, that we
say that whatever we do in the Name of God is the “cross” which He tells us we
must take up to follow Him? (Luke 9.23)
c) Then we do what?
i) We don’t focus on the
complications and programs of “spiritual growth”.
ii) We don’t worry about
process.
iii) We don’t try to figure out a
system or a better idea.
iv) We do try to follow,
knowing that God will lead.
v) We do put trust in
what He has to say to us.
7) That last one is the rub:
putting trust in what God has to say to us.
a) That was the problem Naaman
had. He had in mind already that the
prophet would, in the name of God, command something mighty.
i) And yet once he trusted in
the message, even if he had to be prompted to trust, then God worked in him.
8) I could preach a whole
series of sermons on where we look for what God has to say to us.
a) On how we should look at
Scripture, and on how Scripture relates to Reason and Tradition.
i) But those are topics for
others days.
b) Instead, I want to put
myself back in the position of Naaman once he decided to go and wash in the
Jordan.
i) When he decided that, he decided
that his idea was not necessarily the better one.
(1) That washing in the rivers
in Damascus was maybe not the way to go.
c) That’s when Naaman became as
the leper in our Gospel lesson, the one who says to Jesus, “If you will, you
can make me clean” (Mark 1.40).
i) The leper didn’t have a
plan; he didn’t have a better idea.
(1) He trusted that Jesus could
cure him because of who Jesus was.
d) Mark doesn’t tell us how the
leper knew who Jesus was. Mark is pretty
spare in details.
i) But the leper knew, and the
leper trusted, even if afterward he wasn’t very good at following direction.
(1) Just like us. Just like us when we do trust and do try to
follow, and then fall again because we’re not good at following.
(2) When we do trust and do
follow, God will keep on leading.
(a) God will keep on renewing
us.
(i) That like Naaman we may be
restored.
(ii) That like the leper we may
be made clean.
(b) That we may pray the words
of the psalm:
I will exalt you, O Lord,
because you have lifted me up ...
O
Lord my God, I
will give you thanks for ever (Ps. 30.1, 13).
In
the Name of the Father, and of the Son,
and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen.