Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The text for today’s meditation is 2 Kings 5:10-14

"And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean." ¹¹ But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, "Behold, I thought that he 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. ¹² 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?" So he turned and went away in a rage. ¹³ But his servants came near and said to him, "My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?" ¹⁴ So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean."

The sores on my arm looked terrible. They looked deep and raw and the hair growing out of them turned white. I knew I was a leper, but I was an important man. I had duties to fulfill for my king, I thought, how can this be, I am a great warrior. I had an army to lead but I couldn’t do it if I was a leper not to mention being a leper was a death sentence. I had defeated all enemies that came against me, yet I could not defeat this, this leprosy

My wife told me that her servant, a little maiden girl we took captive from Israel, told her that a prophet in Samaria would cure me. I went right away and told my King about this prophet.

My king, the king of Syria, told me to go to Samaria now, he gave me a letter to give to the king of Israel. I wondered what I needed to take with me. I was sure I needed money to pay this prophet for his healing power, but how much. I took more than the prophet could ask for, just to be sure.

I presented myself before the King of Israel with the money and the letter. I gave him the letter and after the king read it he began tearing his clothes and asked me if he was God and if he could heal leprosy? Of course he is not God. He thought my King wrote the letter to start a fight.

Someone brought word to the king of Israel asking why he tore his clothes. They asked the king to send me to them so I would know there was a prophet in Israel. My entourage and I got in our chariots and on our horses and went to the prophet’s house. I got out of my chariot and stood at the prophet’s door. I stood there waiting for the prophet to come out and greet me; after all I am a mighty commander. Suddenly, a messenger appeared in the doorway and told me to go wash in the Jordan River seven times and I will be clean, a messenger? Didn’t he know who I was? How dare this socially inferior prophet not appear before me in person, I am the mighty commander. This was not what I wanted at all. I was looking for the pomp and circumstance afforded to a person of my rank and stature and I thought we would agree on a price and he would call on the power of his God and through some mighty deed I would be cleansed. I didn’t even have the chance to purchase the healing. All I got was a message to wash in the dirty Jordan River. I thought, "What is it with the Jordan, if all I had to do was wash I could have received the message at home and washed in one of the rivers of Damascus, after all they are far better than the Jordan." I was so angry as I stormed away from the prophet’s house I was thinking that this was such a waste of time, how could washing in a dirty river heal these terrible sores. My servants came after me and told me the words of the prophet are great words. They were surprised I wasn’t excited at the simplicity of the cure and they couldn’t believe I wasn’t going to do it. They asked me if the prophet really said "wash and be clean." I realized I had no choice but to either accept what the prophet said or reject it and go home to the death sentence of leprosy.

There were no other options, I couldn’t renegotiate anything else. My thoughts rushed back to my duties and position and I realized I had to trust this prophet and his God because this was my only hope. So, I emptied myself of all pride and went down to the dirty Jordan River and dipped myself seven times just as the prophet said. As I came out of the water the seventh time I realized I was healed, there were no more sores, I was no longer a leper. I thought, "I wanted a grand ceremony worthy of my position that I would pay for but instead I got what I needed, a gift, all I had to do was trust in God and His washing." I was a new man when I came out of the water. My life was changed significantly by grace through a seemingly insignificant event, told to me by an insignificant little girl.

As you can see Naaman got what he needed not what he wanted. He wanted pomp and circumstance and a big to do with the healing process. What he got was what he needed, humility, physical healing, eternal life through faith in God, and a change in his life through that same faith.

What about us? Do we look for our wants and end up with what we need? Sometimes people look to the flashy, showy, tele-evagelists for healing when all it takes is faith and prayer. If it is God’s will He will heal. We think it can’t be as easy or simple as prayer, there must be an element of grandeur, and the big show with the people falling after they were told to "Be healed" this must be part of what makes it happen. We look for the hocus pocus. That is what we want, what we need is faith and prayer!

Even the people of Jesus time got what they needed instead of what they wanted. They were looking for an earthly king to make Israel the great nation it once was, instead they got what they needed a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. They wanted Jesus to continue to feed them as he did with the 5,000 and the 4,000, they wanted a meal ticket. But instead they got what they needed, He fed them spiritual food. They still wanted an earthly king to enter triumphantly into Jerusalem; instead they got what they needed, a savior riding on a lowly donkey toward His death. He wasn’t crowned with a crown of gold as they hoped but instead He was crowned with a crown of thorns. They needed a savior not an earthly king. We need a savior and He gave us just what we need when Jesus gave himself as a gift to us when He allowed himself to be crucified as a criminal to pay the price of our sin. He gave us hope where there was none. He gave us full pardon where there was a death sentence like Naaman. He gave us acceptance by God by becoming sin and defeating death. He gave us what we need instead of the sin we want.

Naaman was washed in the waters of the river Jordan. Do you think that was a coincidence? I don’t think so. You see many years later Jesus was washed in those same waters. It was through what Naaman thought was the insignificant water and word that brought he to faith.

Today, many people think water and the word are insignificant. We want to believe that there has to be more to coming to faith than the Word and waters of baptism. We want to believe that we must do something to come to faith. Instead, Jesus shows us the way in the Jordan River and we get what we need through the washing and rebirth of Holy Baptism, Mark 16:16 says, "whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved." We are cleansed just as Naaman was when we come out of the water of baptism that is what we need. Just as Naaman thought there was nothing special about the waters of the Jordan; our baptismal water is nothing special without the word. God showed Naaman and us that we need insignificant water with the word.

Through Jesus, God uses what seem to be insignificant things to us to make us significant and priceless to Him. We give praise to Him alone who grants us what we need instead of what we want, He grants us forgiveness of sins, eternal healing, and hope in Christ.

Amen