Epiphany 6: Old Testament, 2 Kings 5:1-14                      

2 Kings 5:1-14

Oh Naaman! The Lord of heaven and earth uses you so marvelously in this account to exalt His ways above man’s. Did you realize it at the time? Did you come to realize it after the fact? I ask those questions of this great leader of men, because much lesser men like me are still learning the lesson posed by this event. God’s way is best. And it is never different than that.

Here the great military leader of Syria has one great weakness, or disability. With all his power there was a constant reminder that he wasn’t quite as great as he or others would like to make him. Naaman was a leper. Before my days as a Lutheran I read this account and made no connection to baptism. Now I “facepalm” every time I read it, wondering “how dense could you be?” How quick we are to look to our ways, even in the life of the Spirit, and how quick we are to demean the methods of the Almighty.

As you read this account, read it for its own merit certainly, but ask yourself, “Why the adverse reaction to bathing in the water prescribed by the Lord’s prophet?” Was it national pride? Was it spiritual stubbornness? Or, and I have to say it, was it just sinful stupidity? Perhaps a bit of each, but our sinfulness is so deep. It is to the heart and mind what leprosy is to the flesh of the body. It is ruinous. You see when our stupidity is confronted by the Word of the Lord, things get a bit uncomfortable. Listen to the great commander, “Behold, I thought that he (the prophet) would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper” (5:11). And then he compares the rivers of his homeland to the disgraceful Jordan of Israel. You see Namaan was all for healing. But on his terms. And our fleshly (no pun intended) terms are ALWAYS in opposition to the Word of the Lord. Do you realize that all of life in Christ is coming to terms with our terms that they, by grace, will become His terms? Did you get that?

Oh so many do not want to attribute God’s cleansing to a bit of water sprinkled on the sinner. Or even a good dunking. (That’s how I got it in my pre-Lutheran days). And if it were just water, there would be no effect. I agree. But Naaman heard the Word of the Lord and it was “attached” to the waters of Jordan. So too, in the genius of God, His Word is given to the waters of Holy Baptism and in receiving the gift given through it we receive so much more than the cleansing of  diseased skin. God be praised for His love for Naaman. For the little maid that brought the solution as a true evangelist. God be praised for the Word of the prophet and the healing of not only Naaman, but all the nations. May this Epiphany season bring this blessed bath to many. It is God’s way.