Naaman was the commander of the Syrian army that had just conquered Israel. Following this, he came down with leprosy, a disease generally reserved for those under the curse of God. Israelites reading this story would have generally approved of this situation, but the slave girl, whose family was likely killed by Naaman and his army, felt differently and pointed him towards the prophet Elisha.
At this point, Naaman has some choices to make. Does he trust this girl? Does he trust Israel? Does he trust the God of Israel? What is he willing to do in order to live. He decides to try, and off he goes to the monk wizard hermit. He stops off at the king of Israel to request healing, and the king freaks out. Here is the man who just conquered the nation asking for something impossible. “Am I God, that I can kill and bring back to life?” he demands. This notion of resurrection is a key to the implications of the story.
Ultimately, though, Elisha invites Naaman to come be healed. When he shows up, though, things do not go as planned. Elisha sends a servant out to tell Naaman to dunk himself in the (filthy, muddy) Jordan River seven times. Not six, not eight. Five is right out. Naaman badly. He wanted a “sexy salvation” but this seemed shameful and offended his pride.
Once again, though the servants step in and persuade him to put aside his pride. So, Naaman goes under – in the Greek, the baptism of Naaman is the first reference to baptism in scripture. On the seventh dip, he is reborn – both physically and spiritually. He does still hang on to his pride enough to attempt to pay for the healing and earn it retroactively. But he is denied.
Instead, Naaman takes a load of dirt in order to take some of the land of Jehovah in order to retain that connection. His faith in healing had turned into a faith in God Himself.
The point of this story is not that some guy got healed. It’s not that the Jordan River is magic. It’s that God gives grace to the most unlikely people in the most unlikely ways. God’s ultimate goal for us is not just to be healed or forgiven, but to have a connection of love with us, a worshipful relationship of creation and creator.
This story calls forward to the resurrection, the death, burial and coming to life of Christ. Unlike Naaman, Christ died not for his sins, but ours. We, like Naaman, are enemies of God, and yet Christ died and rose again for us. What did Naaman have to do in order to receive healing and forgiveness? Essentially, he had to believe and trust the prescription of God.
This is what we demonstrate and act out in baptism. It represents the death and resurrection of Christ, and our own death and resurrection in Him. It also represents the cleansing of our sin by the forgiveness of God.
Some of us may have barriers to this. We may not see a need for baptism or even for Jesus himself. We may be skeptical about the whole God, Christ and salvation story.
Regardless of where you are, though, God is calling you to connect to that story through faith in Him and baptism. He wants to forgive your sins, change your heart and enter into an eternal relationship with you.
– Sermon Notes, Brent Rood, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA, Easter Sunday 2017
2 Kings 5:1-19
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