God Sightings: Elijah and the Widow

As we often do in beginning our story today, we need to catch up on the action in-between - from last Sunday's story to today's. 

We heard, last week, about King David. About his desire to build God a house. And how, instead, God abundantly poured out more grace upon David, with a promise that his house - his ancestral line - would live forever and ever. Even with his mistakes, David was deeply loved by God. He was a humble warrior, a servant, and a king. One could say that David has a golden heart. 

King Solomon - David’s son, succeeded him on the throne. Solomon’s reign began well as he asked God for a discerning heart, so that he might have the wisdom and understanding to govern God’s people with fairness. Under Solomon, Israel experienced a “Golden Age” of peace and prosperity. 

But, this did not last. One might say that Solomon externalized the gold. He forgot that the gold that God desires for God’s people is the golden shrine of a surrendered heart - not the gold shine of a big building. Solomon violated the rules for kings that had been established in Deuteronomy. He amassed for himself great wealth, great military power and, most troubling, a vast harem of foreign wives who wooed him with their pagan gods. The gold became tarnished. Solomon abandoned Yahweh, following after the gods of his wives. And he would be cut off from the blessing of God.

After Solomon’s death, his son, Rehoboam, took the the throne of David.  Things went from bad to worse. His stubbornness and detachment from the plight of the lower class in Israel led to the rebellion of ten of the twelve tribes of Israel.  The nation would split in two. In the south, Judah would remain, under the rule of David’s line, centered in Jerusalem. In the north, Israel - the rebelling tribes - would be ruled by Jeroboam, eventually centered in Samaria. He would build two temples to complete with the temple in Jerusalem. One at Beth-el. A second at Dan. In each temple, King Jeroboam would place a golden calf to represent the God of Israel. 

From this point on, the story goes back and forth between the two kingdoms. Each has about 20 successive kings. Scripture tells us that, in the north, none of the kings followed God’s will. They were zero for 20. In the south, Judah would have 8 of 20 identified as “good” kings. 

Which brings us, today, to Ahab. In the verses that just precede our text today, we read that Ahab “did evil in the Lord’s eyes, more than anyone who preceded him.” He had married a foreign wife, Jezebel. A Phoenician princess from Sidon. Ahab served and worshipped Baal, her Phoenician god, making an altar for Baal in the temple constructed in Samaria for this purpose. He did more to anger God than any of Israel’s preceding kings. 

It is here where our story opens this morning. But, not quite yet.

In last week’s story, one of the characters we met was the Prophet Nathan. 

We really haven’t talked about the role of prophets - these key figures in Israel’s history. They weren’t fortune-tellers, predicting the future. Instead, they spoke on behalf of the God of Israel, playing the role of covenant watchdogs, calling out idolatry and injustice among the kings and the people. 

And constantly reminding Israel of their calling to be the light to the kingdoms and to keep the covenant as it had been established in the Torah.

So, today, in our lesson consisting of three small stories, we meet the Prophet Elijah. 

We begin in 1st Kings, chapter 17.

Elijah from Tishbe, who was one of the settlers in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the Lord lives, Israel’s God, the one I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain these years unless I say so.”

Then the Lord’s word came to Elijah: Go from here and turn east. Hide by the Wadi Cherith that faces the Jordan River. You can drink from the brook. I have also ordered the ravens to provide for you there. Elijah went and did just what the Lord said. He stayed by the Wadi Cherith that faced the Jordan River. The ravens brought bread and meat in the mornings and evenings. He drank from the Cherith Brook. After a while the brook dried up because there was no rain in the land. 1 Kings 17:1-7 (CEB)

Perhaps the biggest mistake Ahab made was to marry Jezebel. It wasn’t her ethnicity that was a problem. Instead, it was that she came from a nation that worshipped idols. Soon, Israel and Phoenicia would become allies. And, together, Ahab and Jezebel would lead Israel to worship Baal and engage in other pagan customs. Ahab encouraged the Israelites to blend these customs with their worship of God, despite very specific commands given in Deuteronomy to not mix pagan worship with true worship of God.

Idolatry had become a huge problem in Israel.

Enter the Prophet Elijah. He relays a message from God. There will be a drought in the land until Ahab repents. This does not make the king happy. 

