2 Kings 5: 10, 11, 12; Luke 10: 4

Acting outside the box

The element that unites both our texts today is that people are asked to do something unusual, something strange, something counter-intuitive. The first is Naaman, the Syrian military leader who is told by Elisha to bathe a number of time in the river Jordan.  He gets mad and grumbles that where he is from the rivers, the Abana and the Pharphar, are just as good to bathe in.  The whole thing seems silly to him.  It is very strange way to be healed that way.   The King of Israel isn’t happy about this either, because if the visit by the decorated military leader does not go well, there could be a war with the King of Aram.  In Luke Jesus asks the disciples to go out and witness for Him and orders to 70 to go out in groups of two. But Jesus gives specific instructions. They are to stay briefly with people, have no possessions, no sandals. Again it is counter-intuitive. Who would want to listen to paupers dressed like beggars? Sure these principles are popular in Buddhism and Hinduism now for instance but then they didn’t make much sense.  It was  strange now.  To us it still is.  One afternoon about four years ago-you may remember this- a young, Korean American couple rang the doorbell at Parkview and they told me that their church in Portland had sent them here with no resources; except they had a laptop so they could report their experiences by email. They said they believed God would take care of them.  I was a bit annoyed. They weren’t dressed like beggars. They probably just left their money at home.  Suddenly they were my problem, one I had never asked for.  Of course, their faith was rewarded and I put them up in a hotel on Alhambra and paid the cost. I said goodbye and wished them well. I never saw them again.  Odd, unusual, counter-intuitive. And in my view, they were taking this text in the Bible a little too literally.  Their view was different however.

So, friends, at first glance the texts are about Elisha and Jesus asking people to have faith and follow strange orders.  Okay, that could be the message here: be counter-intuitive sometimes, don’t always follow your instincts, do what’s smart, good people asks you today.  Dare to be strange.  That’s nice, but there must be more than that.  But believe me I had trouble getting there. When you peel off the layers of the onion, these texts may be about freedom? This is fortunate as this is Fourth of July weekend.  You see, Naaman wants to be free of leprosy, but he also wants to be free of strange cures and weird baths in unfamiliar rivers.  He doesn’t want to give Elisha as God’s prophet the freedom to act Elisha and God see fit.  The same is true of the disciples.  They love having the Jesus and the liberation of despair the Gospel offers the, but they prefer the comfort of good sandals and predictable meals. They’d rather not give Jesus the freedom to choose how they should serve Him.

Friends, the founding Fathers wanted their freedom from the British, just like the British now want to be free from Europe.  But a number of the signers were slaveholders.  They wanted their freedom, but the slaves wouldn’t get theirs for another ninety years.  This whole issue was lived out in the Spielberg film “Amistad” when a Spanish slave ship is taken over by the men in chains and the ship floats off to New England. In a trial the judge has to decide whether to give the men and women back to the Spanish or let them return home.

Friends, what we forget is that freedom is not a unilateral thing, because one person’s sense of freedom can be another’s oppression. I think this point is often missed in the gun debate: one person’s freedom to have incredibly lethal weapons can lead to another feeling a lack of freedom of movement.

This is true of the Divine-human relationship.  I think that over the centuries we have seen that relationship as one not of freedom, but of control.  God was seen as controlling our fate, keeping us in check through the commandments and in return we respond by trying to control God through our sermons and our prayers. God is seen as trying to control us we trying to control God.  But it looks to be a lot more than it isn’t a relationship of control at all, but of freedom.  We and all created things have the freedom to choose our path and God’s grace becomes part of our life in whatever way God chooses. Sometimes we have to take baths in strange places. This is true of Chakrita our first resident who had to take a bath in health club down the street the first ten days because the Kansha had no hot water.

Friends, freedom is not unilateral, it is mutual. Everyone wants to be free, including the people in countries where we engage our military. But their idea of freedom may be a bit different.  The text from Galatians on our cover ties it together.  It is about the good of all.  Freedom was never meant to be just an individual thing (that is a Western concept). It was to be for the good of all.

God above all is free. God’s grace in our lives moves freely and we will never know in what form and at what moment it will come. We may not even recognize it. Thanks be to God. Amen.