I don’t think Naaman was expecting to be treated the way that he was. Naaman was the commander of the king of Aram’s army, and as such he was perhaps the most powerful man in the whole kingdom after the king. Aram itself was a rather important nation, and so it’s fair to assume that Naaman was extremely wealthy, and it would seem that he was also extremely proud.
When a man who is used to controlling everything suddenly faces something he can’t control, it’s a pretty bitter slice of humble pie. Naaman developed leprosy. A skin disease with no cure, he would no longer be the king’s favorite man, but an outcast. It’s no wonder then that he decided to follow the advice of the slave girl from Israel who said he should go see Israel’s prophet. He probably would have gone to any prophet or healer he could find. It was made a little tricky by the fact that Aram and Israel were not friends, but he would take a delegation and go, even if the king of Israel would protest.
But the part that was really offensive to Naaman was the way that he was treated when he arrived at the home of the prophet Elisha. He had brought plenty of money to pay whatever fees there might be. He was ready to be received as a royal guest, and to have some sort of elaborate healing ceremony. But instead Elisha sent a messenger. He didn’t even come out of the house. And his messenger told Naaman, “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, the dirty Jordan River, and you’ll be clean.”
“That’s it? I came all this way to be treated like this? And to wash in that dirty river, when I could have washed in any of the beautiful mountain springs of my home country?” He was incensed. “I deserve better!” But his servants talked him into it. “At least give it a try.” and was he ever humbled. Just as Elisha’s message had said, he was healed. He became clean. No more disease. And it wasn’t just his skin that became new. He went back to his country a new man inside and out, humbled before God and rejoicing in God’s grace.
Naaman had thought that if anyone deserved to be treated well by man and by God it was him. What he didn’t realize is that God loved him, not because of what he deserved, but in spite of his sinful pride. By allowing him to suffer from leprosy God saved him. God saved Naaman by humbling him and by turning him away from himself and to God’s undeserved love. And God loves to save the humble.
In Jesus’ ministry he interacted with many different people. Jews and Gentiles. Men and Women. The powerful and the downtrodden. He didn’t divide people along those lines. He didn’t show favoritism. But what he does love, no matter how great or small a person is, is humility. Jesus loves to save the humble.
Today we’re considering two miracles of Jesus which Matthew records in chapter 8, just after Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Matthew tells about these things in a fairly brief fashion, and we can learn more about them from Mark and Luke. First Matthew says,
A leper came to [Jesus] and bowed down to him, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
3Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean.” Immediately he was healed of his leprosy. 4Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one. Instead, go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
The term “leprosy” covered a number of different skin diseases, so this wasn’t necessarily the same thing as what Naaman had. But the effect would have been similar. His disease made him an outcast to society. He couldn’t enter the town. He couldn’t go to the temple. Besides the pain of his disease, he was stigmatized. He was unclean.
Luke includes a little more detail in his account of this where he says that the man was full of leprosy or covered in leprosy. It was obvious to anyone just how bad this man’s condition was, and that would have made people even more eager to avoid him. You don’t want to catch whatever he has!
But then Jesus touched him.
He came to Jesus, bowing down to the ground, saying, “If you are willing, you can make me clean,” and Jesus didn’t turn away. He didn’t keep his distance. He didn’t wrinkle his nose. He touched him. You might imagine anyone who saw this gasping at even the thought of touching an unclean leper. But not Jesus. He laid his hand on the man and said, “I am willing. Be clean.”
The second miracle happened in the town of Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee. There Matthew says that a centurion came and pleaded with Jesus to heal his servant who was paralyzed and suffering terribly. Luke gives a little more detail again, letting us know that actually the centurion considered himself so unworthy to talk to Jesus that he sent Jewish elders on his behalf to carry his message to Jesus.
This by itself is a pretty strange situation. A centurion is an army captain, a man over a Roman unit of one hundred soldiers. Israel was an occupied country, and the Jews and their Roman occupiers did not get along. What kind of Roman centurion would be going to Jesus for help? But there was certainly more to this man than his title. Luke records that the Jewish elders told Jesus “He loves our nation and helped build our synagogue.” A synagogue where no doubt he had heard the word of the Lord through his prophets, the word of a Messiah who would heal and judge and condemn and raise to life.
And so the centurion told Jesus
“Lord, I am not worthy for you to come under my roof. But only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9For I am also a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
He’s a little different from Naaman, isn’t he? Naaman was angry when Elisha wouldn’t come out to meet him and perform an elaborate healing ceremony, something worthy of someone important like him. But this centurion didn’t want anything like that. In fact, he couldn’t imagine thinking himself worthy to stand before Jesus face-to-face or to have Jesus come under his roof. Jesus is the Son of God. He’s the King of the Universe. Why should Jesus come to his house, to him, who is not even a son of Abraham!
But that also didn’t trouble him. He knew that Jesus didn’t need to come into his house to heal his servant. He knew what authority is all about. He’s a centurion. He issues commands to his soldiers and things happen. If he had such authority, then how much greater is the authority of the King of the Universe? “For my servant, just say the word, Lord, and he will be healed.”
And Matthew writes
10When Jesus heard this, he marveled. He said to those who were following him, “Amen I tell you: I have not found such great faith in anyone in Israel. 11I tell you that many will come from the east and the west and will recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12But the children of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Many of the Jews became complacent. They looked down on outsiders, on those who were unclean. They thought, “I know who I am. I know what’s coming to me. I know what I deserve.” They thought the kingdom of heaven was theirs because of their heritage or because of their works. Jesus warned them that the children of the kingdom will be thrown out. And if the children will be thrown out, then how much more those who are not children of Abraham? It is so easy for us to become complacent in our faith, and to think God will treat us well, because, well, because we deserve it!
Jesus came to save. He came to save the world. He came to save you and me. But pride is a terrible sin that destroys faith and drives us away from God. Naaman would never have gone to God’s prophet, had God not humbled him. May the Holy Spirit also humble us.
God’s humbling happens in many ways. But ultimately it isn’t leprosy and disease that humbles our hearts before him. It’s his word. There in his law we see ourselves for who we really are, not deserving of anything from our mighty and glorious God. But in that same word we also know God’s love for the humble. Jesus didn’t begrudgingly help the leper or the centurion. His Word is what humbles us before him, and he loves to save the humble. He himself came in all humility as our example and our substitute. He submitted to the will of the Father and died on the cross for us and for our sin. And he rose to give life to all who come to him in humble faith.
So follow the leper and the centurion. Make your pleas to him in all humility. He loves to hear your prayers. And he loves to answer them, to give healing to your body and peace to your mind and life to your soul. Jesus knows all things. Nothing surprises him. Nothing catches him off-guard. Ah, but here he marvels. “Such great faith!” And we reply, “Yes, Lord, the faith you have given me.” Amen.
— Pastor Seth Georgson