Soon, God instructs Elijah to leave - to get away from Ahab, to flee Samaria and the angry king, and to go east, back toward his homeland. He heads to the Wadi Cherith, a brook that feeds into the Jordan River that is often full of water when it rains. But, then, quickly dries up. It is here, beside the Wadi Cherith, that God sustains Elijah - sending ravens to deliver food, morning and evening. Day after day. 

Our story continues.

The Lord’s word came to Elijah: Get up and go to Zarephath near Sidon and stay there. I have ordered a widow there to take care of you. Elijah left and went to Zarephath. As he came to the town gate, he saw a widow collecting sticks. He called out to her, “Please get a little water for me in this cup so I can drink.” She went to get some water. He then said to her, “Please get me a piece of bread.”

“As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any food; only a handful of flour in a jar and a bit of oil in a bottle. Look at me. I’m collecting two sticks so that I can make some food for myself and my son. We’ll eat the last of the food and then die.”

Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid! Go and do what you said. Only make a little loaf of bread for me first. Then bring it to me. You can make something for yourself and your son after that. This is what Israel’s God, the Lord, says: The jar of flour won’t decrease and the bottle of oil won’t run out until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.” The widow went and did what Elijah said. So the widow, Elijah, and the widow’s household ate for many days. The jar of flour didn’t decrease nor did the bottle of oil run out, just as the Lord spoke through Elijah.  1 Kings 17:8-16 (CEB)

The wadi where Elijah was staying runs dry. 

So, God directs Elijah to Zarephath, only a short distance from Sidon, Jezebel’s hometown. He meets up with a widow - someone promised by God to help sustain him while he is on the run. This widow, who is not named in our story, is a Phoenician. A pagan. She and her son have been hit hard by the drought. When Elijah asks her to make him bread, her response is that she ingredients enough for one remaining loaf. 

But Elijah persists. So, she makes a small loaf for him first, then a second for her and her son. And then she discovers the provision of God - that God will sustain all of them through this. Providing just enough flour and just enough oil for a loaf of bread. Day after day. 

Our story continues.

After these things, the son of the widow, who was the matriarch of the household, became ill. His sickness got steadily worse until he wasn’t breathing anymore. She said to Elijah, “What’s gone wrong between us, man of God? Have you come to me to call attention to my sin and kill my son?”

Elijah replied, “Give your son to me.” He took her son from her and carried him to the upper room where he was staying. Elijah laid him on his bed. Elijah cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, why is it that you have brought such evil upon the widow that I am staying with by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself over the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, please give this boy’s life back to him.” The Lord listened to Elijah’s voice and gave the boy his life back. And he lived. Elijah brought the boy down from the upper room of the house and gave him to his mother. Elijah said, “Look, your son is alive!”

“Now I know that you really are a man of God,” the woman said to Elijah, “and that the Lord’s word is truly in your mouth.” 1 Kings 17:17-24 (CEB)

It isn’t long before things take a tragic turn for this woman. Her son gets ill and stops breathing. 

Her natural inclination is to strike out at Elijah - this stranger who has brought this on her household.

But Elijah, in a dramatic scene, cries out to God and then stretches himself out on the lifeless child. Three times. Crying out once more.

God hears him. God listens to Elijah’s voice. The child lives. It is then that his mother knows God.  

---

On this All Saints Day, I can’t help thinking of all those ancestors in faith who have gone before us. They, like Elijah, like the widow, in our story, have struggled and been challenged with many difficult experiences and hard times. Just as we are challenged in our own lives. 

Yet, as we listened to the first two stories, we witnessed that God sustained Elijah and the widow. First, God’s created beings - the ravens - cared for Elijah each day. Then, we witnessed how the widow, her son, and Elijah, living on the edge of death each day, just getting by, were provided with just enough flour. Just enough oil for one day.

When we mourn. When we are suffering. When we are living on the edge of death and despair, God provides. Just enough for us to get through each day. To have just enough to get through the next. Perhaps this is as miraculous as the miracle story at the end - that resurrection story that is a foretaste of the resurrection we anticipate when God’s kingdom through Christ comes in all its fullness. This is the hope we cling to in this moment. This was the hope that our own ancestors held onto. Trusting that the God who gave them just enough grace, day after day, will also give the grace and hope of that resurrection to come. And the dramatic restoration of life where before there was only death.

