The Psalm: Psalm 30
A psalm celebrating deliverance from what seemed like a terrible end, thought by some to have been a song for the rededication of the Temple after the Babylonian captivity.
I will extol you, O Lord for you have drawn me up, and did not let my foes rejoice over me. O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit. Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name. For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. As for me, I said in my prosperity, "I shall never be moved." By your favor, O Lord, you had established me as a strong mountain; you hid your face; I was dismayed. To you, O Lord, I cried, and to the Lord I made supplication: "What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me! O Lord, be my helper!" You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, so that my soul may praise you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
The Old Testament Lesson: 2 Kings 5:1-14
Clearly a story of the problems of pride and false expectations and the miracles that God can work through very ordinary means.
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, "If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. And the king of Aram said, "Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel." He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy." When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me." But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel." So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha's house. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean." But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" He turned and went away in a rage. But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, 'Wash, and be clean'?" So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.
The Epistle Lesson: Galatians 6:(1-6), 7-16
Paul's understanding of where "pride" belongs and what our individual responsibilities should be.
My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves. All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbor's work, will become a cause for pride.
For all must carry their own loads. Those who are taught the word must share in all good things with their teacher. Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest-time, if we do not give up.
So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith. See what large letters I make when I am writing in my own hand! It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh that try to compel you to be circumcised--only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. Even the circumcised do not themselves obey the law, but they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast about your flesh. May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything; but a new creation is everything! As for those who will follow this rule--peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
The Gospel Lesson: Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house!' And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'
But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.' "Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me." The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!" He said to them, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that
your names are written in heaven."
"The Cure For What Ails Us"
Did you ever fail to do something that would have been absolutely wonderful for you, that would in fact have changed your life completely, simply because you thought it was beneath you? Or perhaps passed up a wonderful opportunity because it didn't meet the preconceived expectations you had for what such an opportunity should look like if and when it came along?
C. S. Lewis wrote: "Pride is a telescope turned the wrong way. It magnifies self and makes the heavens small; it puts our circumstances between us and God, whereas faith puts God between us and our circumstances."
This morning's readings are about the dangers of false pride. They are quite common and take many forms.
The young person who turns down a small
college or career path for a more
glamorous big name institution or higher
paying occupation knows what that is
about.
The person who gives up on a relationship
because it doesn't seem to have every
single element they thought necessary also
knows.
As does the one who decides to abandon
ones' relatives, to forgo adopting that
child, to not seek that cure, to not risk
that venture of faith, or even to just sleep
in this morning because nothing is likely
to happen that would change my life…
All of these decisions are made on the basis of our own expectations of what we really need for ourselves!
There's an old story about a man who went to his doctor complaining about terrible neck pains, throbbing headaches, shortness of breath, visual blurring, and recurring dizzy spells. The doctor examined him and said, "I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. You only have six months left to live."
Well, after the initial shock of the doctor's statement wore off, after all the anger and denial, the doomed man decided he would spend his remaining time living in style. He quit his job, bought a sports car, and a closet full of hand tailored clothes and hand made shoes.
He went to the finest tailor shop he could find. The tailor measured him and wrote down: "Neck - size 16, Waist - 36."
"Wait a minute," the man said, "I've always worn a size 14 neck, and a 32 waist and that's what I want."
The tailor said, "But Sir, the measurement calls for a size 16" neck and a 36" waist."
The man was absolutely adamant and said, "I don't care what your tape measure says, I wear a size 14 neck and have a 32 waist!"
In total frustration the tailor replied back: "Okay! Okay! I'll do it for you. But don't come back complaining to me when you start having terrible neck pains, throbbing headaches, shortness of breath, visual blurring, and recurring dizzy spells!"
Sometimes our pride and over inflated sense of self importance gets in the way. In more than one way, it can get a strangle hold on our lives and blur our vision of the truth. And many times our pride doesn't so much GIVE us a pain in the neck as it does MAKE us a pain in the neck.
Lewis went on to write: "Pride leads to every other vice; it is the complete anti-God state of mind, a spiritual cancer; that can eat up the very possibility of love, contentment, even common sense."
