Clear as Mud?: Oct 12

 2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-17c                                         Year C, Pentecost 18                                                                               

            The seminary where I received my degree now has something called a “farminary.” It’s a farm on Princeton Seminary’s land where the students maintain the crops and can take classes like: “Thinking Theologically with soil.” One of the goals of the project is to understand the interconnectedness of life and death.  I was there for a conference and we went on a tour and heard a talk from the director of the project.  One of my friends had heard this talk many times and she said, “I really don’t need to bring home any more dirt.”  Apparently the director always made a connection about how compost was made out of dead things and then brought forth new life.  Then he gave everyone some dirt to remind them of this idea.  There were some pastors there who were weeping as they took their bottle of dirt but I kept thinking, “What am I supposed to do with this when I get home? I don’t garden.”

Recently I saw a friend who I attended that conference with and she said, “I always smile when I see that dirt and think of how annoyed you were when we got it.”  I had forgotten about my weird annoyance regarding the dirt. When I came home from my most recent conference, I realized, I still had that dirt on one of my book cases.  It’s in a nice little glass jar. Apparently it meant more to me than I was willing to admit at the time.

            Our reading from 2^nd Kings is relatable, even though it doesn’t seem like it should be.  Naaman is a commander in the army.  He is also a desperate man, but he is a desperate man with resources and probably a little too much pride.  He tried all the methods of healing in his homeland but none of them cured him.  He just happened to have an enslaved girl serving his family who was taken on a military raid.  It’s a detail that is just skimmed over, probably because it was a common practice at the time.  Yet, it’s interesting that this young girl, who has been enslaved, is the one to offer a suggestion for another avenue of healing….which turns out to be the one that works.  What is even more incredible is, someone (Naaman’s wife) listens to this young girl and Naaman listens to his wife.  Of course, it’s amazing what we will do when we have tried everything else and are still searching for healing.

            Our reading skips a few verses. Before Naaman went to the king of Israel, he went to his own king to tell him his plan.  That king sent a letter with him, kind of like a reference letter.  The text that was omitted mentions that Naaman took silver, gold and 10 festal garments.  He was prepared to impress people and provide payment for whatever healing he might receive.

            But the king of Israel can’t help him.  Hearing this, the prophet Elisha offers his help and sends for him.  When Naaman arrives with his impressive entourage, Elisha doesn’t even go out to meet him.  Two kings had met this man in person, but Elisha, leaves him on the doorstep with a message that he should go wash in the Jordan seven times. Naaman has proved that he is desperate to be healed and willing  to go out of his way to do so…but he is not pleased with this advice from Elisha, especially given that he had not even bothered to deliver the advice himself. 

He had water in his own country, from better rivers, and now this man is telling him to wash in their inferior river? If all he needed was a good bath, he would not have needed to come all this way with his gold, silver and 10 festal garments.  I bet he was even wearing one of these amazing outfits and now he was supposed to wash himself in the mud and the grime of the Jordan river.

He’s angry.  The text says that he walked away in a rage.  Then one of his servants approaches and says, “If the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it?” It would seem that these servants know him very well.   Naaman listens and does as the prophet told him.  Wouldn’t you know it, it works? The water cleanses him and he is healed.  He returns to Elisha with his whole entourage and says, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.”  Then Naaman offers Elisha a gift.  Afterall, he had brought all this gold and silver…the festal outfits.  Elisha refuses the gift.

Here is where things get even more interesting and this part isn’t in our text for today.  It comes right after.  Naaman doesn’t get offended as one might expect.  Instead he asks for something.  He asks for two wagons full of dirt.  He realizes that he is on holy ground and it isn’t holy because there is a magnificent temple.  It’s holy because of the God that they worship.  It is holy because it is a place he found healing.  It is holy because he set down his pride, listened to his servant and bathed in a muddy river. He came with gold and silver and left with two carts full of dirt.

It doesn’t say what he did with that dirt when he got home.  One theory is that he built and altar to the one true God on top of that dirt.  But I like to think that he just left it in a pile right by his house, waiting for inspiration to strike.  Maybe something grew on it.  Maybe nothing did, but it reminded him of how the most basic of things can bring healing, how even the muddiest rivers can still cleanse us.

I will admit that when I was at the conference and heard from my friend this was a talk that had been given many times, I prepared myself to be unimpressed.  I would not be moved by a rehearsed story about compost.  That was my pride and my loss.   I am not sure what I am going to do with this small pile of dirt.  I think, I might just hold on to it, as a reminder that even the most basic stories….even the most simple methods of healing can still be miraculous.  Sometimes a little water and the right dirt can heal wounds or grow something new.  It’s normal to assume our faith should be complicated and incomprehensible.  But sometimes it’s so unbearably obvious, we sophisticated Episcopalians have a hard time seeing it. 

In this story, wisdom comes from unexpected sources, like servants and an enslaved girl.  Healing comes from a muddy bath and an unassuming prophet. As Christians, we believe that eternal life comes from the death of a man who lived 2000 years ago and would never have been described as sophisticated or erudite.  Yet somehow, he was God…a God worth believing in, even though we might prefer something more complicated.  I love to preach on the texts that are complicated and confusing.  I love to dig into the details.  I tell people that the Bible and our faith can be confusing.  But then there are also aspects of our faith that are exquisitely simple…simple to understand and yet still hard to believe.

Paul’s 2^nd letter to Timothy was written while he was imprisoned.  He wrote, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendent of David—that is my gospel…”  This was before there was a creed, church councils or even the Gospels as we know them.  Before anyone was ordained and had theological training.  Paul said that we are to remember Jesus Christ who lived as human being and was raised from the dead.  Maybe it really is that simple.  Remember Jesus Christ.