In this time, when it may often feel as though God is silent, may we, on this day and always, remember these saints. May we, like Elijah, cry out to God in our anguish. And may we trust, as all of them did, that God will climb into our hurt and our pain, our struggle and our grief, and will restore all things, inviting us into life - a life that they have already received. A life that will go on and on. Without end. Amen.

Preached November 1, 2020, online at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.

All Saints Sunday

Readings: 1 Kings 17:1-24, Luke 4:24-26.

God's Way of Leading: Indeed God

When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” He answered, “I have not troubled Israel; but you have, and your father’s house, because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals. Now therefore have all Israel assemble for me at Mount Carmel, with the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

So Ahab sent to all the Israelites, and assembled the prophets at Mount Carmel. Elijah then came near to all the people, and said, “How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” The people did not answer him a word. Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets number four hundred fifty. Let two bulls be given to us; let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it; I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god and I will call on the name of the Lord; the god who answers by fire is indeed God.” All the people answered, “Well spoken!” Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many; then call on the name of your god, but put no fire to it.” So they took the bull that was given them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, crying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no answer. They limped about the altar that they had made. At noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud! Surely he is a god; either he is meditating, or he has wandered away, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” Then they cried aloud and, as was their custom, they cut themselves with swords and lances until the blood gushed out over them. As midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice, no answer, and no response.

Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come closer to me”; and all the people came closer to him. First he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down; Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, “Israel shall be your name”; with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. Then he made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two measures of seed. Next he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. He said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” Then he said, “Do it a second time”; and they did it a second time. Again he said, “Do it a third time”; and they did it a third time, so that the water ran all around the altar, and filled the trench also with water.

At the time of the offering of the oblation, the prophet Elijah came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your bidding. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and even licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord indeed is God; the Lord indeed is God.” --1 Kings 18:17-39 (NRSV)

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Amen.

When my son was small, he went through a series of phases. Phases of infatuation. Perhaps you’ve experienced this with a small child. From 2-3 years old, he was infatuated with dinosaurs. He could identify and pronounce the names of every dinosaur. From 3-4, it was Spiderman. One Halloween during that time, I made him a Spiderman costume. He loved it so much that every morning for the next three months, when I would go into his bedroom to wake him up, he would be wearing it - having changed out of his pajamas into it at some point during the night. Then, at 5 and 6, it was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Funny, how all that stuff circles back around, isn’t. Raphael, Donatello, Leonardo, and Michaelangelo.  It’s only recently I realized that they were named after important artists.

By about 7 or 8, thought, he was moving away from cartoon figures to real-life heroes. It was during this period that he began to get into wrestling. Now, I’m not talking about the usual horseplay and running around and wrestling that siblings or young boys, in particular, like to engage in. No. This was serious wrestling. This was World Wrestling Federation wrestling. Real wrestlers. Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin. Macho Man Randy Savage. The Rock. And on and on. He was hooked.

My ex-husband was, too! So, whenever they could, the two of them would go to World Wrestling Federation matches, where maybe one or two of the matches would feature one of the big stars that my son loved. But, the best matches - the biggest, best, and baddest matches - were the WWF Smackdowns. Everyone went to watch all the wrestling stars. “Who’s the greatest of them all?” That’s what the smackdown was about - to decide who was #1.

Friends, this is what we’ve got today in our story! This is nothing other than a World Wrestling Federation Smackdown!

But, before we get into this Smackdown story, let’s see how we got here. Last week, we heard about the split of the unified kingdom of Israel. Under both David and Solomon, the tribes of Israel were one kingdom. Under Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, the kingdom had split in two, with Israel in the north, and Judah in the south. Today and next week, we will be in the northern kingdom. In Israel.

Ahab, in today’s story, is now king of Israel. He is not a “good” king. In fact, in chapter 16, we hear that Ahab “did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him.” Ahab is a bad king. He is the worst of the worst. 