That was certainly true for the main character in today's Old Testament passage, Naaman. His is a powerful story full of power figures and great expectations. It's also a story filled with ironic twist after ironic twist. It is a story of power, pride and faith.
A powerful man in his own right, Naaman was a great General, a mighty warrior in the armies of Aram or Syria, who had won victory after victory. He was identified as having God's favor in providing these victories for the Syrians, as well as high favor from the King and from the people of his nation. But it is also a story of contradictions. The politically successful were considered blessed, but this general was at the same time given a terrible illness that was clearly considered a curse.
Those hearing this story, a story referred to again only once in the New Testament (of course in the Gospel of Luke) would have thought that doesn't fit. That's not the way it should be. And there's more!
The great warrior general receives his own hope of deliverance from a captured slave girl. The one who has conquered nations is directed to travel miles, loaded with gifts to seek the assistance of a humble prophet who doesn't even come out of his cave to receive him. The "cure for what ails him" seems entirely too simplistic and in fact embarrassingly so. It is almost dismissed-and what a difference that would have made!
A muddy Jordan river bath, an unlikely medium-and finally, an unlikely miracle - Did Naaman act in faith? No, but sometimes obedience to a God we cannot claim to understand is enough. We struggle against a spirit of pervasive negativity all the time, in ourselves and others. We say "I can't do it alone, I can't handle one more thing on my own." Why would you try to? God never asked anyone to go it alone. It's very simple, we make it complicated by all we think we want and need.
We engaged in a very simple act today. Four more baptisms for those of you who have witnessed so many. Does anything really happen to us in and through this act? It's amazing what a little water and a little faith can do.
In the gospel lesson Jesus gives instructions on how to be a "non-anxious presence." Lessons on how to be centered and trusting. He couches those lessons in the language of "hospitality" - basically learning how to maintain a gracious acceptance of what is given to you. Such people need not be overburdened with unnecessary provisions in case they don't get what they want. Clearly there is an advantage to traveling "light" with fewer expectations.
Barbara Kingsolver's novel, The Poisonwood Bible, begins with a wonderful description of the Price family as they prepare for a mission to the Congo. The women in the family are so overloaded with "stuff" (prepared for any contingency) that they can barely walk, but the chapter concludes, "My father, of course, was bringing the Word of God - which fortunately weighs nothing at all."
The seventy that Jesus sends out were not seminary graduates, they were not the ordained. They were the baptized (both men and women) who went with faith alone. He didn't send them out alone, but in pairs, so that they could be supportive of one another. And he was far less concerned with what they said than with how they acted.
You are going to be hearing a lot about a new program called "Igniting Ministries" over the course of the next few weeks. It is a denominationally sponsored program to increase our awareness of the stranger and sojourner in our midst, and our desire and skill to be a more intentionally welcoming people. There are very few occasions when we would be likely to have more "strangers" in our midst than on a baptism Sunday. If the Olive Garden restaurant chain can claim that "when you're here you're family" shouldn't we be able to do as well?
For Naaman healing came in the simple repetitive actions of life. There was absolutely nothing unique about what he was asked to do. In the end his "release" called him to become a servant of all. Can healing come for us in the same way? Especially when life doesn't happen the way we expect? Can we too find the cure for what ails us? May God help us to do so.
The Pastoral Prayer:
Great God of all things and all people, creator of the universe and all that lies beyond and within it, help us never to miss the point of our own connectedness to you. We drift, we fall, we assume, and often we negate. Sometimes in the process we even convince ourselves that we have been abandoned. Yet you are ever present, and ever ready to respond to our true need. Grant us the humility to accept that. The wisdom to envision it, and the courage to embrace it with joy. Enable us to be a supportive community, one to the other, and empower the ministry we share. May every slave find their voice, every diseased power monger their cleansing, and every reclaimed soul their own mission in life. Comfort the grieving, lift up the fallen, and restore us all to the fullness of life in you. In Jesus' holy name we pray. Amen