How Far Would You Be Willing To Go?

That is the $64,000 question.  Depends on what for, right?  But this week, the question doesn't really have to do with what you would actually be willing to do.  The message focused on the power of healing in Mark 1:40-45 when Jesus heals the leper who believes, and II Kings 5:1-14 when Naaman is healed by Elisha.  In Mark the leper's simple faith - "If you are willing , you can make me clean." -  evokes Jesus' compassion.  The leper is healed despite the fact that he then disregards the instructions Christ gives him.  In the story of Naaman it would appear that his willingness to listen to his wife's servant and go in search of healing is the "appropriate" demonstration of faith.

Expecting a huge, miraculous cure Naaman goes to his king, gets lots of silver, gold, clothing and a letter of introduction to the king of Israel.  When he arrives in Israel, the king of Israel perceives the request, one that he knows he cannot fulfill, as a threat, a trick. They have all been working a human system from a human perspective.  They know what they expect and are acting accordingly.  Naaman expects to receive the tremendous gift of healing.  He and his king offer up displays of riches and power that they hope will be sufficient to compensate God, complete the deal, make them worthy of receiving the gift of healing.  The king of Israel cannot comprehend any reason the king of Aram would make an impossible request of him, other than to provoke a war.  Their expectations not only place limits on the ways in which others act, but also limit how they are able to react.


Elisha hears what is happening and sends word to the king to send Naaman to him.  But when Naaman gets to Elisha's home, he is given instructions by a messenger.  What?!  Not the prophet?!  (Can you feel the rising indignation?)  And what are the instructions?  To wash seven times in a dirty, muddy river that is really little more than a stream when there are huge, glorious, beautiful, clean rivers in his homeland?  Are you serious?!


When Naaman is just about to return home, angry, offended and disappointed, one of his servants asks Naaman, if the prophet had asked you to do something difficult, wouldn't you do it?  Then why not try this?  It's not difficult, you have nothing to lose.  Naaman knows what he has to lose - he will be revealed as vulnerable, diseased, imperfect, taking a big hit to his pride, power and standing in the eyes of others.  And how on earth could he possibly be healed by such a simple act?  Yet, when he does as instructed he is healed by that simple act.


Naaman and the kings had pigeonholed God.  They expected God to act in the only way they could comprehend - big, overwhelming, ostentatious, frightening, awe-inspiring.  In actuality the work of God comes through the quiet, unnamed, humble servant-slave girl, the prophet's messenger, Naaman's own servant who encourages him to wash in the Jordan.  These people show compassion in a simple, humble, unassuming way that those with power do not comprehend.  The servants know that God acts in small and mysterious ways, just as the leper who presented himself to Jesus did.  

In I Kings 19:11-13 God shows Elijah that God does not have to be in the earthquake or the storm, but can come in a quiet whisper.   How far would you be willing to go is not about taking the most difficult road, doing the heroic thing.  It is about letting go of pride and preconceived notions, being open to seeing God as strongly in the whispers that pass by on the mountain as in the burning bushes of life. Expect the unexpected.