He marries Jezebel, daughter of the king of Sidon. Jezebel serves and is faithful to Baal. Baal is a Canaanite god, associated with weather, and fertility, and thunderstorms. Ahab begins to worship Baal, building and dedicating a “gate” at Jericho to Baal. Engaging in child sacrifice. 

This is not a good regime. 

Elijah comes into the story in the midst of a drought. A drought that has been going on for three years. Now, Elijah is not your typical prophet. Elijah is kind of rough and wooly - unlike Nathan, for example, who was a court prophet - part of King David’s court. Elijah lives more on the edges of society. But, he, just as Nathan was, is sent by God to call Israel back. And not only the people of Israel, but also their king. Ahab.

As our story opens today, Elijah is on his way to meet Ahab. When he gets there, Ahab greets him. “Is it you, Elijah, you troubler of Israel?” Elijah? Troubler of Israel? 

Elijah responds, “I have not troubled Israel. But you have. You, and your father’s house. Because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals.” Remember the shema, Elijah is saying to Ahab. Remember it?  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might!”

Then it is time for the big smackdown. Elijah tells Ahab to call everyone - all of Israel - to Mount Carmel so they can witness a contest. A match. Between the god of Baal. And the God - the true God. Best god wins!

Now, you have to understand the setup of this smackdown. Mount Carmel is the home of Baal in the northern kingdom. So, it’s on their home turf. It’s a contest of 450 to 1. Four hundred Baal prophets to one prophet of the true God. Elijah. And what’s the contest? Whose god can bring down fire. Baal is the god of thunderstorms - of storms and lightening. So, here’s the contest: it’s on their home turf, with 450 of their prophets to 1, and their choice of weapon. Then, on top of all this, they get to go first. And they have all day to get their god to respond.

They set up their altar. And then, Baal’s prophets cry out. From morning to noon. “O answer us!” Then, they start to limp around and to cut themselves, to harm themselves. Perhaps this will get Baal’s attention. They beg for their god to hear them. All day long until it is the time of the offering of oblation. Sunset. Time to make, ironically, the annual offering of loyalty. 

Yet, there is no voice. No answer. No response. Nothing. Only silence. Baal - the god of weather and fertility, the god of thunderstorms - Baal is M-I-A.


Then, Elijah steps forward. He repairs the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down. Stone by stone. Twelve of them to represent the 12 tribes. He makes a trench around it. Then he prepares the wood and the sacrifice and puts it on the altar, pouring water all over it. Not once, but twice, and a third time. Water runs down over the entire altar and fills the surrounding trench. Finally, Elijah prays to God, to the true God. The god who is indeed God. Fire immediately falls from the sky, consuming the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water that is in the trench.

When the people see this, they fall on their faces, saying, This is indeed God. This is indeed God.

On this All Saints Sunday, one might wonder how this story of God’s smackdown of Baal fits into the story of the saints. It’s important to understand that this story, along with all of the historical books of scripture, are a theological history of Israel. Written down during and after the period of exile. At a time when Israel and Judah were seeking to make meaning of everything that had happened and where, in the midst of exile and loss, God could be found. Or even whether God could be found.

You and I come out of a long line of saints. Of those, like Elijah, who bore witness to us of the central nature of God’s claim. That God is a God who brings people out of the land of Egypt, out of slavery and bondage, out of death and loss. Who delivers. And who brings life. Each of us have been blessed with saints in our lives like Elijah, who witnessed to us of this one, true God. God of Gods. Light of Light. True God of True Gods. This God who laid claim to them. Who has laid claim to us. The God in whom they placed their trust. In whom we place our trust. Not some icon - some god who doesn’t respond. But, a God who is faithful. Who seeks relationship with us. Who promises and who gives life. Who calls us, just as God called our ancestors, to this journey of faith. Who promises to be with us. Now and forever.

This is the true God. The God of Elijah. The God of Jacob. The God of Isaac. The God of Abraham. The God of our ancestors. The God of whom John wrote in the book of the apocalypse: “Then one of the elders addressed me, saying,’Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?’ I said to him, ‘Sir, you are the one that knows.’ Then he said to me, ‘These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

This is indeed God. This is our God. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forevermore. Amen.


Preached November 3, 2019, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.
All Saints Sunday
Readings: 1 Kings 18:17-39; Mark 9:2-4; Psalm 149

Living Faithfully in the Promise: Finding Healing

Naaman, a general for the king of Aram, was a great man and highly regarded by his master, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. This man was a mighty warrior, but he had a skin disease. Now Aramean raiding parties had gone out and captured a young girl from the land of Israel. She served Naaman’s wife.

She said to her mistress, “I wish that my master could come before the prophet who lives in Samaria. He would cure him of his skin disease.” So Naaman went and told his master what the young girl from the land of Israel had said.

Then Aram’s king said, “Go ahead. I will send a letter to Israel’s king.”

So Naaman left. He took along ten kikkars of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. He brought the letter to Israel’s king. It read, “Along with this letter I’m sending you my servant Naaman so you can cure him of his skin disease.”

When the king of Israel read the letter, he ripped his clothes. He said, “What? Am I God to hand out death and life? But this king writes me, asking me to cure someone of his skin disease! You must realize that he wants to start a fight with me.”

When Elisha the man of God heard that Israel’s king had ripped his clothes, he sent word to the king: “Why did you rip your clothes? Let the man come to me. Then he’ll know that there’s a prophet in Israel.”

Naaman arrived with his horses and chariots. He stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent out a messenger who said, “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored and become clean.”

But Naaman went away in anger. He said, “I thought for sure that he’d come out, stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the bad spot, and cure the skin disease. Aren’t the rivers in Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than all Israel’s waters? Couldn’t I wash in them and get clean?” So he turned away and proceeded to leave in anger.

Naaman’s servants came up to him and spoke to him: “Our father, if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? All he said to you was, ‘Wash and become clean.’” So Naaman went down and bathed in the Jordan seven times, just as the man of God had said. His skin was restored like that of a young boy, and he became clean.

He returned to the man of God with all his attendants. He came and stood before Elisha, saying, “Now I know for certain that there’s no God anywhere on earth except in Israel.  2 Kings 5:1-15a (CEB)

Grace and peace to you from God, our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

This week, as in previous weeks, we have once again jumped many years in our narrative. By the time of today’s text, the period of monarchy in Israel has ended. This was a period in which we saw a unified Israel under the kingdoms of David and, last week, Solomon.

At this point in the overarching story of Israel, the kingdom has split in two. A split that, this time, will be permanent. The southern kingdom is now known as Judah. The northern kingdom is Israel. It’s a period of a lot of conflict. Not only is there conflict between Judah and Israel, but, there’s also conflict between Israel and its neighbor to the northeast - Aram. Which we know as present-day Syria.

A few weeks ago, in our story about David, we were introduced to the prophet Naaman. Naaman was the one who confronted David with his sin. Today, we are introduced to a new prophet, Elisha. Don’t confuse Elisha with Elijah. Although, they were contemporaries and colleagues, Elijah was older than Elisha.

By the time we reach our story today, Elijah has been taken up into heaven. And the younger prophet - Elisha - is becoming known in the northern kingdom. In the chapters preceding today’s lesson, Elisha has performed several miracles - acts that have led to an growing recognition of his powers as one of God’s prophets. This is where our story begins. 

There are several characters in our story today. As we work through it, we will take a close look at each of them.

The first person we hear of is Naaman. Now this Naaman is not the same as the prophet Naaman. This Naaman is an important man in Aram - that enemy of Israel to the northeast. He is a general for the king of Aram. Our story says Naaman was a “great man and highly regarded by his master.” It was through his conquests that the Lord had given victory to the Arameans. Naaman was a mighty warrior. But, he had one problem. Our translation tells us that he had a skin disease. In other translations, it is called leprosy. We know that, in ancient times, leprosy was a very dreaded disease. It often resulted in its victims being shunned by society.

The next character in our story is a girl. She is an Israelite who has been captured by the Aramites in one of their raids into Israel. She is a slave in Naaman’s household. She is young. She is female. And she is unnamed. Now, this girl would seemingly be of no consequence. She might be easily ignored by us. And, yet, in a bold and courageous act - an act that might have resulted in her punishment or even death - this young unnamed slave girl goes to Naaman’s wife, her mistress, and makes a suggestion. “I wish that my master could come before the prophet who lives in Samaria. He would cure him of his skin disease.”

We can safely assume that this suggestion made its way quickly from Naaman’s wife to Naaman. Because in the very next sentence, we hear that Naaman has gone to the king. To ask for his permission. For permission to go into Israel - enemy territory - to find this prophet mentioned by the slave girl so that he can be healed. 

Do you notice that Naaman doesn’t follow the slave girl’s suggestion? She tells him to go to the prophet. But, Naaman, well, he knows better. After all, he is a general and he’s used to calling the shots. So, he has his own idea of how this should be handled. Instead of going directly to the prophet Elisha, he goes to his king to get permission and a letter from the king of Aram to the king of Israel. Naaman takes the letter, then gets money - you know that with enough money you can buy whatever it is you need - and then, with ten changes of clothing, he goes into enemy territory to Israel’s king. 

And this is where the trouble begins. Because Naaman, arrogant and self-important, thinks he knows how best to accomplish his own healing. As though he knows how this God of Israel operates. Yet, it is his egotistical act that nearly creates a crisis. When he takes the letter to the king of Israel, the king recognizes that he is not able to cure Naaman. And so, he rips his clothing, thinking that Naaman is deliberately provoking a fight, which in this case would be an international incident that could even lead to war between the two nations.

Word of this situation reaches Elisha, the young prophet - our next character. When Elisha hears that the king has torn his clothing, Elisha sends word to him. “Send him to me. Then he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

The king does. And soon, Naaman arrives in grand style. With his horses. With his chariots. With all of his cash and changes of clothing. He stops at Elisha’s front door, expecting to be received for the important man that he is. (Or that he thinks himself to be.) And what happens? Well, Elisha doesn’t even come to the door. Instead, he sends a messenger out to tell Naaman to go and to wash in the Jordan River seven times. And that, if he does this, he will be healed.

Now, it’s important that you understand something about the Jordan River. It is not a river like the Mississippi. Or the Ohio. Or likely not even the size of Harrods Creek. It is a muddy, small stream that might, after a rain, grow a bit in size. But, it is no great river. So, when Elisha directs Naaman to the Jordan, he is insulted. And he is even more upset that Elisha has not even greeted him, as important a man that he is. Naaman gets angry. And just as he is about to turn back in anger to return to his country, we see more characters enter the story.

They, like the young slave girl at the beginning of our story, are also unnamed. And slaves. They come to Naaman and boldly challenge him. “Master, if he had told you to do something difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? And, yet, all he said was ‘Wash and become clean.’” 

Finally, Naaman listens. And, then, swallows his pride and goes to wash in the muddy Jordan River, just as Elisha has first instructed him. And he is healed. Not only physically healed. But spiritually healed. It is at the Jordan River where he comes to a different understanding - a true understanding - about how God works.  “Now I know for certain,” he says to Elisha on his return, “Now I know for certain that there is no God anywhere on earth except in Israel.”

On this day, on this All Saints Sunday, what so often comes to mind are those “hosts arrayed in white.” The glorious saints who have preceded us in faith. Yet, sometimes, it takes a story like the one we have today to remind us about the surprising saints. The ones who haven’t held any status or important position in life. Like the unnamed slave girl in our story, who loves her enemy by pointing her own captor toward healing. Or the other unnamed slaves who bravely convince Naaman to go to the Jordan and wash. Or the saints who were worshipping last Saturday morning at Tree of Life Synagogue or grocery shopping one day at Kroger - who were all killed simply because of who they were. Jewish. African-American. All surprising saints. The ones who quietly loved God and their neighbors. 

Who are the surprising saints in your life? You know them. The ones through whom the Spirit of God worked to make them unexpected instruments of healing for the other. Or for you. The saints, not known by their status or position, but by their work in the world and the nature of God that they showed in their acts of love. To us. And to others. The ones who are imitators of Christ in the best way. The ones who have lived faithfully in God’s promise and who have touched and healed us along the way.

We give thanks for them today. For these surprising saints. And we remember them. May we continue to carry on their legacy - Christ’s legacy. A legacy of humility. And faithfulness. And healing. And love. Amen.

Preached November 4, 2018, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.
All Saints Sunday
Readings: Matthew 8:2-3, 2 Kings 5:1-15a